■"■"'- : ' " ' ' Sm ^
a-^
rysra w
^
w,
u
> ■■■- '. Schell.
Naples F. B. Schell.
( In the " Var.dalia ' Photograph.
Pyramids of Egypt
The Halt
On the Road to Memphis J. I!. Hyde.
Nazareth Harry Fenn.
Palermo F. B. Schell.
Rome G. Perkin i .
On the Rhine F. B. Schell.
General Grant and Party in Egypt G. While.
Venice F. B. Schell.
Outside the Bull Ring
Sc\ itle F. B. Schell.
Gibraltar. . G. Perkins.
The Bull Fight Schell 6r Hogan.
Killarney F. B. Schell.
I MGRAl r- ' -
Wm. E. Ma
J. Karst.
J. Karst.
Meeder cV Chubb.
George F. Smith.
J. W. Lauderbach.
C. Speigle.
7. Metcalfe.
J. Metcalfe.
J. Pea.
Lintai.
y. II'. Lauderbach.
J. Filmcr.
J. IT. Lauderba, k.
J. Langridge.
F. Bookhout.
J. Pea.
X. Orr.
J. IV. Lauderbach.
J. k'arst.
X. Orr.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
VOLU M E I.
i \. .1 .
3-
3-
5-
7-
S.
9-
io.
n.
12.
r 3-
15-
1 6.
17-
19.
19.
20.
22.
23-
25-
27.
29.
31-
33-
35-
36.
37-
38.
41.
43-
45-
45-
46.
49-
50.
52.
VRTIST. ENGRAVER.
Departure from Philadelphia F. B. Schell. J. II ". Lauderbach.
Initial Letter
Reception at the House of G. W. Chillis. ... " R. Schelling.
Embarkation in Delaware Bay " J. W. Lauderbach.
At Sea G. White. E. Clement.
Arrival at Queenstown G. Perkins. J. W. Lauderbach.
Relief Ship " George Griswold " " J. Filiner.
Arrival at Liverpool G. White. y. Karst.
Port of Liverpool G. Perkins. y. T. Speer.
Brown Library and Art Gallery, Liverpool... S. L. Banckcr.
Lime Street, Liverpool I. R. Waud. y. Metcalfe.
St. Nicholas Church and Signal Tower, Liv-
erpool y. H. Richardson.
Town Hall, Manchester
London G. Perkins. W. Wursbach.
Initial Letter
Oaks at Epsom J. Metcalfe.
Casket — Freedom of London y. H. Richardson.
Meeting the Prince of Wales G. White. y. T. Wagner.
The Avenue, Southampton F. B. Schell. E. Heinemann.
Netley Abbey " " R. Schelling.
Crystal Palace 1. P. Waud. S. B. Casey.
Windsor Castle G. Perkins. Andrew 6f Son.
Trafalgar Square G. C. Bell. y. T. Sullivan.
Banquet at Liverpool S. B. Casey.
Westminster Abbey G. Gibson. y. H. Richardson.
Buckingham Palace " " 7- Filiner.
Reception at the American Legation W. I . Shepard. y. Karst.
St. Paul's Cathedral C. E. H. Bonwell. H. M. Snyder.
Houses of Parliament G. Perkins. y. W. Lauderbach.
Ostend "
Initial Letter
Street Scene in Ghent " " E. A. Bobbett.
Hotel de Ville, City Square, Brussels F. Ray. H. M. Snyder.
Meeting with King Leopold B. Day. R. Stewart.
Cologne F. B. Schell. y. P. Davis.
vi
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Vll
54-
57-
58.
61.
62.
64.
66.
68.
69.
71-
72.
74-
76.
77-
79-
79-
So.
82.
83.
84.
87.
89.
91.
93-
95.
96.
99.
100.
103.
105.
107.
in.
113.
lis-
ti-
121.
123.
125.
125.
126.
12S.
130.
131.
132.
133-
134-
135.
136.
137-
13S.
140.
AR r 1
On the Rhine .S'. Coleman.
Frankfurt on the Main /'. Moran.
Map, Belgium to Italy J. S. Kemp.
Si 1 iu' in the Black Forest W. It. Gibson.
Mount Blanc F. Ii. Schell.
Laying Corner Stone of Church, Geneva I. R. Waud.
Scene in Alsace J. Bolles.
Street in Strasbourg
Stork's Nest — Strasbourg
Scene in the Alps If. Finn.
" You Must Speak German " W. L. Shepard.
Lake Maggiore — Northern Italy F. B. Schell.
French and German Soldiers J. Bolles.
Scene in Ragatz
Glasgow G. Perkins.
Initial Letter
Map — England and Scotland J. S. Kemp.
Scott's Monument
Edinburgh G. Perkins.
Cowgate, Edinburgh "
Edinburgh Castle F. B. Schell.
Abbotsford W. II. Gibson.
Burns' Cottage G. Gibson.
Dunrobin Castle II. W. Herriek.
Stephenson's Monument C. Mente,
Inverary Castle W. II. Gibson.
Newcastle G. Perkins.
Address at Newcastle J. H. Hyde.
Grey Street and Grey's Monument, Newcastle. C. Mente.
Tynemouth G. Perkins.
General Grant's English Presents
City of Birmingham G. Perkins
Leaving Sheffield G. While.
Stratford-on-Avon T. Moran.
Anne Hathaway's Cottage G. Gibson.
Shakespeare's Home IV. II. Gibson.
Town Hall, Birmingham T. Beach.
Warwick Castle T. Moran.
Paris G. Perkins.
Initial Letter
Folkestone J. 0. Davidson.
Boulogne "
Champs Elysees
The Invalides
Place de la Concorde A. P. Waud.
Arc de Triomphe
Porte St. Martin
Church of St. Genevieve
Trinite
Bois de Boulogne /. R. Waud.
Rue de Rivoli, St. Jaques C. Ii. II. Bonwell.
Pavilion of the Opera "
1
f luibb.
R. Schelling.
E. lleinemann.
J. It. Brightly.
J. Karst.
J. H. Richat
J. Karst.
J. //'. Lau
J. Rea.
K. Clement.
E. Heinemann.
Fisk iS~ See.
J. Filmer.
Andrew cV Son.
J. Ii: Lauderbach.
J. Filmer.
y. It. Richardson.
A'. M. Smart.
Jl'. McCracken.
E. Bookhout.
E. Sears.
y. Metcal/e.
II'. McCracken.
y. H. Richat
II. M. Snyder,
y. It. Richai
P. Stewart.
K. M. Smart.
y. P. Davis,
y. Welch.
W. McCracken.
J. ft. Richai
y. Langtidge.
y. W. lauderbach.
S. B. Ca
y It. Itecv.
II. D. In. 1,
y. It. Richardson.
y. Karst.
Meeder& Chub':
E. lleinemann.
y. It. Richardson.
\ 111
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PACE.
1-41-
143-
144.
146.
147.
148.
150.
151.
152.
154-
157-
15S.
159.
161.
162.
165.
165.
167.
169.
170.
173-
174-
177-
180.
183.
185.
187.
191.
194.
197.
197.
199.
201.
203.
204.
207.
209.
211.
213.
215-
217.
219.
221.
223.
227.
230.
230.
232.
234.
235-
237-
238.
ARTIST.
General Granl at the Herald Office J. II Hyde.
Porl An Change G. Perkins.
Notre Dame
Palace of the Tribunal de Commerce
I in- I ,ouvre
American-, al the Grand Hotel "". /.. Shepard.
New Opera I louse
Pont Neuf A. R. II 'mid.
Au Bon Marche IV. L. Shepard.
St. Eustache
Luxembourg Palace G. Gibson.
Pont des Arts G. Perkins.
The Bric-a-Brac Dealer II'. L. Shepard.
The Disgusted American
Villef ranche G. Perkins.
Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples
Initial Letter
Drive to Vesuvius IV. L. Shepard.
Lazzaroni of Naples y. Bolles.
On the Shore— Naples F. B. Schell.
Neapolitan Boy
Sorrento G. Perkins.
Street in Naples (Porta Capuana) ('. Mente.
Dinner at the Hermitage IV. L. Shepard.
Neapolitan Fisher Girl
Street of Tombs F. B. Schell.
The Forum C. Mente.
Street in Pompeii
Excavating a House
The Mediterranean G. Perkins.
Initial Letter
"General Grant and Capt. Robeson in Palermo. B. Day.
Christmas Dinner on the " Vandalia " IV. I. Shepard.
Mrs. Grant
Cathedral of Palermo F. Ray.
The Madonna, Palermo F. B. Schell.
Island of Stromboli P- Dixon.
Messina 7- R- -A ey.
Etna
Malta y. O. Davidson.
Street in Malta C. Mente.
Meeting with the Duke of Edinburgh IV. L. Shepard.
Island of Capri F. B. Schell.
Sickness of the Marquis W. L. Shepard.
Street of Mohammed AH, Alexandria
Initial Letter
Cairo G. Perkins.
Gateway, Cairo F. Ray.
In Cairo B. Day.
Street in Cairo F. Ray.
The Khedive's Carriage Runner ,
Egyptian Lady
E. Clement.
Andrew &? Son.
II. M. Snyder,
y. II Richardson
Meeder & Chubb.
y. Karst.
Meeder & Chubb.
7. IV. Lauderbach.
Dahiel &= Markly.
II. M. Snyder.
II. D. Turner.
Andrew Cif Son.
Dahiel 6V Markly.
y. A'arst.
S. S. Kilburn.
A. Measom.
II. M. Snyder.
/•.'. Clement.
K. Heinemann.
y. Rea.
y. IV. Lauderbach.
E. Clement.
X. On:
R. Stewart.
y. M. Vanness.
R. H. Carson.
R. M. Smart.
y II. Brightly.
y. Filmer.
y. Rea.
y. IV. Lauderbach.
A. Measom.
y. II. Richardson.
Andrew & Son.
H. D. Turner.
R. Stewart.
IV. McCracken.
H. M. Snyder.
G. M Toy.
H. D. Turner.
H. M. Snyder.
D. C. Hitchcock,
y. Karst.
King.
y. Filmer.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
IX
PACE. ARTIST.
240. ' ' Have a Donkey ? "
241. Street in Cairo
243. Bedouins over Sugarcane Fire J. JI. Hyde.
245. Visit to the Khedive J. Limber.
24S. Street in Cairo F. Ray.
249. Morning
252. Jesse Grant
254. Initial Letter
254. Siout C. Mente.
256. Entering Siout H. P. Share.
258. Drive in Siout
261. Map of Egypt and the Holy Land J. S. Kemp.
263. Egyptian Boy
264. An Egyptian
266. The Guard over General Grant 7 IT. Hyde.
268. Dahabeeah J. 0. Davidson.
270. Evening
273. Moonlight on the Nile
275. Home in Keneh J. II. Hyde.
277. Egyptian Maiden
279. The Nile T. Mora,,.
279. Initial Letter
250. Irrigating Machine
282. Luxor C. Monto.
2S4. Palm Grove.
286. Statues of Memnon
259. By the Wayside
291. Thebes G. Perkins.
293. Karnak G. C. Bell.
2ij5. Moonlight on the Nile
299. Egyptian Well II'. I/. Gibson.
302. On the Nile
304. Assouan C. Mente.
306. Buying Ostrich Feathers J. Bollcs.
303. On Deck W. L. Shepard.
311. In the Reeds
313. Philae G. Perkins.
317. The Serapeum C. Mente.
31S. Drive with the Khedive
321. Initial Letter
321. Jaffa G. Perkins.
322. Fishermen of Jaffa
324. Church of the Holy Sepulcher P. Pay.
326. Farming in the Holy Land
327. Street in Jerusalem F. Pay.
329. Wailing-Place of the Jews
332. Blind Beggar. Via Dolorosa
334. Bethlehem G. Peri-ins.
336. Woman of Bethlehem
338. Mount Qurantania
339. Near Nazareth
342. Site of Capernaum
P. II. Sea.
J. II Richardson.
K. Schclling.
S. B. <
//. M Snyder.
J. Rea.
K. Heinemann.
J. Metcalfe.
J. H. Kiel,.:
Risk o.-' See.
J. Rea.
P. M. Smart.
J. Filmer.
S. B. Casey.
j. II. Richardson.
P. M Smart.
J. Pea.
N. On:
A. T. C-uzner.
7. Karst.
£. Bookhout.
R. Stewart.
S. L. Bane ket.
Bogart.
X. Orr.
E. Clement.
D. Xiehols.
R. Stewart.
X. Orr.
7- W. Lauderbach.
S. B. ( . ■
J-
1 1'. Lauderbach.
J. Hoe):
T. P. Rea.
7. Metcalfe.
Dahiel cV Mar&iy.
7. Welch.
X. Orr.
S. B. Casey.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PACl . ARTIST.
34 1. Lake of Galilee
346. Initial Lecter
346. Constantinople C. Mente.
347. Arrival at Stamboul B. Day.
348. Map of Turkey and Italy J. S. Kemp.
34^). Mosques of St. Sophia and Sultan Achmid . . C. Mente.
351. Street in Constantinople
352. Turkish Bazaar /derrick.
353. Street in Stamboul
354. The Harem
355. Turkish Lady
356. The Dardanelles
35S. Athens C. Mente.
359. Illumination of the Acropolis
361. Initial Letter
361. Rome F. B. Schcll.
363. The Coliseum. "
364. Interior of St. Peter's
365. Roman Boy
367. Florence A. C. Warren.
3 Hogan.
591. Deck of " Venetia" II. P. Share.
593. Red Sea F. B. Schcll.
595. Aden
598. Heaving the Log
601. Bombay C. Mente.
603. Landing Place, Bombay Schcll &= Hogan.
606. Government House, Bombay
609. Street in Bombay
612. On the Veranda at Malabar Point H. P. Share.
615. Tower of Silence, " Bombay. . . .
617. Elephanta Caves
621. Poona, near Bombay
624. Native Village
625. On the Neirhedda River F. B. Schell.
628. Map of Southern Asia J. S. Kemp.
630. " Kassim," my Hindoo Servant
ENGRAVKR.
S. B. Casey.
O. Mulct.
E. Heinemann.
II. M. Snyder.
S. B. Casey.
F. W. Swan.
II. M. Snyder.
R. M. Smart.
C. Edmonds.
J. M. Vanness.
W. McCrackcn.
N. Orr.
J. IV. laudcrbach.
F. Levin.
R. M. Smart.
X. Orr.
J. II. Brightly.
y. H. Brightly.
G. F. Smith,
y. Robinson.
R. M. Smart.
G. F. Smith.
A. Measom.
N. Orr.
A. Hayman.
W. Wurzbach.
y. M. Vanness.
G. Otto,
y. Hoey.
E. Heinemann.
H. M. Snyder,
y. Rea.
y. Foster.
W. Mollier.
Fisk & See.
0. Mulet.
AROUND THE WORLD
WITH GENERAL GRANT
lEPAKTURE FROM PHILADELPHIA.
CHAPTER I.
rilll.ADI-'.l.riHA TO LONDON.
N the month of May, i S 7 7, the Department of State
issued to its representatives in foreign countries the
following official note :
"Department of State, /
Washington, May 23d, C877. j
" To the Diplomatic and Consular Officers of the United Stall's.
"Gentlemen: General Ulysses S. Grant, the late President of the
United States, sailed from Philadelphia on the 17th inst., for Liverpool.
"The route and extent of his travels, as well as the duration of his sojourn
abroad, were alike undetermined at the time of his departure, the object of his
journey being to secure a few months of rest and rei reation after sixteen years
of unremitting and devoted labor in the military and civil service of his
country.
"The enthusiastic manifestations of popular regard and esteem for General
Grant shown by the people in all parts of the country that he has visited sin* e
his retirement from official life, and attending his every appearance in public
PHILADELPHIA TO LONDON.
from the day of that retirement up to the moment of his departure for Europe,
indicate beyond question the high place he holds in the grateful affections of
his countrymen.
" Sharing in the largest measure this general public sentiment, and at the
same time expressing the wishes of the President, I desire to invite the aid of
the Diplomatic and Consular Officers of the Government to make his journey a
pleasant one should he visit their posts. I feel already assured that you will find
patriotic pleasure in anticipating the wishes of the Department by showing him
that attention and consideration which is due from every officer of the Govern-
ment to a citizen of the Republic so signally distinguished both in official ser-
vice and personal renown.
" I am, Gentlemen,
" Your obedient servant,
" WM. M. EVARTS."
This action on the part of the Government was a fitting
manifestation of its esteem and regard for one among the most
illustrious of its citizens. These sentiments had been still fur-
ther emphasized by the people of one of our chief cities, this
homagre serving to introduce General Grant to the nations of
the Old World. General Grant had been from the hour of his
retirement on March 4th, 1877, the recipient of more flattering .
testimonials of respect and admiration than had perhaps ever 00 2
before fallen to the lot of any American. The successful con-
ducting and victorious termination of the late war between the
opposing sections of the country; the judicious direction of the
Executive branch of the Government for eight years ; the re-es-
tablishment of peace and harmony with a great foreign power,
when these relations had been seriously threatened; these acts
had secured for General Grant a hold upon the heart of the
nation which could hardly be too strongly manifested.
Having, as President of the United States, extended to the
representatives of foreign states the welcome of America to its
Centennial Anniversary Celebration, General Grant was now,
in the capacity of a private citizen, about to visit those countries
to obtain needed rest, and to inform himself concerning the
characteristics and customs of the people of the Old World. It
will be generally conceded that no more appropriate occasion
could occur for a special recognition of great public services.
General Grant selected as a medium for the transportation
£Z
PHILADELPHIA.
of his party to Liverpool the " Indiana," one of the only Ameri-
can line of steamships crossing the Atlantic Ocean.
Having thus chosen this particular steamship line, it was
natural that the Philatlelphians should take pride and pleasure
in extending their hospitality to General Grant; and accord-
ingly, from the hour of his arrival in Philadelphia, its citizens
vied with each other in doing him honor.
During- the week which elapsed before his departure, the
General was the guest of George \Y. Childs, Esq.
RECEPTION AT THE l{n! sF OF C. W. CHILDS.
On May ioth, the day following his arrival in Philadelphia,
General Grant visited the " Permanent Exhibition" Building, on
the occasion of its opening. The nth, 12th. and 13th were
passed in the enjoyment of tin- hospitalities of prominent Phila-
tlelphians, and on the 14th a reception took place at the Union
League Club, the reception closing with a review of die First
Regiment Infantry of the National Guard of Pennsylvania.
On the 1 6th a very pretty ceremony took place, when the
5 PHILADELPHIA TO LONDON.
soldiers' orphans — wards of the State — marched in procession
past Mr. Chihls' residence. Generals Grant and Sherman
stood on the steps of the house, extending to each little
one. as they passed, a pleasant word. On the same day
Genera] Grant received the veteran soldiers and sailors, to the
number of twelve hundred, in Independence Hall, after which he
lunched with Governor Hartranft at Mr. Childs', where in the
evening he was serenaded, the house being brilliantly illuminated.
On the 1 7th, the day appointed for the departure of the
" Indiana," Mr. Childs entertained at breakfast, to meet his dis-
tinguished guest, the late Secretary of State, Hon. Hamilton
Fish, Governor Hartranft, General Sherman, and Hon. Simon
Cameron. After the breakfast the party proceeded on board a
small steamer and visited the Russian corvette "Cravasser."
After a brief stay the steamer proceeded down the river. The
party on board now included Mayor Stokley, Henry C. Carey,
Esq., General Stewart Van Vleet, Colonel Fred. I). Grant, Major
Alexander Thorpe, Hon. Isaac H. Bailey, of New York, U. S.
Grant, jr., General Horace Porter, the members of the City Coun-
cil of Philadelphia, and others. Mrs. Grant and a party of
friends were taken down the river to the "Indiana" by the
United States revenue cutter "Hamilton," on board of which were
Admiral Turner, George W. Childs, Esq., and Mrs. Childs, Hon.
A. E. Borie, and Mrs. Borie, A. J. Drexel, Esq., and Mrs. Drexel,
Mrs. Sharp — Mrs. Grant's sister — Hon. Morton McMichael, A.
Bierstadt, the artist, Hon. John W. Forney, and others.
The wharves on the Delaware were lined with people, who
made the air resound with their cheers. Steamers and small
craft filled the stream, all decorated with bunting and crowded
with enthusiastic people.
A brief stoppage was made at Girard Point, and the follow-
ing telegraphic dispatches were received by General Grant:
"New York, May 17th, 1S77.
"General Grant, Philadelphia:
" Mrs. Haves joins me in heartiest wishes that you and Mrs. ( irant may have
a prosperous voyage, and, after a happy visit abroad, a safe return to your
friends and country. R- B. HAVES."
DELAWARE Kli i l<
i
To this General Grant replied:
" S || \mi i; ' Mali XI \.'
"Delaware River, May 17th, 11 o'clock a.m.
" President Hayes, Executive Mansion, Washington:
"Dear Sir: Mrs. Grant joins me in thanks (o you and Mrs. Ila\
your kind wishes and your message iv< eived on board this boat jus! as »<■ an
pushing out from the wharf. We unite in returning our cordial greetings, and
in expressing our best wishes for your health, happiness, and success in your
Ml: Vl:k \ I Hi:, r. hi i \ \\ \\ \
most responsible position. Hoping to return to my country to find it prosper-
ous in business, and with cordial feelings renewed between all sei tions,
" I am, dear sir, truly your-,,
"U.S. GR W IV
< >n board the "Magenta" luncheon was served, General
Grant occupying the head of the table. The first toast of the
occasion, offered by Mayor Stokley, was, "God-speed to our
honored guest, Ulysses S. Grant." The General responded
briefly, being evidently affected 1>\ tin- warmth of the greeting
and the compliments which wcvr being showered upon him.
The health of General Sherman was next toasted, and he
replied :
8
PHILADELPHIA TO LONDON.
" Mr. Mayor and Geni lemen : This proud welcome along the shores of
the Delaware demands a response. General Grant leaves here to-day with the
highest rewards of his fellow-citizens, and on his arrival on the other side there is
no doubt he will be welcomed by friends with as willing hands and warm hearts
as those he leaves behind. Ex-President Grant — General Grant — while you, his
fellow-citizens, speak of him and regard him as Ex-President Grant, I cannot
but think of the times of the war,
of General Grant, President of the
United States for eight years, yet I
cannot but think of him as the Gen-
eral Grant of Fort Donelson. I think
of him as the man who, when the
country was in the hour of its peril,
restored its hopes when he marched
triumphant into Fort Donelson.
After that none of us felt the least
doubt as to the future of our country,
and therefore, if the name of Wash-
ington is allied with the birth of our
country, that of Grant is forever iden-
tified with its preservation, its per-
petuation. It is not here alone on
the shores of the Delaware, that the
people love and respect you, but in
Chicago and St. Paul, and in far-off
San Francisco, the prayers go up
AT M V L J
to-day that your voyage may be pros-
perous and pleasant, and that you may have a safe and happy return. General
Grant " (extending his hand), " God bless you, God bless you, and grant you a
pleasant journey and a safe return to your native land."
Mayor Stokley then said :
"General Grant : As I now feel that it is necessary to draw these fes-
tivities to a close, I must speak for the City of Philadelphia. I am sure that I
express the feelings of Philadelphia as I extend to you my hand, that I give to
you the hands and the hearts of all Philadelphia " (cheers), " and as we part
with you now, it is the hope of Philadelphia that God will bless you with a safe
voyage and a happy return ; and with these few words I say God bless you,
and God direct and care for you in your voyage across the ocean."
General Grant, who was visibly affected, replied :
"Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen : I feel much overcome with what I have
heard. When the first toast was offered I supposed the last words here for me
had been spoken, and I feel overcome by the sentiments to which I have lis-
i THE DELAWARE. g
tened, and which I feel I am altogether inadequate to respond to. 1 don't
think that the compliments ought all be paid to me or an) one man in either
of the positions which I was called upon to fill.
** That which 1 accomplished —which 1 was able to accomplish — 1 ow <• to the
assistance of able lieutenants. 1 was so fortunate as to be called to the first
position in the army of the nation, and I had the good fortune to select lieuten-
ants who could have filled " (turning toward Sherman) — " had it been nei essary
I believe some of these lieutenants could have filled my place may lie better
than I did." (Cries of " No.") " I do not, therefore, regard myself as entitled
to all the praise.
"I believe that my friend Sherman could have taken my place as a soldier
as well as I could, and the same will apply to Sheridan." (Cheers.) "And I
believe, finally, that if our country ever comes into trial again, young men will
spring up equal to the occasion, and if one fails, there will be another to take
his place." (Great cheers.) " Just as there was if I had failed. I thank you
again and again, gentlemen, for the hearty and generous reception I have had
in your great city." (Prolonged cheers.)
ARK'IV H. AT QUEBPi |
Complimentary speeches were also made by I
Fish, Chandler, Robeson, Senator Cameron, and Governor
Hartranft.
The steamer " Indiana," having on board the officers of the
IO
/•////.. [/>/■:/./'///. I TO LONDON.
American Line of Steamship Company and a number of invited
guests, was reached at 2.40 P.M. by the " Magenta " and " 1 Iamil-
ton." This was off Newcastle, and about thirty-five miles be-
low Philadelphia. Here Mrs. Grant and her son Jesse were
transferred from the " Hamilton " to the " Indiana ; " after which
Genera] Grant, Governor Hartranft, and a few friends passed on
board from the "Magenta." A salute of twenty-one guns was
now fired from the " Hamilton ; " deafening cheers from the
crowded steamers were mingled with the shrill noise of the
steam whistles; and presently the " Indiana' steamed out from
the midst of the fleet.
fo
T" I,
KEMEF -11 II-
The "Indiana" made the passage to Liverpool in eleven
days, arriving on May 28th.
Dunne the voyage the only occurrence calculated to mar
its pleasurable features was the death and burial of the child of
a steerage passenger.
That reticence which had characterized the manner ot the
Lx-President during the many years of his onerous and toilsome
employment in the service of his country, dropped from him as
though it were a mask ; now that he was free from official care
AT SEA.
I
and permitted to display that geniality and sympathetic nature
which more justly belonged to him. It was established by the
universal testimony oi those on
more agreeable companion on
a sea voyage could he chosen
than the * ieneral. I [e smoked
and chatted in the smoking
room ; entered, with
interest
tl
AKKIVAI. \ I LIVE ! I
into the diverse games which
were proposed ; conversed
freely on all subjects except
politics; and charmed every
one by his urbanity and good
fellowship. It is even on
record that he succeeded in
winning the friendship of some
persons on board who had
been for years politically and
personally opposed to him.
( ieneral ( irant appreciated
highly the enthusiasm which had greeted him on his departure
from his native land. Such a scene as had accompanied him on
his way down the river had never before been witnessed in this
country, and it made on its recipient a vivid impression. Ib-
could hardly refer to this scene- without emotion, and it certainly
repaid him, in his own modest estimation, for all his services to his
countrymen, (ieneral Grant enjoyed the best of health during
the entire voyage, never missing a meal. Mrs. Grant suffered
slightly from maldc mer. According to Captain Sargent, the ex-
cellent officer ot the ship, (ieneral Grant was the most interest-
ing and entertaining talker he had ever met. " In fact," said
Captain Sargent, "then- is no one who can make himself more
entertaining or agreeable in his conversation — when nobody has
an ' ax to grind.' " This rough speech gives a better insight into
the true reason of General Grant's distaste for talking while in
office than could be otherwise expressed in a whole chapter.
The fact was that in his official capacity he had always to be
12
PHILADELPHIA TO LONDON.
"on guard," as few ever approached him without a selfish pur-
pose, or " an ax to grind."
On the first morning at sea, General Grant said "that he
felt better than he had for sixteen years, from the fact that he
had no letters to read, and no telegraphic dispatches to attend
to." Indeed, this sense of freedom from the strain of such unre-
mitting devotion to severe application was not unnatural in the
beginning of General Grant's journey, and was the predominant
impression which his manners conveyed to those around him.
PORT OF LIVERPOOL.
General Grant smoked incessantly during the voyage, a test, as
every ocean traveler is aware, of any one's capacity to resist the
effects of the motion of the sea. The voyage was a rough one,
and the weather did not improve as the ship neared port. Off
Fastnet Light she had to lay to for eight hours in a fog ; when
this lifted, the Irish coast was in sight. On the day before ar-
riving at Oueenstown, the cabin passengers of the "Indiana"
presented to Captain Sargent, her estimable commander, a let-
ter of compliment and thanks for his courtesy as a gentleman,
and skill as a seaman, General Grant being the spokesman.
LIVERPOOL. , ,
At about seven o'clock on the evening of May 27th, the
" Indiana " entered Queenstown harbor. Here a tug boarded
the steamship, bringing to meet General Grant, Mr. J. Russell
Young, and a number of prominent citizens, who welcomed the
General to Ireland, and cordially invited him to remain lor a
time among them. This deputation was received in the cap-
tain's cabin, where General Grant heard their kindly expres-
sions of welcome with evident satisfaction. He responded to
BROWN I.IBKAKV AND ART GALLERY, LIVER]
these briefly, regretting that arrangements already made for the
route of his journey would prevent his acceptance of the imita-
tion until a later period, when he should certainly avail himself
of their hospitality. Letters and dispatches which had been
awaiting were delivered, and the "Indiana" again pushed out
to sea, followed by hearty cheers from the kindly Irishmen on
the tug. Among the General's letters received at this point,
were a large number from the leading statesmen of England,
conveying invitations to a round of receptions and dinners — a
foretaste of the friendly hospitality which was to characterize his
visit.
The " Indiana" arrived at Liverpool on May 28th. I [ere a
bright and pleasant day welcomed the travelers ; the ships in
the Mersey displayed the American and other flags, and at the
clock where the passengers from the steamships landed, the
Mayor of Liverpool, Mr. A. R. Walker, was in readiness to re-
ceive General Grant, and to extend to him the courtesies of
the great commercial city. Here also was General Adam Ba-
14 PHILADELPHIA TO LONDON.
deau, the General's old-time aide-de-camp, now United States
Consul at London. Friendly salutations having been offered
and received, the Mayor of Liverpool addressed General Grant
as !< >11< )\\s :
"General Grant : I am proud that it has fallen to my lot, as Chief Magis-
trate of Liverpool, to welcome to the shores of England so distinguished a citi-
zen of the United States. You have, sir, stamped your name on the history i ii
the world by your brilliant career as a soldier, and still more as a statesman in
the interests of peace. In the name of Liverpool, whose interests are so closely
allied with your great country, I bid you heartily welcome, and I hope Mrs.
Grant and yourself will enjoy your visit to old England."
General Grant thanked the Mayor for his reception. The
Mayor presented to the General several prominent citizens of
Liverpool, and then the whole party drove off to the Adelphi
Hotel. On the following day the General, accompanied by
the Mayor and a deputation of citizens, visited the docks.
The party embarked on the tender "Vigilant." The boat
proceeded as far as the extreme north end of the river wall,
and the party minutely inspected the new dock works in pro-
gress. On their return they visited the Town Hall, where
they were entertained by the Mayor and a company numbering
some sixty or seventy gentlemen and ladies, after which they
passed some time in inspecting the Liverpool Free Library.
The reception in Liverpool was closed by a banquet tendered
to General Grant and his party by the Mayor.
On Wednesday morning, May 30th, General Grant left
Liverpool for Manchester, where he was the guest of Mayor
Heywood, and publicly received by that official in the Town
Hall, being accompanied thither by a deputation of the City
Council which met him at the station. He was then escorted
on a round of visits among the celebrated manufactories of
Manchester to the warehouse of Sir James Watts, to the
Assize Courts, and the Royal Exchange. At the latter building
a large assemblage of merchants were gathered who received
the General enthusiastically. The party was met by the mem-
bers of Parliament for Manchester — Mr. Birley and Mr. Jacob
Bright, and by the Dean of Manchester. The Mayor presented
MANCHESTER.
<5
an address, preceding it by recalling the circumstance that when
he previously held the office of Mayor, fourteen years before, it
had been his duty to welcome the captain ol the "George
Griswold " reliel ship, which came from America laden with
provisions for Lancashire during the cotton famine. The
address was then read by the Town Clerk.
■■('
•K>-
1
1
, a^i
I IME 51 REE I I IVERPOOI .
In his reply the General said :
" Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council of Manchester, Ladies and
Gentlemen: It is scarcely possible for me to give utterance to the feelings
called forth by the receptions which have been accorded me since my arrival
in England. In Liverpool, where I spent a couple of days, I witnessed continu-
ously the same interest that has been exhibited in the streets and in the public
buildings of your city. It would be impossible for any person to have SO much
attention paid to him without feeling it, and it is impossible for me to give ex-
pression to the sentiments which have been evoked by it. I had intended upon
my arrival in Liverpool to have hastened through to London, and from thai
city to visit the various points of interest in your country, Manchester bi
one of the most important among them. I am, and have been for many years,
fully aware of the great amount of manufactures of Manchester, many ol
which find a market in my own country. I was very well aware, during the
war, of the sentiments of the great mass of the people ol M Qi hi ter toward
the country to which I have the honor to belong, and also of the sentiments
i6
riULA]U-:U'lIIA TO LONDON.
with regard to the struggle in which it fell to my lot to take a humble part. It
was a great trial for us. For your expressions of sympathy at that time there
exists a feeling of friendship toward Manchester distinct and separate from
that which my countrymen also feel, and I trust always will feel, toward every
part of England. 1 therefore accept on the part of my country, the compli-
ments which have been paid to me as its representative, and thank you for
them heartily."
Jacob Bright, Esq., M.P.
for Manchester, proposed the
health of the Mayor, referring
to the fact that in the great
American conflict General
Grant had not fought for con-
quest or for fame, but to give
freedom to the people, and
preserve the union of his native
land. A wonderful magna-
nimity bad been shown in all
his conduct, and it was truly
said that, when the conflict
was over, he employed all his
ereat influence to obtain ren-
erous terms forthevanquished.
He trusted that wherever
General Grant went in Eng-
ST. NICHOLAS CHURCH ami SIGNAL TOWER— LIVERPOOL. ];^]-|(j Jig WOlllcl TCCeive tile
honor that was his due.
A deputation of American merchants resident in Man-
chester waited upon the General at the close of the reception,
and offered him a welcome.
On Thursday, the 31st May, General Grant took luncheon
with the Mayor and Corporation of Salford. During this enter-
tainment the General, in proposing the health of the Mayor
and Mayoress, said :
" My reception since my arrival in England has been to me very expressive,
and one for which I have to return thanks on behalf of my country. I cannot
help feeling that it is my country that is honored through me. It is the affec-
tion which the people of this island have for their children on the other side
of the Atlantic, which they express to me as an humble representative of their
offspring."
/././( ESTER.
'7
At Leicester an address was presented in behalf of the
Mayor, Magistrates, Aldermen and Council of the Borough.
In acknowledging this address General Grant said:
" Allow me, in behalf of my country and myself, to return you thanks for
this honor, and for your kind reception as well as for the other kind receptions
which I have had since the time that I first landed on the soil of Great Britain.
As children of this great commonwealth, we feel that you must have some
reason to be proud of our advancement since our separation from the mother
country. I can assure you of our heartfelt good will, and express to you our
thanks on behalf of the American people."
The General was accompanied to London by General
Badeau, Mr. Ellis,
the chairman of the
Midland Railway,
and Mr. Allport, the
general manager.
At Bedford the train
was met by the
Mayor of the city,
who presented him
with an address,
terming him the
Hannibal of the
■wn i*--
, ,
rtii rt
S*wJB*i
imencan armies,
[OWN HAL] , WANCH1 n
and praying that he might be spared to enjoy the honors and
rewards which would continue to be heaped upon him. The
General thanked the Major for his courtesy, and regretted that
he could not make a speech that would compare with the
eloquence of his British friends.
Il the reception which had thus far attended General Grant's
appearance in England was a surprise to him — and he fre-
quently gave expression to such a sentiment regarding it — to
his fellow-citizens at home it was a revelation.
I his chapter may not inappropriately be closed b] G< neral
('.rant's letter after his arrival in England, to his friend George
W. Childs.
PHILADELPHIA TO LONDON.
"London, June 19th, 1877.
" My Dear Mr. Childs:
" After an unusually stormy passage for any season of the year, and
continuous sea-sickness generally among the passengers after the second day
out, we reached Liverpool Monday afternoon, the 28th of May. Jesse and
1 proved to he among the few good sailors. Neither of us felt a moment's
uneasiness during the voyage. I had proposed to leave Liverpool immediately
on arrival and proceed to London, where I knew our Minister had made
arrangements for the formal reception, and had accepted for me a few invi-
tations of courtesy. But what was my surprise to find nearly all the ship-
ping in port at Liverpool decorated with flags of all nations, and from the
mainmast of each the flag of the Union most conspicuous. The docks were
lined with as many of the population as could find standing-room, and the
streets to the hotel where it was understood my party would stop were packed.
The demonstration was, to all appearances, as hearty and as enthusiastic as in
Philadelphia on our departure. The Mayor was present with his state carriage,
to convey us to the hotel ; and after that he took us to his beautiful country
residence, some six miles out, where we were entertained with a small party of
gentlemen, and remained over night. The following day a large party was given
at the official residence of the Mayor in the city, at which there were some one
hundred and fifty of the distinguished citizens and officials of the corporation
present. Pressing invitations were sent from most of the cities in the kingdom
to have me visit them. I accepted for a day at Manchester, and stopped a
few moments at Leicester and at one other place. The same hearty welcome
\\;is shown at each place, as you have no doubt seen. ... I appreciate
the fact, and am proud of it, that the attentions I am receiving are intended
more for our country than for me personally. I love to see our country hon-
ored and respected abroad, and I am proud that it is respected by most all
nations, and by some even loved. It has always been my desire to see all
jealousies between England and the United States abated, and every sore
healed. Together, they are more powerful for the spread of commerce and
civilization than all others combined, and can do more to remove causes
of war by creating mutual interests that would be so much endangered by
war. . . .
"U. S. GRANT."
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CHAPTER II.
I.oXIx IN.
and
HE narrative of General Grant's visit to London must
be confined to a record of the honors paid him
by various English public men, by the people, by
municipal bodies like that of the City of London,
>v the Queen. To print in detail all that was said
and written on the occasion of the General's month's stay in
London, would be to print a volume. I shall therefore con-
fine myself to the General's movements, and those ceremonies
incident to the stay which attracted attention at the time, and
which are worthy of remembrance as part of the history of the
two countries.
The morning after arriving in London, General Grant went
to the Oaks at Epsom, where he met for the first time the
Prince of Wales.
'9
20
LONDON.
On the evening of the 2d of June the General dined with
the Duke of Wellington at Apsley House. On Sunday, the
3d, he visited Westminster Abbey, Dean Stanley in the course
of his sermon making a graceful allusion to the presence in
England of the Ex-President of the United States, and the
desire of the English people to honor America by honoring its
illustrious representative.
On the evening of the 5th, Mr. Pierrepont, the American
Minister, gave the General a reception at his house in Cavendish
Square. Cavendish Square is the center of what may be called
■
ir1f..". t i& ■
<■■ ::?/.& A * j Ji
the Faubourg Cen'tralain of London. The American Embassy
is a fine old English mansion, with a capacious interior, but with
a dark, somber exterior. It adjoins a grim castellated edifice
which is the residence of the Duke of Portland, from which
Thackeray is said to have drawn his description of the House
of the Marquis of Stein in " Vanity Fair." Cavendish Square is
the center of the homes of the Bentincks and other great no-
blemen, and was the refuge for the aristocracy when driven
from their houses in Soho Square, by the mob of 1730. It is
traversed by "the long unlovely street" where Hallam lived, of
which Tennyson writes in "In Memoriam." The Pierrepont
I A.VENDISH SQUARE. 2 ,
reception was attended by leading representatives "I" both par-
ties. Lord Beao msfield sent his regrets that he could not attend
on account of illness. The royal family were absent I
the court was in mourning for the recently deceased < |ueen of the
Netherlands. Amongthose who crowded the capacious saloons
of the embassy won- the Lord Chancellor, the Duke of Leeds
and the Duke of Beaufort, the Marquis of Salisbury, the Marquis
of Hertford, Earl Derby, Earl Shaftesbury, John Bright, Mr.
Gladstone, Lord Houghton, the Marquis of Ripon, the Marquis
of Lome, and representatives of every phase "I English society.
On the 6th of June, the General dined with Lord Carnarvon.
( )n the 7th he was presented at court. On the 8th he made a
hurried visit to Lath, where an address was presented by the
Mayor. On the evening of the 8th there was a dinner at the
Duke of Devonshire's and a reception by Consul-General
Badeau. The latter was a brilliant affair, and was attended by
large numbers of the nobility and many notable persons of Eng-
lish society. On the 9th, there was a dinner with Lord Gran-
ville. ( )n the 10th, General Grant dined with Sir Charles Dilke.
Two or three days were given by the General to a visit to
Southampton, where his daughter, Mrs. Sartoris, resides. This
was a pleasant episode in the routine of dinners, receptions,
and excitement. The General and family enjoyed exceedingly
their drives round the southern coast to Netley Abbey and
other places of historic interest about Southampton, which never
looked so beautiful as in this calm summer weather.
On the 15th of June took place one of the most important
incidents connected with the General's visit to Europe — the
conferring upon him of the freedom of the City of London.
This is the highest honor that can be paid by this ancient and
renowned corporation. The freedom of the city was presented
in a gold casket. The obverse central panel contains a view of
the Capitol at Washington, and on the right and left are the
General's monogram and the arms of the Lord Mayor. On the
reverse side is a view of the entrance to the Guildhall and an
inscription. At the end are two figures, also in gold, represent-
ing the City of London and the Republic of the United :
22
LONDON.
These figures bear enameled shields. At the corners are dou-
ble columns, laurel-wreathed, with corn and cotton, and on the
cover a cornucopia, as a compliment to the fertility ami pros-
perity of the United States. The cover is surmounted by the
arms of the City of London, and in the decorations are inter-
woven the rose, the shamrock, and the thistle. The casket is
supported by American eagles in gold, standing on a velvet
plinth decorated with stars and stripes.
The ceremonies attending the presentation of the freedom
of the City of London are stately and unique. Guildhall, one
of the most ancient and picturesque buildings in the city, was
specially prepared for the occasion, and eight hundred guests
were invited to the ban-
quet, a considerable pro-
portion of them being
ladies. There were the
members of the Corpora-
tion, the American Min-
ister, the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, members
of Parliament, and repre-
sentatives of the Ameri-
can colony resident in
London. On arriving at
the Guildhall the General
was received by a deputation of four aldermen, with the chair-
man and four members of the City Lands Committee, including
the mover and seconder of the resolution presenting the free-
dom. This deputation conducted the General to his place in
the Common Council on the left hand of the Lord Mayor. The
Lord Mayor, Sir Thomas White, came in state from the Man-
sion House. The passage leading to the library was guarded
by a detachment of the London Rifle Brigade.
At one o'clock the Common Council was opened in ordinary
form for the transaction of business. The Council never de-
viates from its established routine, not even for ceremonies. A
resolution was passed with reference to some ordinary matter
liilililillinn mi
CASKET — FHEEDOM OK LONDON.
GUILDHALL. 2 •.
of municipal interest, and die Town Clerk read the minutes of
the past meeting. This over, the Chamberlain, Mr. II. Scott,
addressed General Grant and said:
"The unprecedented facilities of modern travel, and the running to and fro
of all classes in our day, have brought to our shores unwonted visitors from
Asia, as well as from Europe — rulers of empires both ancient and of recent
creation ; but amongst them all we have n.n as yet received a President of the
United States of America — a power great, nourishing, and free, hut so youthful
that it celebrated only last year it- first centennial. A visit of the ruling Presi-
MEET1NG THE I'HINCE OF WALES.
dent of those States is scarcely to be looked for, so highly valued are his ser-
vices at home during his limited term of office ; you must bear with us, there-
fore, General, if we make much of an Ex- President of the great Republic of
the New World visiting the old home of his fathers. It is true that tl
fathers — Pilgrim Fathers we now call them — chafed under the straitness of the
parental rule, and sought in distant climes the liberty then denied them at
home : it is true, likewise, that their children subsequently resented the inter-
ference, well intended if unwise, of their venerated parent, and manifested a
spirit of independence of parental restraint not unbecoming in grown-up sons
of the Anglo-Saxon stock, Yet, for all this, there is furnished from time to
,,, LONDON.
time, abundant evidence that both < hildren and parent have forgotten old dif-
ferences and forgiven old wrongs; that the children continue to revere the
mother country, while she is not wanting in maternal pride at witnessing so
numcnms, so thriving, and so freedom-loving a race of descendants. If other
indications were wanting of mutual feelings (if regard, we should find them, on
the <>ue hand, in the very hospitable and enthusiastic reception accorded to the
Heir Apparent to the British throne, and subsequently to H. R. H. Prince Ar-
thur, when, during your presidency, he visited your country ; and on the other
hand, in the cordial reception which, we are gratified to observe, you have re-
ed from the hour when you set foot on the shores of Old England. In this
spirit, and with these convictions, the Corporation of London receives you to-
day with all kindliness of welcome, desiring to compliment you and your coun-
try in vour person by conferring upon you the honorary freedom of their ancient
city — a freedom which had existence more than eight centuries before your first
ancestors se( foot on Plymouth Rock ; a freedom confirmed to the citizens, but
not originated, by the Norman conqueror, which has not yet lost its significance
or its value, although the liberty which it symbolizes has been extended to other
British subjects, and has become the inheritance of the great Anglo-American
family across the Atlantic. But we not only recognize in you a citizen of the
United Stales, hut one who has made a distinguished mark in American his-
tory — a soldier whose military capabilities brought him to the front in the hour
of his country's sorest trial, and enabled him to strike the blow which termi-
nated fratrii idal war and reunited his distracted country ; who also manifested
magnanimity in the hour of triumph, and amidst the national indignation
i reated b) the assassination of the great and good Abraham Lincoln, by obtain-
ing for vanquished adversaries the rights of capitulated brethren in arms, when
some would have treated them as traitors to their country. We further recog-
nize in you a President upon whom was laid the honor, and with it the respon-
sibility, during two terms of office, of a greater and more difficult task than that
which di \ i lived upon you as a general in the field — that of binding up the bleed-
ing frame of society which had been rent asunder when the demon of slavery
was cast out. That the constitution of the country over which you were thus
called to preside survived so fearful a shock, that we saw it proud and progres-
sive, celebrating its centennial during the last year of your official rule, evinces
thai the task which vour countrymen had committed to you did not miscarry
in your hands. That such results have been possible must, in fairness, be
attributed in no inconsiderable degree to the firm but conciliatory policy of
your administration at home and abroad, which is affirmed of you by the reso-
lution of this honorable Court whose exponent and mouthpiece I am this day.
May you greatly enjoy your visit to our country at this favored season of the
year, and may vour life be long spared to witness in your country, and in our
own — the two great branches of the Anglo-Saxon family — a career of increasing
amity, mutual respect, and honest, if spirited rivalry — rivalry in trade, com-
merce, agriculture, and manufacture ; in the arts, science, and literature ; rivalry
in the highest of all arts, how best to promote the well-being and to develop the
FREEDOM OF < '// ')'.
2 5
industry of nations, how to govern them for the largest good to the greatest
number, and for the advancement of peace, liberty, morality, and th
quent happiness of mankind. Nothing now remains, General, but that 1 should
present to you an illuminated ropy of the resolutions of tins honorable Court,
for the reception of which an appropriate i isket
is in course of preparation ; and, in conclusion,
offer you, in the name of this honorable Court,
the right hand of fellowship as a citizen of Lon-
don." (Cheers.)
( reneral Grant replied :
" It is a matter of some regret to
that I have never cultivated that
of public speaking which might
e enabled me to express in suit-
able terms my gratitude for the i om-
I HE \\ i:\l F. sol I || VMPTON.
plimerit which has been paid to my countrymen and myself on this occa-
sion. Were I in the habit of speaking in public, I should claim the right
to express my opinion, and what I believe will be the opinion of my country-
men when the proceedings of this day shall have been til to them.
For myself, I have been very much surprised at my reception al all places
since the day I landed at Liverpool up to my appearance in this the greatest
VDON.
citj in the world. It was entirely unexpected, and it is particularly gratify-
ing to me. 1 believe that this honor is intended quite as much for the country
whi< li 1 have had the opportunity of serving in different capa< ities, as for my-
self, and 1 am glad thai this is so, because 1 want to see the happiest relations
existing, not only between the United States and Great Britain, but also be-
tween the United States and all other nations. Although a soldier by educa-
tion and profession, 1 have never felt any sort of fondness for war, and I have
never advocated it except as a means of peace. I hope that we shall always
settle our differences in all future negotiations as amicably as we did in a recent
instance. I believe that settlement has had a happy effect on both countries,
and that from month to month, and year to year, the tie of common civiliza-
tion and common blood is getting stronger between the two countries. My
Lord Mayor, ladies, and gentlemen, I again thank you for the honor you have
done me and my country to-day."
At the conclusion of this speech, which was received with
hearty cheering, General Grant subscribed his name to the roll
of honorary freemen, and after that attended a luncheon. This
was served on twenty tables. After drinking the health of the
Queen, the Lord Mayor proposed the health of General Grant.
Perhaps I can give no better description of the General's speech,
and of the impression it made upon those present, than by quot-
ing the account from the pen of George W. Smalley, the dis-
tinguished correspondent of the New York Tribune, who was
among the guests present. I did not have the opportunity of
attending the festivities at the Guildhall, and therefore borrow
Mr. Smalley's pen as that of an accomplished eye-witness.
Speaking of General Grant as an orator, a character in which
he had never before appeared, Mr. Smalley said that he had
heard three speeches in one day. " The first," said Mr. Smalley,
" was a somewhat elaborate address in the library of the Guild-
hall, in response to the still more elaborate address of the Cham-
berlain in offering him the freedom of the City of London. It
was thoroughly well done in manner and matter. The second
was at lunch in the Guildhall, and was simply a gem. It is so
clumsily reported in this morning's papers that I insert here the
true version. The Lord Mayor having proposed, and the guests
having drunk General Grant's health, the General replied in
these words: ' My Lord Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen : Habits
Gl //./>//.!/./..
formed in early life and early education press upon us as we grow
older. I was brought up a soldier — not to talking. I am not
aware that 1 ever fought two battles on the same day in the same
place, ami that I should be called upon to make two spei i hes on
the same day under the same roof is beyond my understanding.
What I do un-
derstand is, that
I am much in-
debted to all of
you for the com-
I> 1 i m e n t you
have paid me.
All I can do is
to thank t h e
Lord Mayor for
his kind words,
and to thank the
citizens of Great
Britain hen-
present in the
name of my
country and for
myself.'
"I never
heard," conti-
nues Mr. Smal-
ley, "a more
perfect speech
of its kind than
that. There is
a charm, a felicity in the turn of one or two of its phrases that
would do credit to the best artists in words— to Mr. Kin-lake or
to Mr. Matthew Arnold themselves. Later in the day, at the
quiet and almost private dinner at the Crystal Palace, Mr.
Thomas Hughes asked the company, in a few words full of
grace and feeling, to drink the health of General Grant. Mr.
Hughes took pains to say that the occasion was not formal, and
2 g LONDON.
that he did not mean to impose upon his guest the burden of a
reply. General Grant sat looking up into Mr. Hughes' face;
there was a moment's pause, and then the General, screwing
himself slowly up out of his chair till he stood erect on his feet,
said: 'Mr. Hughes, I must none the less tell you what grati-
fication it gives me to hear my health proposed in such hearty
words by Tom Brown of Rugby.' 1 do not know what could be
better than that. Still later in the evening, during the exhibi-
tion of fireworks, General Grant sat silent while his own portrait
— a capital likeness — was drawn in lines of changing flame
against the dark background of Beckenham Hills. Not a
muscle moved; there was not a sign of pleasure at the splendid
compliment paid him; not a movement of recognition for the
cheers with which the great crowd below hailed the 'portrait.
But when this had burnt out, and the next piece — a sketch of
the building which crowns the heights above the Potomac — was
blazing, a slight smile parted the General's lips as he remarked
to Lady Ripon, who sat next to him: 'They have burnt me in
effigy, and now they are burning the Capitol ! '"
The entertainment at the Crystal Palace to which Mr. Smal-
ley refers, was specially arranged for General Grant. The
American and English national airs were played. "Hearts
of Oak " was sung by Signor Toli, and was followed by "Hail
Columbia" on the whole band. There was an anniversary over-
ture with a chorus, written by S. G. Pratt, of Chicago, dedicated
to General Grant, and performed for the first time in England
on the occasion of his visit to the Crystal Palace.
Signor Campobello sang Longfellow's " Village Blacksmith,"
and Mrs. Osgood, with a chorus, "The Star-spangled Banner."
On the 1 6th of June, the General and family dined with the
Princess Louise and the Marquis of Lome, at the Kensington
Palace, and on the 17th with Mr. Morgan, the banker. On the
1 8th, Mr. Smaller, the correspondent of the New York Tribune,
entertained the General at breakfast at his beautiful house in
Hyde Park Square. This was a famous gathering in some re-
ipects. Among those present were Matthew Arnold, Robert
Browning, A. W. Kinglake, Anthony Trollope, Professor Htix-
REFORM CLUB. . ,
ley, Thomas Hughes, F. H. Hill, editor of the Daily News, the
Rt. Hon. Jas. Stansfeld, and others. John Bright sent a regret
at his inability to be present. In the evening there was a dinner
at the Reform Club, Lord Granville, wearing his ribbon and star
of the Garter, presiding-. This dinner was given in the House
Room of the club, and those present were mostly representative
of the Liberal party in England. Mr. Pierrepont, the Minister,
had some scruples about attending, not wishing, in his repre
sentative capacity, to be present at a political demonstration.
PALACE,
Among those present were Mr. Geo. 11. Boker, the American
Minister to Russia, Mr. Mundella, W. E. Forster, Mr. Bagston,
Frederick Harrison, and others. After the toast of the Queen
had been proposed, Mr. Forster made a speech welcoming
General Grant, and paying a compliment to President 1 l.i\ es i< t
his reunion policy, which, he thought, would end by making the
United States what they were before the war, really one country,
and what they were not before the war, one country and \v General V. S. Grant, care of H. M. the Qui en :
" Your comrades, in national encampment assembled, in Rhode Island, send
,. LONDON.
heartiest greetings to their old commander, and desire, through England's
Queen, to thank England for ('.rant's reception."
To this the General responded:
" Grateful for telegram. Conveyed message to the Queen. Thank my old
comrades."
The dispatch came just as the party were assembling for
dinner, and was given by the General to her majesty, who
expressed much pleasure at the kind greeting from America.
During the dinner the band of the Grenadier Guards played in
the Quadrangle. After dinner the Queen entered into conver-
sation with the part)-, and about ten took her leave, followed by
her suite. The evening was given to conversation and whist,
with members of the royal household, and at half-past eleven
the)- retired. The next morning the General and party took
their leave of Windsor and returned to London.
When the General landed in Liverpool, he promised to re-
turn to that city and accept a dinner from the Mayor and cor-
poration. This promise he was unable to fulfill until the 28th.
On the evening of that day he arrived at Liverpool, accompa-
nied by his son and General Badeau, and at once drove to the
house of the Mayor, Mr. Walker. About two hundred and fifty
guests attended the banquet, mainly citizens of the flourish-
ing and prosperous town of Liverpool. In proposing a toast
to General Grant, the Mayor congratulated himself on the fact
that Liverpool was the first place in which the General set foot
on British soil. The band played " Hail Columbia," and Gene-
ral Grant in response said :
" Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen : You have alluded to the hearty reception
given to me on my first landing on the soil of Great Britain, and the expecta-
tions of the Mayor that this reception would be equaled throughout the island
have been more than realized. It has been far beyond anything I could have
expected." (Cheers.) " I am a soldier, and the gentlemen here beside me know
that a soldier must die. I have been a President, but we know that the term of
the presidency expires, and when it has expired he is no more than a dead sol-
dier." (Laughter and cheers.) " But, gentlemen, I have met with a reception that
would have done honor to any living person." (Cheers.) " I feel, however, that
the compliment has been paid, not to me, but to my country. I cannot help but
LIVERPOOL.
55
at this moment being highly pleased at the good feeling and good sentiment
which now exist between the two peoples who of all others should be good
friends. We are of one kindred, of one blood, of one Language, and ol
civilization, though in some respects we believe that we, being younger, surpass
the mother country." (Laughter.) " Vou have made improvements on the soil
and the surface of the earth which we have not yet clone, but whi< h we do not
believe will take us as long as it took you." (Laughter and applause.) "1 hi
some military remarks which impressed me a little at the tune — 1 am not quite
sure whether they were in favor of the volunteers or against them. I can only
sav from my own observation that you have as many troops at Aldershott as we
have in the whole of our regular army, notwithstanding we have many thou-
IT LIVERPOOL
sands of miles of frontier to guard and hostile Indian's to control. But if it be-
came necessary to raise a volunteer force, I do not think we could do better
than follow your example. General Fairchild and myself are examples of
volunteers who came forward when their assistance was necessary, and I have-
no doubt that if vou ever needed such servi, es \ ou would have support from
your reserve forces and volunteers, far more effective than you can conceive."
(Cheers.)
In concluding, the General proposed the health of the Mayor,
and tht- banquet came to an end.
On the evening of the 29th, General Grant dined at the
Grosvenor Hotel to meet many of the leading journalists of
LONDON.
London. In describing this dinner, Mr. Smalley, of the New
York Tribune^ says :
"General Grant himself — who must by this time rank as
an expert in such matters — pronounces his dinner at the
Grosvenor Hotel on Friday, one of the most enjoyable among
the many given him in London. Nearly all the newspaper
men present were, naturally enough, Englishmen. You will
hardly find their names mentioned in any English paper, so
close is the veil which English journalism delights to throw
around the individuals who make it their profession. I hope no
great harm will be done if I lift a corner of the veil, and give
you a glimpse of
some of the men
who help to govern
Great Britain.
" I could not be-
gin with a name
less known or more
wort h y of being
known than that
of Thomas Walker,
some time editor of
The Daily News.
Possibly he is bet-
ter known in America than here. If fame depended on solid
service done, his fame ought to be a wide one in America. He
it was who put that powerful journal on our side in 1861, and
kept it there through the long period of disaster and discourage-
ment which saw almost every other London paper steadily de-
fending the cause of the Rebellion. This act Mr. Walker did
against influences which would have overborne the judgment of
most men — against even the remonstrances of the owners of
The Daily News, who feared peril to their property from the
policy it supported. We can't afford to forget a man who risked
and endured so much for us. General Grant did not forget it,
I am glad to say, but when Mr. Walker was presented to him,
greeted him with a warmth he does not always display. For
/ I >\/h>.\ /'A7-..VV.
37
similar reasons something of the General's usual reserve dis-
appeared when he shook hands with Mr. Frank Hill, the pre-
sent editor of the same paper, who has kept it true to its old
traditions of friendship with America. 1 have had to mention
Mr. Frank Hill now and then — once as the author ol that vol
time of ' Political Portraits' which is one of the most brilliant ol
modern contributions to political literature. I lis is the no less
brilliant and solid paper in the last Fortnightly on the Due de
Brogflie. Not far off sat Mr. Robinson, the manager of the
same paper, to whose energy and -cuius for news-gathering so
ll .11 \\\ !■ ILACE.
much of its recent commercial success is due. Other contribu-
tors to this great journal were present: Mr. Fraser Rae, whom
you know in America as an excellent writer, and who has pub-
lished books in other departments : Mr. Pigott, once a leader-
writer, now Censor of Plays in the Lord Chamberlain's Office;
Mr. Lucy, who does its Parliamentary summary every night, who
wrote the famous 'Under the Clock' series for The World
(London), and who is now the editor of a weekly paper set up
as a rival to that, and known as May/air- — a very readable
collection of chat, and of things better than chat.
;s
LONDON.
"The Times was represented by Mr. MacDonald, its business
manager for twenty years, and news manager also since the
death of Mr. Mowbraj Morris. To say that a man has held
such a position as that on the leading journal of the world for
such a length of lime is eulogy enough — not that I mean to
occupy myself with eulogy-making on him or anybody else
His colleague, Mr. Stebbing, is a younger man, whose work
lies in the editorial wing of the paper — if so much may be said
without seeking to pene-
trate the profound mystery
which envelops the whole
of that part of the estab-
lishment. Later in t h e
evening came Mr. Mac-
don ell, a Times 1 e a d e r-
writer, known in newspa-
per circles for the finish
and accuracy of his work.
Opposite Mr. Frank Hill,
the editor of The Daily
News, sat Mr. Frederick
Greenwood, the editor of
The Pall Mall Gaze tie, op-
posed in almost ever)- sense
^•Li^^.;^^ and on almost every ques-
tion of public policy. Of
Mr. Greenwood, too, I have
rather lately been writing
with as much freedom as I ought, or more; and of him, too, it
may be said that his success in making The Tall Mall Gazette
what it is. is one of the conspicuous facts in modern journalism.
Mr. Traill, of the same paper, is a man of letters, a student of
other literatures beside English, whose recent article on Paul
Louis Courier I hope every American journalist read. The
Daily Telegraph is present in the person of Mr. Sala, its most
versatile and popular correspondent, and the writer of its social
and many other articles. Mr. Edward Dicey was once, ami
RECEPTION A I THE AMERICAN LEGATION-
LONDON PRESS. ,„
perhaps still is, a contributor to that journal, but is now editor
in his own right of The Observer, the one Sundaj paper which
ranks by its ability and enterprise with the dailies of London,
an old paper to which Mr. Dicey has brought fresh power and
talent enough to give it of late years a more important position
than it ever had before. He, too, is known in America by his
own services, and by the fact of having married one of the most
beautiful and accomplished of American women. Mr. Edmund
Yates you know, also novelist and journalist, now editor of I lie
Worlds which was the first and is still the most widely circu-
lated, and one oi the most readable of what 1 have taken the
liberty to call Boulevard weeklies.
" My catalogue is already a long one, but I dare say I have
omitted some names, and I must at any rate include three
American journalists who were present: Mr. Conway, of whom
we are all proud; .Mr. William Winter, your graceful dra-
matic critic, and Mr. Chamberlain, the promising son of the
veteran writer who was so long Mr. Greeley's personal friend
and political opponent. Among guests who do not belong to
the profession were the Minister of the United States, and next
to him Monsignor Capel, a dark-faced man whom, being a born
Puritan, I set down as having the face of a |esuit (which I
believe he is), but a genial and cultivated man, renowned in
London as a capital talker. Mr. Roscoe Conkling attracts gene-
ral attention, his personal gifts and bearing being at least as
conspicuous in an English as in an American assembly. Next
General Grant came Sir Joseph Fayrer, an Anglo-Indian of
twenty-two years' experience, who showed perhaps equal cour;
in the immortal defense of Lucknowand in forbidding the Prince
of Wales to go to Madras. A square-faced man he is. between
whom and General Grant there are- points of ready sympathy,
and talk goes freely on. General Badeau sits at the other end
ol the upper table ; Mr. Macmillan. the eminent publisher, and his
partner, Mr. Craik ; Mr. Norman Lockyer, the War-Office clerk
and astronomer; Mr. Puleston, M.P. ; Mr. James Payn, Mr.
Theodore M. Davis, Mr. f. R. ('.rant, are all there; and that
man with the clear-cut face, whom you might pick out as the
iri LONDON.
descendant of a dozen earls, but who has done his fighting in
person instead of through his ancestors, and wears an empty
sleeve, is General Fairchild, our Consul in Liverpool, and an
excellent consul he is. These, you will agree, are the mate-
rials of good company and good folk, and General Grant's plea-
sure in the entertainment given him need surprise nobody. I
might add a good deal about the dinner itself, and about the
decorations of the rooms, and all that contributed to the perfec-
tion of the festival. I should even like to report some of the talk,
were that a permissible liberty to take. But one must draw the
line somewhere ; even a newspaper correspondent has occasional
scruples."
On the 3d of July, General Grant received, at the house of
General Badeau, a deputation composed of many of the leading
representatives of the workingmen of London and the provinces.
This deputation represented the engineers, iron founders, miners,
and various classes of industry. In introducing it, Mr. Broad-
hurst, Secretary of the Workingmen's League, said that those
who sent the address of welcome to General Grant represented
the most important laboring towns. While they differed on
various social and political points, they all agreed in their admi-
ration of the Ex-President, and their grateful remembrance of
the part taken by the General's administration in securing the
representation of industry on the American Commission of the
Vienna Exhibition. The address was handsomely engrossed on
vellum, and was read by Mr. Guile, of the Iron Founders'
Society. General Grant in response said :
"Gentlemen : In the name of my country I thank you for the address you
have just presented to me. I feel it a great compliment paid to my Govern-
ment, to the former Government, and one to me personally. Since my arrival
on British soil I have received great attentions, and, as I feel, intended in
the same way for my country. I have received attentions and have had ova-
tions, free hand-shakings, and presentations from different classes, and from
the Government, and from the controlling authorities of cities, and have been
received in the cities by the populace. But there is no reception I am prouder
of than this one to-day. I recognize the fact that whatever there is of great-
ness in the United States, or indeed in any other country, is due to the labor
performed. The laborer is the author of all greatness and wealth. Without
I NITED SER\ h E i LI B.
41
labor there would be no government, or no leading class, or nothing to preserve.
With us labor is regarded as highly respectable. When it is not so regarded il
is that man dishonors labor. We recognize that labor dishonors no man ; and
no matter what a man's occupation is he is eligible to fill any post 111 the gifl ol
the people. His occupation is not considered in the selection of him, whether
as a lawmaker or an executor of the law. Now, gentlemen, in conclusion, all
1 can do is to renew my thanks to you for the address, and to repeat what I
have said before, that I have received nothing from any class since my arrival
on this soil which has given me more pleasure."
A
free hand-shaking '
with General Grant on the part of all
. . c , .
1 ■ -""t
1 jlK'V I
ST. PAUL'S ( \ 1 in JDR \i .
the forty members of the deputation followed, and they then
withdrew.
In the evening the General dined at the United Service
Club, to meet a large number of officers of the army and navy.
The Duke of Cambridge presided. Among those present w
the Admiral of the Fleet, Sir George Sartorius, who was a mid-
shipman in the vessel which Nelson commanded at Trafalgar in
1805. This dinner was essentially private, but it afforded the
.„ LONDON.
General great pleasure to meet so many distinguished officers
of the British army and navy.
( >n the 4th of July then- was a reception at the Ameri-
can Embassy. In the evening a private dinner was given by
Mr. Pierrepont to the following gentlemen: Senator Conkling,
Governor Hendricks, Judge W'allis, the Rev. Phillips Brooks
of Boston, Chancellor Remsen of New Jersey, Monsignor
Capel, Mr. Hopping, G. W. Smalley, J. R. Grant, and J. R.
Young. This was the General's last dinner in London previ-
ous to his departure to the Continent. Perhaps I cannot better
close this chapter than by repeating the observations of Mr.
Smalley in his letter to The Tribune: " The Fourth of July was
observed in London at the Legation, and so far as I know
at the Legation only. The papers announced that the Minis-
ter of the United States and Mrs. Pierrepont would receive
Americans from four to seven in the afternoon, General Grant
and Mrs. Grant to be present. The Americans presented
themselves in large numbers. It is the season when a good
many of our countrymen are in London, on their way to the
Continent, and not a few such birds of passage thronged the
rooms of the Legation yesterday afternoon. Of resident Ameri-
cans there were also man)- — so many that I won't undertake to
repeat their names. And there was a pretty large sidewalk
committee outside, attracted by the American flag which floated
over the doorway, and by the carriages setting down company
— the latter always a favorite sight with the poor devils who
spend their days in the street. Whether because it was the
great Saint's Day of America, or of any other equally good
reason, a vast deal of what is called good feeling is shown — a
degree of cordiality in the greetings between acquaintances
greater than might be expected when you consider that these
same people live three-fourths of the year or more in the same
town and within a few miles of each other, but are seldom on
intimate terms. There are no dissensions to speak of among
Americans here (though there have been), but neither is there
much gregariousness. Patriotism got the upper hand yester-
day, however. The lion and the lamb took tea together — nay,
AMERICAN LEGATION.
43
dined together later. Pretty girls abounded. The American
girl is always pretty, or, at least, always expected by the Briton
to be pretty. The Briton was not there yesterday to see how
many of them there were. California contributed its quota;
Boston and New York were not unrepresented ; Baltimore sent
a belle or two, and there were ladies no longer to be called girls
who might have disputed with the best of their younger sisters
for the palm of beauty. I think 1 noticed in my fellow citizens
a slight uncertainty as to the sort of costume that ought to be
OJ '•::..
worn on so solemn an occasion. The white tie was prematurely
seen — it was only five o'clock in the afternoon, and your true
Englishman never wears it before dinner, and dinner is never
before eight — and some dress coats covered the manly form.
I don't think I saw any ladies without bonnets. General Grant
arrived a little late, and till he came nobody went away, so that
the crush in Mr. Pierrepont's spacious room, was for some time
considerable. General and Mrs. Grant held a levee whether
they would or no ; their admiring and eager countrymen and
countrywomen swarmed about them. Once more the General
44 LONDON.
might have fancied himself in the White House, judging by the
severity of the ' free hand-shakings ' he underwent. Not a man
or a woman of those who gathered about spared him, nor did he
flinch ; but we dare say he: reflected with pleasure that he was
going to countries where hand-shaking is much less in fashion
than here or at home.
"Last of all, the General dined, on the evening of the 4th,
at the Legation of the United States. The occasion was not
made a very ceremonious one; with a single exception, only
Americans were put on guard that night. The exception was
Monsignor Capel. The dinner was so far informal and private
that I hardly know whether I am right in saying anything about
it. Most of the distinguished Americans known to be passing
through London were invited, and were present. The list
included Senator Conkling, Governor Hendricks, Judge Wal-
lis of the United States District Court — the same who lately
tried the Emma Mine case — the Rev. Phillips Brooks of Boston,
and Chancellor Remsen of New Jersey. Mrs. Grant and Mrs.
Pierrepont were the only ladies present. The evening was a very
pleasant one, and was greatly enjoyed by all. As the General
proposed starting next day for a short run to the Continent, the
guests departed at an early hour, wishing the party a pleasant
trip through Belgium and Switzerland."
■z
w
w
o
w
X
H
>■
CO
&
O
en
P
f-c
•<
O
H
0<
w
u
w
CHAPTER III.
A RUN TO THE CONTINENT.
^\ f- ~' : W ^EN General Grant returned from his visit to Liver-
[ ..•/' pool, he found the summer days in London, the
season dead, and everybody out of town. He con-
sequently postponed his visit to Scotland and the
North of England until he had made a short trip on the Conti-
nent. As most of the countries visited by General Grant dur-
ing this journey will be referred to in other parts of this book,
I shall confine this chapter to noting the incidents of the journey,
so far as they affected General Grant personally, and showed a
disposition on the part of foreign countries and American citi-
zens abroad to do him honor. To recount in detail every cere-
mony and festivity which awaited the General around the world
would be to write five volumes instead of one. While I am
tempted therefore to dwell upon beautiful scenery, social as-
pects, industry and commerce, and any feature of interest con-
nected with the people through whose countries the General
made his rapid journey, it must suffice for the present to note
45
40
. / RUN TO THE t OA TINENT.
the leading incidents of the trip, and leave mere speculations
to the other parts of the volume.
On the 5th of July, the morning after our dinner at the
American Minister's in London, General Grant, accompanied
by Mrs. Grant, his sun, and General Badeau, left London for
( )stend. ( )n arriving at Ostend, an officer of the King's house-
hold waited on the General, and tendered him the use of the
royal car to Brussels. The municipal and military authorities
met the General on landing with an address of congratulation.
Mr. D. S. Merrill, the son of the American Minister at Brussels,
waited upon the General, and next morning the party left Os-
tend for the Belgian capi-
tal. They stopped on the
route at the ancient city of
Ghent, where, accompanied
by the American Consul,
the principal bridges and
places of interest of that
quaint and venerable city
were examined. On Fri-
day evening at six o'clock
they arrived at Brussels.
The General paid a visit
to the Minister, the Hon.
A. P. Merrill, whose illness
confined him to his house.
At noon, they visited the
Hotel de Ville, and were
shown by the authorities
all the interesting objects
For generations past famous visi-
tors to the Hotel de Ville have written their names in a book
called the Livre if Or. The General was requested to add his
autograph to the scroll of illustrious men. In the evening the
General dined with Mr. Sandforcl, formerly Minister at Brus-
sels, and now resident in that city. On the 7th of July, King
Leopold of Belgium, accompanied by Madame de Winkersloot,
1 1 I 1 ii\KIS GHENT.
in that memorable edifice.
MUSSELS.
47
called on General Grant at his hotel, and had a long con-
versation with him. This visit was returned by General Grant
at the palace on Monday evening, the 8th of July. On that
evening the King gave a banquet in honor of his guest, and be-
fore the time for the guests assembling, the General and Mrs.
Grant returned the call of his majesty, who entered into a long
conversation. The King of Belgium is a man ol more than
ordinary gifts, and he impressed the Fx-President with his
knowledge, industry, and his desire to strengthen his kingdom.
The King seemed to be familiar with American affairs, and the
subject that interested him most particularly, in his conversation
with General Grant, was the establishment of lines of ships
between Antwerp and American ports. The General was
attended by the family of the Minister, Mr. Merrill, by General
and Mrs. Sandford, General Badeau, and dignitaries of the
court.
On Monday morning, July 9th, General Grant left Brussels
for Cologne, having formed not only a high opinion of the
character and intellect of the sovereign of Belgium, but a per-
sonal friendship. The journey to Cologne was performed in
the King's railway carriage. On his arrival in the city, the civil
and military governors called upon him. He visited the cathe-
dral, crossed the bridges, and made the famous tour of the
Rhine as far as Coblentz. On the nth of July the General
visited Wiesbaden, and on the 12th was in Frankfort, where
the American citizens had arranged a fete and dinner. General
Grant was met by a committee of ten gentlemen, and was
escorted to the Hotel de Russie. At six o'clock in the evening
there was a dinner in the famous Palmer Garten, at which a
hundred and fifty gentlemen were present. Frankfort is closely
connected with the United States by commercial and financial
ties, and some of her most distinguished citizens have made their
fortunes out of the American trade. At the conclusion of the
dinner, the General strolled round the gardens, making his way
with difficulty through the multitude, which numbered as many
as ten thousand, assembled there to see him. On Friday after-
noon, July 1 3th. the General and his party drove to Homburg-les-
48
./ RUN 70 THE CONTINENT.
Bains, where he was met by a committee of Americans, headed
by Ex-Governor Ward of New Jersey. From Homburg he
drove to Salburg to visit the famous Roman camp, This
camp is the most extensive Roman memorial in Germany, and
covers seven hundred acres. It is under the especial care of
the Prussian Government, and while they were there Professor
Jacobi and Captain Frischer, who have charge of it, opened
one of the graves. It was found filled with the ashes of a Ro-
man soldier who had been dead more than eighteen centuries.
( >f these burial mounds more than two hundred have been
opened during the one hundred and fifty years since the camp
was first discovered. In the evening there was a dinner at
Homburg, during which the band of the Grand Duke of
Darmstadt played. After dinner there was a walk in the glori-
ous gardens of the Kursaal. The gardens were illuminated,
and the effect of the light on the fountains was exceedingly
beautiful. At eleven o'clock the General returned to Frank-
fort. The next day he visited some of the famous wine-cellars,
and then attended a dinner at the Zoological Gardens. On
Sunday morning, July 15th, the General left for Heidelberg,
From Heidelberg there was the usual tour to Baden and the
Black Forest. The General and his party visited Lucerne,
Interlaken, and Berne. The latter place was visited on the
24th. At all these points the people took special pains to do
the General honor. On the 26th of July, General Grant and
his party arrived in Geneva. The principal incident of his
visit to Geneva was the laying of the corner stone of a new
American Episcopal church on Friday, the 27th of July. This
church is built on the Rue des Voirons, on a site given to the
congregation by Mr. Barbay, an American citizen resident in
Geneva. The style of architecture is simple and chaste. The
American colony assembled at the Hotel Beau Rivage and a
procession was formed, at the head of which marched the
American chaplain, the Rev. Mr. Parkes, accompanied by the
Rev. Mr. Green, who assisted as the representative of the Rev.
Mr. Jephson, the chaplain of the English church. Many of the
inhabitants of the town were present. There were, likewise,
SWITZERLAND.
49
delegates from the State Council, and other local bodies. There
was prayer with music and an address by Mr. Parkes. I In-
General then descended from the platform, and after a box
containing American and various other coins and copies of
Swiss and English papers had been placed under the founda-
tion, the General struck the stone with the hammer, ornamented
with the American colors, and declared the stone "well laid in
the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." Mr. Parkes
p ^iigpijil
HOTEL DE YILl.i:, CI I V
\K¥, BRUSSELS.
thanked the assembly in the name of General Grant for the
gathering and welcome. M. Carteret, Vice-President of the
Council of State, in the name of the Canton expressed the
satisfaction he felt at the laying of the foundation stone of an
American church in Geneva, which, he said, was not only a
proof of the growing importance of the American colony in
Geneva, but evidence of the liberty accorded by Switzerland to
all religious creeds. M. Levrier and Pastor faquet also de-
livered addresses. At half-past twelve there was a d&jeuner at
the Hotel de la Pays, Mr. Parkes presiding. He welcomed
4
5°
./ RUN TO THE CONTINENT.
'•'
General (-rant to Geneva, and the General replied, thanking
his friends for the welcome accorded to him. He had, he
said, never felt himself more happy. " I have never felt myself
more happy than among this assembly of fellow republicans of
America and Switzerland. 1 have long had a desire to visit
the city when- the Alabama Claims were settled by arbitration
without the effusion of blood, and where the principle of in-
ternational arbitration was established, which I hope will be
resorted to by other nations and be the means of continu-
ing peace to all mankind."
The ceremony' in Geneva
was the most important in-
cident in General Grant's
tour in Switzerland.
There was a visit to Mont
Blanc, which was illumi-
nated in honor of the Gene-
ral's trip, and the wonder-
ful scenes of that glorious
Alpine range were studied.
The General then crossed
the Simplon Pass, made a
tour of the northern part
of Italy, and returned by
the 14th of August to Ra-
gatz, where he spent some
days in the enjoyment of
the baths. From Ragatz
he visited the interesting
country — interesting because of the events of the recent war —
of Alsace and Lorraine.
It was on the return to England, where in easy stages the
General came from Alpine rambles — Italian lakes, and pleasant
restful days in Ragatz — that a visit was made to Alsace and
Lorraine. There is, perhaps, no spot in Europe around which
associate so many fresh memories of conquest and humiliation
as Alsace and Lorraine. It was not my fortune to accompany
MEETING WITH "KING LEOPOLD.
ALSACE. -,
General Grant on this part of his journey. I had, how< ver, made
a tour of the provinces some time before his coming, and my
notes of that journey, considering the transcendent importance
of Alsace and Lorraine in the politics of Europe, may be worth
reading now. The occasion of the writer's visit was the French
exodus from Alsace and Lorraine, when the Prussian Govern-
ment compelled all residents to take the option of becoming
citizens of Germany or emigrating to France.
Take an old map of France and look at what might be called
the right shoulder of the map, and you will find a strip of land
about as large apparently, in comparison with France, as New
Hampshire is to our country, and not unlike it in shape, stretch-
ing from Luxembourg and the Belgian frontier down to Swit-
zerland, bulging out on the line toward Paris so as to include
Metz, and tapering almost to a point near Switzerland, so as to
exclude Belfort. This irregular patch, looking like an inverted
Indian club, includes the province of Alsace and a great part of
what is called Lorraine, and is now, perhaps, the most famous
strip of ground in the world; for the eyes of the world are
looking here, amazed at certain phenomena and historical trans-
actions, and trying to solve their meaning As you know, it is
now a disputed land. It has been in dispute for twenty cen-
turies, and its fertile soil has been enriched with the blood of
generations of slain men, from the time of Caesar to Wilhelm
of Prussia. Thirteen hundred years ago Clovis conquered it,
and although Charlemagne was a benefactor, the wars that came
with his successors channeled and furrowed its fair fields. The
Hungarians went through it with fire and sword, and it suffered
under the religious wars which swept over Europe in the six-
teenth century, the Swedes " honoring God " in the most ex-
travagant and bloodthirsty manner. Then Louis XIV. — about
1690 — took it. The Germans came to retake it, but were de-
feated by Turenne. Again they made the effort, but the great
Conde drove them over the Rhine. That ended German effort
for nearly two hundred years, and Alsace rested at peace under
the French rulers until Sedan undid the work of Conde and
Turenne, and France, with Prussian cannon at her gates, sur-
rendered it to Prussia.
5''
A RUN TO THE CONTINENT.
In extent this dismembered shoulder of France is about five
thousand five hundred and eighty English square miles — not
more than three per cent of the total area of France ; in
population about one million six hundred thousand souls, or
marl)- five per cent, of the total population. You will see,
therefore, that the rate of population exceeds the average
of the country. It has a fine canal system and many forests of
pine and oak. There are quarries and coal mines, iron and
stone deposits, lead and copper, in limited quantities. In the
earlier times there were gold and silver, but not enough to ex-
cite any one in these Cali-
fornian days. In the South-
ern Department of Alsace
there are 46,000 acres given
to the vine, which pro-
duced at the last enume-
ration 30,000,000 gallons of
wine. In the Northern De-
partment there are about
28,000 acres in vines, yield-
ing 12,000,000 gallons of
wine. You may know how
generally the land is di-
vided (thanks to the Revo-
lution) when you are told
that these 28,000 acres are
owned by 36,000 proprie-
tors ! The total revenue
from cattle and stock raising
COLOGNE. ■ • ^i , .
in the year last on record
was 18,000,000 American dollars, while from agriculture the
return showed 28,000,000 dollars — one half from cereals. It
might be called a land of milk and honey, remembering that
there are in this province alone 25,000 beehives, whose industry
is not interrupted, I take it, by any questions of authority or
annexation. An ancient record notes that the people, as
became honest farmers, were of a cheerful temper and much
'RAINE. -,
given to dancing and fiddling. Among other points note that
the population is little more than twice as large as it was in
1800, and that if all France had kept growing with the same
pace it would now be about 55,000,000 instead of nearly
37,000,000 that the books have written down.
This briefly is the extent, appearance, character, and wealth
of that Alsace-Lorraine which France gave to Germany by a
treaty signed with the Prussian sword at her heart. The two
columns upon which the province rests arc the cities of Stras-
burg and Metz.
The city of Metz in its brightest days must have been an un-
lucky town, smothered over with forts and ditches and all the
elaborate mechanism of engineering art. The; great Vauban
accomplished these results in Louis XIV.'s days, when that
k i n lT was doing; a little roval stealing on his own account, and
was anxious to protect his acquisition. Within a few miles of
its gates the great battle of Gravelotte was fought, where
Prussia burst the French army asunder, driving one fragment,
under Bazaine, into Metz, to starvation and surrender ; tin;
other fragment, under MacMahon, up into Sedan, to surrender
with its Emperor at the head. Gravelotte looks very calm and
fruitful this autumn morning, and shows no trace of the gigan-
tic strife of two years ago. The fields are giving forth corn
and hops and vines, and the merry laugh of the harvesters is
heard where the cannon sounded upon that dreadful day. As
the writer passed down the road along which the King of Prus-
sia advanced, looking out over the rolling, hilly plain, there
came a group which would have been made into a picture by
the pencil of Teniers. A donkey, with a ribbon or two around
his neck by way of encouragement, was doggedly pullin
small, rude cart. This was heaped with baskets of -rapes. In
one corner, cunningly protected from self-destruction by an in-
genious arrangement of baskets, was a wide-eyed infant, just
old enough to stand, not knowing what the demonstrations
meant, and its eyes firmly Uxvd on its mother, who came plod-
ding behind, clapping her hands and chanting nursery rhymes.
An old man, with his staff, marshaled the group with grave
54
A Rl A TO THE CONTINENT.
aspect, thinking, no doubt, of sadder things than grapes and
wine. Then came a straggling procession of boys and girls—
the boys from twelve to five — with ruddy, dirty faces, smeared
with grape-juice. They were shouting, laughing, hurrying
home to evening rest with their harvest burdens. The young
men had gone. The head of the family had gone. The vin-
tage could only be gathered by women and children. The
old men and the
children only re-
mained. This was
a first glimpse of
the new aspect of
affairs in Alsace
and Lorraine, and
it seemed odd that
this trophy of Ger-
man rule should
make itself mani-
fest on the victori-
ous field of Grave-
lotte. Now and
then we met a
group of eager, striding youths marching toward the frontier
or to some railway station — youths and middle-aged men, oc-
casionally women in the train with children in their arms,
anxious for France, and we thought of what Byron wrote of
those wanderers of Israel when they were driven out of the
Holy Land :
" And we must wander, witheringly,
In other lands to die —
And where our fathers' ashes be
Our own can never lie."
Metz could never at best have been a lovely town, and it is
to-day a picture of shabbiness and despair. In other days it
lived on its garrison. It had military schools, and a large, if
not a pleasing, variety of peddlers and sutlers and tradesmen
of many nations. Many were Hebrews, who were the first to
ON THE RHINE.
ALSACE AND LORRALXE. --
go, for the exodus began shortly after the German occupation.
Tlie Germans patronized their own people, and had no occa-
sion for French sutlers and peddlers from the < >rient. When
the period came for decision between France and Prussia, Metz
gave way in a panic, and thousands swarmed out ol its gafc .
At least two thirds of the inhabitants have gone, and Metz
looks as if smitten with a pestilence — a sort of a city laid out
in state for funeral, and a Prussian army as guard of honor
over the remains. In addition to the ordinary passenger trains
running to Nancy during the last few days of September, five
extra trains left the city daily with emigrating inhabitants.
The scenes in the railway depot showed all the crowding
anxiety and disturbance of Lord Mayor's Day in London,
or a Fourth-of-July fireworks in City Hall Park. A railway
officer informed the writer that on one da)- five thousand left
from his depot alone. They have swept over the country to
Nancy, Luneville, Commercy, Lyons — some to Rheims and
Epernay to find work in the champagne harvest — many to
Paris. In cities where the Prussians were in occupation
they would not permit the exiles to remain, especially the
young men fit for duty in the army, but drove them on
beyond their lines. With these the)' were always severe.
P>ut the young men, upon accepting the option for Ger-
many, would be compelled to enter the- Prussian army. s "
they left for France. In one commune where there were
seventeen young men, only two remained ; of these two, one
was ill, the other had no means of leaving. The same state
of affairs existed everywhere else, except, perhaps, in a few
communes near the Rhine. It is estimated that from thirty
communes alone the number who left amounted to fifty thou-
sand.
One circumstance that fills the Prussian mind with anger is
that most of those who have left Metz, especially from the farm
lands around, have been in receipt of large sums of money
from the Prussian treasury. The war, Gravelotte, and other
transactions of that nature, desolated the country and swept
away all living things — crops and grain and homesteads and all
56
A ATX TO THE CONTINENT.
means of life. And Prussia, meaning to be kind to the suf-
ferers and reconcile them to the new rule, paid them large
indemnities. In some cases more money was paid than the
farmer had ever seen before ; more than his whole farm was
worth. These simple-minded agriculturists took the honest
king's money and immediately declared for France. The
thought, therefore, that Prussia is really paying the expenses
of a good part of the emigration, that the ungrateful French-
men are really crossing into France with the king's money in
their pockets, gives the Pickelhaubers deep anger, and may ac-
count for their rudeness to the exiles. " They take the Kaiser's
money," says Pickelhauber ruefully, "and then run away."
" Yes," says the Frenchman ; "why don't you let us stay? We
want to stay and be Frenchmen. Look at Paris. All the
Germans who left there during the war to fight France, are re-
turning, and we don't say either be Frenchmen or leave Paris.
They stay and become rich ; and yet we are not allowed to re-
main here where we were born without telling a lie and saying
we are Germans. How is that ? " " Oh, that," says Pickelhau-
ber, " is quite a different matter."
From this unlovely military town of Metz, which must hence-
forth be a garrison, we sweep down to Mulhouse, the Lowell
or Manchester of Alsace, close to the Swiss frontier, the largest
town in Alsace after Strasbourg — not an old town, as towns
go in these countries, but of sudden growth, like all manu-
facturing centers. In 1800 it had 6,000 inhabitants. At the
time of the war there were 50,000, a proportion of increase that
you see in few towns in Europe. This is the center of the cot-
ton industry ; around it is a beehive of towns as industrious
and enterprising as Lowell and Lawrence and Lynn. You can
fancy how much it has grown when you know that thirty years
ago there were 200,000 spindles, reaching 1,000,000 in 1862,
and 2,000,000 when the war came — 2,000,000 of spindles and
40,000 looms ! Our lady readers have, no doubt, heard of the
calico and jaconet of Alsace, its beauty and usefulness. There
are forty manufactories which do this work, making annually
50,000,000 yards, valued at $12,000,000. Here also are the
MULHOUSE.
57
model factories of the world, proprietors renowned for their
efforts to insure the comfort and efficiency of their employes.
Yox in addition to cotton there are manufactories ot porcelain
and paper, and other useful articles. Well, annexation has
fallen like a blight upon it all. Many mills arc closed for the
want of skilled workmen; others are being removed to Paris;
still more to Switzerland, where convenient water streams nun 1 n ■
had — proprietors, manufacturers, and families, with their money
and machinery and business, crossing the frontier ; and this
N THE MAIN.
may be said of Colmar, the next city in importance, peopled
with 35,000 souls — called, for some reason I know not, " The
Athens of Alsace" — a quiet, old-fashioned place, where pen-
sioners and retired heroes live. The young men have fled :
nor do they fly with pleasant thoughts. A lady born in Carls-
ruhe, wife of a Colmar exile, was sitting this morning at the
tabic d'hote in Nancy. "Ah," said an acquaintance, "have you
been in Baden lately?" "What do you take me for?" was
the angry reply. " I never want to see those brutes again !
This my son, now fifteen, must one day revenge the wrongs of
France, and I mean to make him a military man." But this,
58
A RUN TO THE CONTINENT.
you know, was only a woman, and a woman in anger ; and you
who remember New Orleans under Federal rulers, can under-
stand how women will give way to impatience of speech. The
strange thing was that she was German born, and spoke the
German tongue, and had probably not a drop of French blood
in her veins.
Another place visited
was the little walled
town of Schlettstadt,
that lies in the way to
Switzerland, between
Colmar and Strasbourg,
at the beginning of the
Vosees ranore of moun-
ts o
tains, which now form
the boundary of France.
In the distance was the
comely mountain range,
rippling along the hori-
zon, looking green and
tawny on this dreary
autumn day. Now and
then a castellated cha-
teau, built on a high,
projecting mountain
point, threw its rude,
imposing Gothic towers
against the summer sky,
rivaling the medieval days when the old German Ritters
rode out from under their heavy arched gates and into these
plains to do battle under the banner of Charlemagne. And
yet, if those dead walls could speak, they would say that men
in the age of steam and telegraphs and rifled cannon are no
better than their ancestors in the days of cross-bows and battle-
axes, and that this long, rolling, fertile Alsace valley is the
scene of hatreds as intense as were ever known in crusading
times, and threatening again to be the scene of battles as bloody
BELGIUM TO ITAL* .
SCHLEJTSTADT. ^g
as were ever known on the Rhine. Schlettstadt is some dis-
tance back from the railroad, and was fortified by Vauban in
the highest style of engineering art. There are outer works
and inner works ; two gates, with moats and portcullis and
bridges, and at the exit the omnipresent Pickelhaube, sur-
mounting a light, bright-faced stripling of twenty, whose heart
is most certainly on the Rhine, and who seems to look envi-
ously at the straggling line of shouting vine-harvesters who
come home laden with grapes ready for the vintage. We dis-
cover, in proper fashion, that our stripling soldier is a native of
Wurtemberg ; but his work and discipline evidently do not
permit of useful conversation, nor is he disposed to give us his
views upon the annexation of Alsace and Lorraine. So we
drift into the town, which should have ten thousand people,
and perhaps more (for you can never tell, they pack families
so closely in these queer, quaint old houses). The town seems
so dead — so dead ! The only life we see is in the swiftly run-
ning stream of water which takes its evening sanitary course
along the gutters. Here is a building large enough for a dozen
stores, that may have been a granary in its time. Every win-
dow and door is closed, and a placard informs you, in the French
tongue, that if you want to buy it, you have only to accept the
price and pay your money. Well, in time we come to the
center of the town. We take it to be the center, for here is an
open space, where three or four roads meet, and some ingeni-
ous town authority has arrayed the white paving-stones in the
shape of a gigantic five-cornered star, a witch's pentagram, it
would seem, and intended, among other things, to bring the
town good luck. But the stony incantation has failed, for here
we stand in the heart of the old town, and all is silence. Two
thirds of the stores seem to be shut. There is one store mod-
estly open, where you can buy a rosary, or certain works upon
the Blessed Heart of Jesus, should you be so inclined. A little
distance away is the necessary boucherie, with toothsome shoul-
ders of mutton appealing to your appetite. We discover the
tavern, in the hope that there will be an index of life. The
tavern-keeper is a middle-aged Alsatian matron, who looks at
6q A RUN TO THE CONTINENT.
us sharply, and seeing us to be strangers, and Germans no
doubt, gives expression to her feelings by the additional vigor
with which she cuts her loaf of bread. In one corner is a pretty
maiden of eight or nine, with brown hair, ironing a pair of cuffs
with an iron that seems too heavy for her strength. The
maiden smiles in answer to some cheery word of encourage-
ment, and presses on in her work.
Well, even the town tavern, that never-failing fountain-head
of town life, is dead. Madame willingly gives us a glass of
yellow beer — quite willingly and with an eager bustle in her
manner — for she has discovered that we are not Germans, and
not new arrivals from Berlin with instructions to see that the
taxes are collected and that the school-masters teach only the
German tongue. We look around the room. In one corner
is a half-dozing peddler, from Jewry no doubt — the honest man
with his wares on table, unsold and unsalable — dreaming, " Let
us trust for better days and higher prices." In another is a
Prussian soldier drinking his beer and crunching his biscuit in
a business-like way, meaning to eat and drink and be off to
duty. He is looking calmly, contemptuously perhaps, at the
two persons in the middle of the room trying to sing. One is
a peasant in his blouse, who is moderately drunk and immode-
rately happy, for he has found an Alsatian brother, a soldier in
the uniform, yes, the very uniform of France — blue coat and red
trousers — and they are celebrating their loves in drink and song.
This soldier of France, we learn, came here from his station at
Avignon. He had business in Alsace in the matter of his
option, and is now waiting for the train to carry him to his
post. And if we find him seriously under the influence of
liquor, who can blame him, or the blue-bloused peasants who
are plying him with drinks ? For to them — drunk or sober —
he is a living type of France, of her glory and her shame, and
one day he may come again behind conquering banners and
deliver his dear Alsace. Are these really their thoughts ? Cer-
tainly there are no words spoken to that effect, nor would it be
productive of good, with that wide-lipped Prussian, all eyes and
ears, calmly looking on and drinking his beer. So certainly
THE FRENCH SOLDIER.
6l
madame thinks, for when the soldier and peasant have a frater-
nal embrace, and, as it were, unwittingly break out into a strain
of the " Marseillaise," madame rushes to him and demands
peace as she pats him on the back. " Peace, oh! peace and
silence, friends," she says in the plainest speech that eyes can
speak; "peace and silence, for I am a poor woman with my
tavern, and there is the conqueror, and what will come of your
sonir of revenue ?" It was a trifling incident, and went before
SCENE IN THE BLAC
the eyes in a flash, and yet how much it meant, and what a
color it gave to the events now passing into history, and how
truly it expressed the struggle in Alsace and Lorraine ! — the
little tavern tableau of a French soldier fraternizing with pea-
sants, and madame striving for peace, and Hans from over the
Rhine ready to put his hard hand upon them all if one word is
spoken or one deed done against the peace and power of the
" Most All-Gracious " Kaiser of Deutschland. The soldier was
evidently a proper person in his way, when free from liquor,
62
A RUN TO THE CONTINENT.
and had not a drinking look, but an honest, light-bearded Alsa-
tian face, with steadiness and candor about him, and sure of his
morning headache, as all temperance tipplers are said to be.
He told us in a little snatch of talk that he was from Avignon,
and was going home that night. His speech was discreet. " I
would rather," he said, in a rollicking way, " be half-starved
over there," pointing to France, " than to live like a lord
here."
Well, we pass along into the byways of the sleeping town —
is it sleeping or is it dead, I
wonder ? — and come to the
church — a large, square church
of the eleventh or twelfth cen-
tury, black with six centuries
of tempest and rain. And having a fancy for churches of the
olden time, and knowing a few strains of music, as well as what
Goethe calls the frozen music of architecture, especially the
Gothic work of the Middle Ages, we enter, softly pushing
back the black, greasy gate. It is very dark and cold. The
eye soon adapts itself to the gloom, and we see in the shadow
the Sfildingf and curtains that surround the altar, and a figure
of the Virgin that must have given peace to many genera-
A SLEEPING CHURCH. 5,
tions of believing men and women. She is black and be-
grimed. We are sorry to say she looks unbecoming in this
new-braided brocaded gown. On the walls are inscriptions,
which we only read with an effort through the shadows, and
know that here human beings have rested for centuries in
peace and expectation. But how still — how awful is its still-
ness ! No life, no sound, no spoken, whispered word, no move-
ment of any living, creeping thing — nothing but the intense,
painful silence — and no speech except what "the fancy may
gather from the high, swerving, curving arches, and groined
columns and fantastic groupings and carvings. Surely we shall
find in a corner some trembling grandmother muttering over
her beads ; or some fair maiden, with burning, blushing face, at
the feet of the Virgin, the sanctity of whose modest prayers it
would be irreverent to divine, only we hope he may prove true
to you in the end and a blessing to your life, poor child ; or
some proud, hopeful mother, in the triumphant fullness of satis-
fied love, giving back to the Madonna, who has blessed her life
with so perfect an answer to her hopes and prayers, the per-
formance of the promised vow. The writer of these lines has
been in many cathedrals, from those in the far North, where
the sons of Odin worshiped, to the prodigious piles in sunny
Spain, where the soldiers of Castile gave thanks for victo-
ries over the Moors, and never until to-day have we seen
these divine emblems without a suppliant. Surely some curse
must have fallen upon this unhappy land, we think, as we kneel
on one of the praying-stools — partly for devotion, partly to ob-
tain a better view of the stained glass behind the sanctuary —
surely some curse must have fallen upon this unhappy land,
when even in their misery the people forget to pray ! Thus
in thinking we pass to the transept door, and suddenly, as
though it were in a vision, we come upon a group of sisters of
some religious order deep in prayer. Five in all, nestled to-
gether in silent prayer, heads bent, their white caps looking
very white in the darkness, so silent and motionless that they
might be statues. We move out on tiptoe not to disturb the
devotions, and learn that the erood sisters have instituted a
64
A RUN TO THE CONTINENT.
series of prayers of perpetual intercession for mercy and pros-
perity to Alsace and Lorraine, and that this motionless group
were doing their share of the devotion.
But the little town is very dead. We see no young men.
They have all gone to France. They do not mean to serve in
the German army. And
new men have come here,
full-bearded Prussians, to
gather taxes and see that
Prussian laws are respect-
ed, and that nothing but
German is taught in the
schools. We saw one to-
V>$^ day — a new arrival — parad-
ing around with his wife
on his arm and an um-
brella in his hand, with
which he seemed to poke
the walls and paving-stones
to see if they were really
sound. He has been ap-
pointed to some local tax-
ing office, and has come all
the way from Pomerania to
fill the place, and is on an
errand of observation. He looks at the walls, at the old, red
Mi'inster tower, at the cathedral, with his own thoughts, per-
haps, as to the heathenism and abominations of the place ; at
the earthworks and the batteries ; at the gate from which the
French imperial arms have been wrenched and the German
imperial arms not yet elevated, as the place is raw, and, one
would think, bleeding ; at the soldiers, to whom he removes
his hat, while they stare at the extraordinary mark of atten-
tion ; at the closed stores ; at the old men who look at him
from the window, and stretch their heads out to follow him
up the street ; and he walks with an air of truculent authority,
evidently feeling that the town would be none the worse for a
LAVING CORNER STONE OF CHUKCH — GENEVA.
/ R I 'SSL IN CHAR A CTER.
65
good flogging by the way of beginning his work. A sound,
solid, substantial, severe, but not unfeeling man the new master
seemed to be, with his instructions from the Kaiser, which he
means to follow, and God be good to all who will not obey
those instructions. This man is a type of the new class who
have come into Alsace and Lorraine. The utter isolation in
which the new king's authority is held by the resident people
has compelled the Germans to send for civil servants to Prussia.
They are here what our carpet-baggers are in the South, with
the exception that they are a better class of people and selected
from the government service for their fine administrative quali-
ties, and a more worthy breed of men in all respects than the
new masters of the conquered South ; severe, because Prussian
rule is essentially severe, and to none more than Prussian peo-
ple — severe and just and unrelenting. But between the two
races — those who come to command, and those who have not
crossed the Vosges Mountains, but remain to obey — there is an
intense antagonism. The Frenchman regards the Prussian as
o o
a brute ; the Prussian thinks the Frenchman is a little better
than a monkey, and sorely needing the cane. Neither will see
or recognize the good qualities of the other. The veracity and
patience and discipline and stubborn valor and deep-thinking
intelligence, the tenacity and purpose of the Prussian charac-
ter, are lost on the French ; while the Prussians do not see in
the French a grace, vivacity, enthusiasm, thrift, and spirit
which make them the most affectionate friends, the most im-
placable enemies, in the world. You can only win a French-
man's affections by tact. Tact is the one quality you do not
find in the Prussian character, and so, from the very outset of
this occupation, you find two races arrayed against each other
— great, noble races of men — one conquered, the other conquer-
ing, and with no element of sympathy or association. This
Prussian poking around with his umbrella was a type. He
came to rule. Those who stared and sneered should obey.
He meant they should. He gave himself no concern on that
head. For was he not the Kaiser's embassador, and behind
him was not the Kaiser's whole army ?
5
66
A RUN TO THE CONTINENT.
If there was any sentiment in this annexation — and much
has been said about the old German sentiment of unity and
love for the Fatherland — 1 can imagine how it would cluster
around Strasbourg. It is sixteen hundred years since the Ger-
mans crossed the Rhine and found a Roman city here, at the
junction of the 111 and the Rhine. Over fifteen hundred
years have passed since Julian the Emperor was its governor.
Over thirteen hundred years ago Clovis built a cathedral on a
SCENE IN ALSACE.
pie to Hercules and Mars.
site which had
been used by the
savage Celts for
their rude offerings,
and afterward by the
Romans as a tem-
But Clovis had found light, and
he built his church — long since gone to wreck from lightning
and the winds — and where now stands the highest Gothic spire
in the world, founded in the eleventh century, in the glow and
flame of Catholicism, when a Pope ruled the world with his
shepherd's crook, and religious enthusiasm found expression in
the Gothic cathedrals, which are all over Europe, and in cru-
sades for the Holy Sepulcher. Strasbourg was a "great city"
in the time of Dagobert, who was king one thousand and eighty
years ago. Charlemagne was proud of it, and did it many a
THE GATE AUSTERLITZ.
6;
good service. Then Louis the Great seized it, and his succes-
sors held it until Bismarck came in 1S70. So it was French for
one hundred and eighty-nine years. When Louis took it there
were about 30,000 people ; at the time of the French Revolu-
tion there were 50,000, reaching to 82,000 in 1861 — growing
mainly by marriages and births, as an old-fashioned town should
grow. So the men and women who live herejive in homes in
which their ancestors dwelt for centuries, and when they go to
France it means the severance from very, very deep roots of
ancestry, pride, association, and affection.
Strasbourg has other memories. Here Calvin preached
after Geneva quarreled with him, remaining six years, until the
stern city on the hills reversed her affections and he went back
to expound the Gospel and contemplate eternity from the banks
of beautiful Lake Leman. Here Kellerman, who won the bat-
tle of Marengo and became Duke of Valmy under Napoleon,
was born ; while just beyond the walls, in a valley, from where
a Baden battery played sad havoc with the city, is the monu-
ment to Desaix, whose death at Marengo took from Napoleon
all pleasure in the victory. Here Kleber was born ; and there
is a broad, open, straggling square called after him, with a
bronze monument of the general in a high state of valor — very
French, very unnatural, and very absurd. It was here Goethe
studied, and along these green terraced walks of Vauban he
walked and mused, thinking great thoughts. And, although
you may have forgotten it, here one Louis Napoleon Bona-
parte, big with destiny and following his star, came one morn-
ing to try a desperate chance with fate. Well, it is worth
remembering, as the world goes, as the beginning of a career
that has ended in Chiselhurst. It was on the 30th October,
1836, when the leaves were about fallen, and the skies as dark
as they are now, I suppose, at daybreak, when the young
Prince, not thirty, with a troop of adventurers, came in at the
Gate Austerlitz — the same gate through which the writer
passed this afternoon — and now tenanted by a Prussian sentry
and a drowsy old woman selling toothsome cakes to all who
choose to buy. The Prince had bribed some soldiers of the
68
A RUN TO THE CONTINENT.
Fourth Artillery to join him, and they came trooping in, shout-
ing " Vive VEmpereur /" They went into the large barracks
right at the gate, at whose windows you may see twenty
fair-haired Prussians smoking pipes and thinking their own
thoughts as they look toward the Rhine. But when they cried
"Vive l ] 'Empereur ! '" to the infantry in the barracks, and the in-
fantry only saw a rather stupid young man, dressed up in the
historic costume of the great
Napoleon, it only required
the colonel to come in and
denounce him as an im-
postor to lead to the arrest
of the whole party. And
so Louis was sent out to
America, to an exile in
Hoboken, and to events
thereafter which the world
knows.
Strasbourg looks like a
well-patched city. The Ger-
mans have striven earnestly
to repair the evils of the
bombardment. You only
see traces of the firing in
the new spaces on the re-
paired walls. The venera-
ble and majestic cathedral is quite repaired. The bridges
have been built. The owners of injured private houses were
indemnified and the houses rebuilt. The old Library Build-
ing is still a ruin, and I had sad thoughts as I walked around
it and remembered the two hundred thousand volumes burned
into ashes — some of them never to be replaced — a loss as
great in some respects as the Alexandrian Library. But the
old city looks bright and busy and full of interest, and to
a new eye suffers little from the exodus. The stores were
nearly all open. The Prussian sentry was everywhere, and
Prussian officers were always drifting along the warm, invit-
STREET IN STRASBOURG.
STRASBOURG.
69
ing streets
In the evening the Wurtemberg band played
on the Broglie Platz, and there was quite a gathering. But
as far as we could see they were wives and families of Prus-
sian officers and a few nursery-
maids. The townspeople do not
go on the " Platz " when the Ger-
man band plays. It is a mark
of patriotism. There are other
" marks of patriotism " welcome
to the female mind. One is to
speak French. If you enter a
store and ask for anything in
German, you will certainly have
sullen treatment. You may buy
patriotic sleeve - buttons for a
couple of francs, in whitish metal,
bearing the coat of arms of Alsace
and Lorraine linked by a chain.
Some "take their revenge" in
rosettes of red, white, and blue, by
wearing full mourning, and others by wearing a peculiar elastic
strip in the same colors, joined by a buckle, and which a well-in-
formed shopkeeper told me were garters. Of these he sold a
large quantity, as well as of a small stud, representing an ex-
foliating flower, colored red, white, and blue, and meant to do
modest and needful duty in underclothing. There is a picture
also of a young woman wearing the waving Alsatian headdress,
her face tearful, in full mourning, with a small tricolor rosette in
the hair. This is Alsace. In the corner is the motto, " Elle
attend!" — "She waits." This has had a great sale ; and like-
wise a picture of France as an angry female, scantily attired,
holding a drawn sword, and waiting for something. " Re-
venge " — most likely. There are cafes where you see no Prus-
sians ; others where you see no Frenchmen. Generally the
Prussian is ignored by the people ; but the garrison is building
up its own circle of wives and mothers and friends from home,
and I take it the officers are not lonely. I have seen many
STORK S NEST — STRASBOURG.
/O
A RUN TO THE CONTINENT.
mousing around the shops or on the parade ground purchasing
knickknacks or listening to the music, and good, honest wives or
sweethearts on their arms, and very comfortable to all appear-
ances.
But the young men have gone. That is the one fact.
Now, under the French law of conscription, the number of re-
cruits, based upon the population, who reported to the French
commandant in 1870, was nearly two hundred. Under the
Prussian law, which exempts no one, and which should have
had double the number, there were just ten who reported.
( )nly ten young men in all Strasbourg for the Kaiser ! And the
rest — all fled over the mountains to France — are now shuf-
fling up and down the Paris boulevards asking for work, or
helping the wine-growers in Champagne gather their harvests.
The young men have certainly gone, and this is the loss to
Strasbourg. It is very difficult to induce an Alsatian to con-
verse with you as a stranger, for you may be a mouchard and
go around the corner and report him if he is patriotic. But
from some conversations I gathered these grievances : " Sir
and friend," said an Alsatian, " we do not complain, we wait.
The Prussian officers are civil enough. They do us no harm.
The civil officers are the worst. See how they have changed
our streets. All the French names have been taken down and
German names painted instead. Why, a man don't know
where he lives any more, and the cabbies do nothing but swear
about it. Our schools are all taught in German. French is
not allowed unless you pay extra. See those fellows at the
railway station. They are all as surly as pickpockets. You
speak French and they answer in German. A girl of mine,
born in Paris, went to the office and asked for a ticket in
French. ' If you don't speak German I won't answer you,'
said the man in the window. All the towns have changed
names. Thionville, last year, is now called Diedenhofen. Ask
that railway man for a ticket to Thionville, and he will say he
never heard of the place, and it is one of the largest towns in
Lorraine. The day of the French surrender here there was a
fete, and the spire of the cathedral illuminated. Was that
GRIEVANCES.
71
pleasant — pleasant to think of the time when German shells
rained upon our city, and we had to dig holes in the embank-
ments and live like moles and rats ? We liked the Germans as
neighbors over the Rhine. We think they mean to do well
enough now. Perhaps we did belong to Germany once, and
SCENE IM THE ALP^.
should be Germans now. But that was two hundred years ago.
Two hundred years is a long time. You Americans have not
been a hundred years from England. You speak the same
language, have the same books and the same laws. How would
you like to have New York seized by England ? That is our
situation. We are seized by Germany, and must learn a new
72
A RUN TO THE CONTINENT.
language, observe new laws, and go out and make war, when
the German king commands, upon men whom we regard as
brothers."
So far as carpenters and painters and cunning workmen can
go, Strasbourg and Metz and all Alsatian towns are thoroughly
changed. You walk through Strasbourg and you find every
corner has a new sign, certifying in the German tongue the
street has a new name. In some side streets the old French
names remain ; but nearly
every corner has a fresh, glar-
ing, German sign in large
blue letters. The railways
have German signs telling
you where to eat, where to
wait, and where to deliver and
obtain your baggage. The
cabmen are much distressed
about this, one of them ex-
plaining, not without pro-
fanity, that he did not know
his head from his heels since
the new signs were put up.
But in all matters of adminis-
tration, so far as the army is
concerned, the people have
been treated with kindness
and generosity. The Prussian officer, in any view you may
take of him, is not what would be regarded as a model father-
in-law. He would rather be insolent than not, if you give
him occasion. But in Alsace the officers seem to belong to
an amiable race. The orders from Berlin are to "win the
people back to the Fatherland," and so the Alsatians are in the
strange attitude of receiving good gifts and spurning the givers.
All who have lost money in the bombardment have been well
paid. 1 am sorry to say that many of them, as soon as they
received their money, declared for France, and left for Paris to
become martyrs on the boulevards. The Prussian only shows
VOU MUST SPEAK GERMAN.
THE BAYONET.
10
his Prussian nature in dealing with the emigrants. There is no
doubt that great brutality has been shown to those Alsatians
who declared for France and emigrated. They were ill used at
the railway stations, crammed into inferior cars, and every dis-
comfort heaped upon them. Apart from this, the Prussian rule
in Strasbourg and throughout Alsace has been as kind as ever
the French was — far kinder than you will find it in Germany.
Wherever you go you meet the Pickelhauber. Over all
you see the soldier standing guard. You see that the bayonet
is master of Alsace and Lorraine. The activity and eneroy
and industry shown by the Prussians in military matters are
everywhere visible to the eye of a traveler, and seem to a mere
sojourner prodigious. In every barrack-yard men are con-
stantly drilling. New forts are being built around the fortified
cities. Metz, always strong, is now stronger than ever ; while
if Strasbourg is ever to be taken it must be by some species of
balloon artillery — there would seem to be no other human way.
The railways are in superb condition, with an unusual quantity
of rolling stock. The Prussian is exhausting art in making-
himself strong and building forts with French money.
The Prussians have very little to say about Alsace and Lor-
raine. This eminently practical people are not given to waste
words in idle conversation. " We took Alsace," said an officer,
" because we wanted it. We took Lorraine, because we meant
to keep Alsace. We would have taken Champagne had it been
necessary. I have not studied the international law on the
subject, nor do we have any interest in it, or what the outside
sympathizing world says. We fought the French, we whipped
them, and we did what the French would have done — we took
every advantage. Why, Germany don't keep an army for a
toy. We are an army to build up a nation, to make a Germany
that will not be ruled by statesmen in Paris and London. So
long as Palmerston and Napoleon could play one German
prince against another, like chessmen, and keep the duchies
and kingdoms in a constant flutter, poor Germany was a prey
for whoever came to plunder — for Napoleon, for Louis, for any
ambitious Czar ; and in time we would have become like the
74
A RUN TO THE CONTINENT.
Scandinavian countries or Turkey, and run into political decay,
until compact France on one side, and Russia on the other,
ever making mischief, fomenting trouble, came in to rob when-
ever it suited them. Now, by heavens ! there is an end of it,
and, that it may end we have taken Alsace and Lorraine. If any
one wants
reason, give
them that —
there is no
other. Why talk me-
taphysics when you
have an army and
cannon ? We were
strong enough to take
Alsace, we are strong
enough to keep it, and be-
fore these poor French-
men begin to cry revenge
for Alsace and Lorraine, they had better be sure we are out ol
Champagne. It would not take many more speeches of Gam-
LAKE MAGGIORE — NORTHERN ITALY.
PRUSSIAN STATESMANSHIP. ye
betta, many more insults to our embassador, to have the army
of occupation centered at Rheims. Of course Prussia wants
peace. We have all we wanted, more than we expected, and
don't want to be disturbed. But I am one of several hundred
thousand Prussians whose business is war, and if war must come,
as they all say it will, we cannot be too earnest and too well
prepared. As to the people here, we mean to treat them like
brothers. They will make better Germans because of their
having been so good Frenchmen. As to the going away, it is
rather a vexation. But if they will leave their farms and homes,
there are Germans enough up in poor sterile Pommern and
Brandenburg who will gladly come into these fertile fields.
Instead of emigrating to America, they will come down to the
Rhine. We have Germans enough to fill up this country, and
once these restless, unhappy Frenchmen are well sifted out, and
all in Paris becrarino- at the cafes, the Germans will come in.
We would rather the people would have remained, but it may
be best as it is. We can hold the country better with Pome-
ranians living on these fields than it would have been possible
with Alsatians. Ten years from now and you will find Alsace
the richest, happiest, and most contented province of the Father-
land. Prussia means to have it so, and Prussia generally suc-
ceeds in doing what she purposes."
It would be unjust to suppose that this is a mere brutal
wresting of territory from France by Prince Bismarck. Nor
would you understand this movement at all without looking
at those high political and commercial considerations which
controlled the Prussian statesman and bade him bid defiance
to the public sentiment of Europe and the world. Look at the
map of Europe and you will find that the route to the Indies is
now the contending question in a commercial sense. That ques-
tion underlay the Crimean war. With the tunnel at Mont Cenis
and the Isthmus of Suez canal, France had her hand upon that
route, was master of a great international highway, while Germany
was shoved up out of the way. With the possession of Alsace,
Bismarck has his lines direct from Landen to Basle. He has
the Rhine and its traffic. You remember some time since what
7 6
A RUN TO THE CONTINENT.
was known as the Franco-Belgian Railway war. Napoleon de-
sired to exercise certain rights over the railways in Belgium
and Luxemburg. The clamor arose that this was his first step
in an intrigue for the occupation of Belgium. The idea that
Napoleon was compelled to abandon, under Prussian and Eng-
lish pressure, Bismarck is about to realize. With the tunnel
through the Alps, at St. Gothard, he will have a through route
from the North Sea to the Adriatic, in no place going through
French territory. Years ago those who watched the policy of
Bismarck foresaw and announced this as his purpose. Those
who will go back to the Franco-Belgian Railway trouble, and
read up the diplomatic correspondence, will see that Bismarck
was then in conflict with France — almost to the point of war ;
they will understand his persistence, and especially understand
the scorn with which he viewed the Benedetti scheme to divide
the Low Countries
between France
and Prussia, and
his ferocity when
France proposed to
buy Luxemburg
from Holland. The
necessary steps in
that policy, after
the victory at Se-
dan, were to take
Alsace and enough
of Lorraine to pro-
tect it. With the
St. Gothard tunnel complete, Germany has the whole trade of
the Rhine, and the right of way from the North Sea to the
Adriatic, a highway to India.
This first high political consideration could only be obtained
with Alsace. You will understand its value when you see that
in obtaining this territory Germany obtained one of the finest
railway systems in Europe.
Germany, therefore, obtains this railway system. France
FRENCH AND GERMAN SOLDIERS.
GERMAN VERSUS FRENCHMAN.
77
bCENE IN KAUAI j.
was allowed to deduct the value of the railways and rolling
stock from the indemnity, and to repay the owners. Anyhow
Germany took the road, and it now belongs to the German Em-
pire. Having to pay no dividend, the king can run it at any
rate he pleases, and
always carry freight
cheaper than
France. This is a
severe blow to the
commerce of France.
Then come the com-
mercial and financial
relations between
the masters of the
cotton and beer and
other industries and Paris. In other times Paris capital nou-
rished these industries ; now, the Paris banker withdraws his
capital. Where is the Alsatian trader and manufacturer to
look for credit ? He is severed from Paris, which is rich, and
must look to Frankfort, which will not lend money on these
securities, its dealings being of a different character ; or to
Berlin, which is poor and cannot. His French capital and his
financial connections with Paris are withdrawn, and he finds
himself among foreigners, compelled to deal with foreigners,
who are not familiar with his wants or prepared to aid him ; nay,
more, to ask his conqueror and master for credit. And is he at
all certain that he will obtain credit ? His conqueror knows he
is an enemy, an enemy at heart, and cannot be trusted. Is
it any wonder that the Alsatian has been driven to a sore trial,
and should we be surprised that he has followed his sympa-
thies, and, abandoning his home and business, has gone to
live in France ? Some will remain, like the faithful Hebrews
in Spain, during the dread time of the Inquisition, who wor-
shiped the Christ of the Christians before men and the He-
brew Jehovah in the silence and security of home. They
remain, thinking and hoping, as the Venetians thought and
hoped, when Austria became master of the Adriatic Queen.
7«
A RUN TO THE CONTINENT.
Venice, under her German master, and abandoned by her aris-
tocracy, remained more Italian than Florence or Turin ; the
Teutonic power never took root, and when the day of deliver-
ance came, it floated away like the surface foam from the ocean
waves when the storm is over. So do those patient, hoping
Frenchmen think, who still remain in Alsace and Lorraine.
The German may come. They will bow to his imperial will.
But they will hold their hearts and honor pure for that happy
day when the tricolor will float from the dizzy spire of Stras-
bourg cathedral and the Marseillaise again be heard upon the
banks of the Rhine.
3^ly ■ffi-^^ai
CHAPTER IV.
ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
N the General's return from the Continent, he made
his promised visit to Scotland. On Thursday, the
31st of August, he arrived in Edinburgh, where he
was received by the Lord Provost, whose guest he
was during his stay in Scotland. The freedom of the city
was presented in the Free Assembly Hall. There were up-
ward of two thousand persons present. In reply to the Lord
Provost's speech, General Grant said :
" I am so filled with emotion, that I hardly know how to thank you for the
honor conferred upon me by making me a burgess of this ancient city of Edin-
burgh. I feel that it is a great compliment to me and to my country. Had I
eloquence I might dwell somewhat on the history of the great men you have
produced, or the numerous citizens of this city and Scotland that have gone to
America, and the record they have made. We are proud of Scotchmen as citi-
zens of America. They make good citizens of our country, and they find it
79
8o
ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
The £
Helridp J ~
Lewis \.rk c
r, > Liverpool Lo_> i. SheffileldU ,«il
JBLIN\ . y^J ^jChMtef ^ / _^^
1,11
lUBLIrA ■■ H?-f , >C>iSle? ,/< / X v t'
-'-j-ii
XN > Klddcrniiiuar rS^WarwIck Cn "
profitable to themselves." (Laughter.) " I again thank you for the honor
you have conferred upon me."
General Grant visited all the interesting places in and about
the beautiful metropolis of
Scotland — the memorial of
the Prince Consort, the
Commercial Bank, the pub-
lic gardens, the Library,
the site of Sir Walter Scott's
birthplace, the memorials
ol Burns, and others of
Scotland's venerated sons.
He strolled through the
Cowsfate, and other scenes
of the older parts of the
town, familiar to all readers
of Scott's prose and poetry.
There was a visit to the
Castle, where Colonel Mac-
kenzie, of the 98th High-
landers, received the Gen-
eral, and showed him all
the objects of interest.
Thence the General paid
a visit to Holyrood Palace,
and saw the rooms where
Queen Mary spent so much of her life, and that somber chamber
where David Rizzio was dragged from her presence and mur-
dered. There was a visit to the little house where John Knox
lived, every stone of which Scotchmen cherish with revering
hands, and the hostelry in White Horse Close, visited by Dr.
Johnson on his trip to the Hebrides. There was a drive round
Arthur's Seat. In the evening the Lord Provost gave a dinner,
at which the General met Major-General Stewart, the com-
manding officer in Scotland, and other officers of the British
army.
On Saturday, the 1st of September, the Tay bridge
II i'I/AXXK 7 '
a.
Channel *0
ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
ABBOTSFORD. g x
was visited. Flags and streamers were hoisted on the ferry
steamers. The occupier of the light-house also decorated his
premises, and the "Stars and Stripes" waved from the tower.
There was a visit to the training-ship "Mars," where the boys
manned the yards in honor of the General. As he stepped on
board the band played the German war song. The boys went
through their exercises, and sang the Canadian boat song under
the direction of Mr. Nichols. When the song was partly fin-
ished the fire-bell sounded. The boys instantly ran to quarters,
manned the fire engine, and had the hose ready in a couple of
minutes. The discipline shown in this performance was admi-
rable. From here the party went on board the steam-tug
"Elsinore " and steamed across to Dundee. From this point
they proceeded to Tayport, and returned to Edinburgh on
Monday. From the latter place the General visited Melrose
and Abbotsford — all interesting as entwined in the poetry and
annals of that border land, and rendered classic by the genius
of Sir Walter Scott.
On Tuesday, September 4th, the General went to Dunrobin,
to pay a visit to the Duke of Sutherland. The Duke met the
General a short distance from Dunrobin, and accompanied him
to his home. The visit to this distinguished nobleman was
full of interest. The Duke of Sutherland has done much to im-
prove the vast domains which are his inheritance, and although
the weather was unfavorable during his stay, the General took
deep interest in studying the agricultural systems of the North
of Scotland.
On the 6th of September, he visited the horticultural fair at
Dornock. On Friday, the 7th, accompanied by the Duke, he
went to Thurso Castle. On his arrival at Thurso, the General
was received by a guard of volunteers belonging to the local
arcillery and rifle corps. There he was met by Sir Tollemache
Sinclair, and an address was presented by the magistrates and
Town Council. In the evening there was a dinner at the castle.
The General also visited Inverness, where he was received by
the Provost, who presented him with an address. The Provost
said the people of the Highlands had a strong claim upon Gen-
6
8:
ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
eral Grant, as bearing the name of a well-known and highly
respected Highland clan. At Granttown the General was
welcomed to " the home of the Grants." It was his intention
to have paid a visit to Castle Grant, the home of the Earl of
Seafield, the head of the Grant clan, but circumstances would
nut permit.
On Tuesday, the iith of September, there was a visit to
the town of Elgin. There was
also the presentation of an ad-
dress to the General by the
Town Council of Wick. In this
address the Provost alluded to
the fact that one of his prede-
cessors, Sir John Sinclair, when
having his portrait painted by
Sir Benjamin West, was so
proud of a letter he had re-
ceived from General Washing-
ton, that he resolved to have
it painted in his hand; "and,"
said the Provost, "those who
have seen the General's hand-
writing will have no difficulty
scorr's monument. j n r eco ^ n iz i n g the imitation;
so that every time we meet in this hall we are reminded of
your country and of one of your most distinguished states-
men, General Washington, the first President of the United
States." This address was enthusiastically cheered. General
Grant in reply said :
" Mr. Provost, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Royal Burgh of Wick :
I gladly accept the honor which the Town Council has conferred on me by mak-
ing me a burgess of this burgh, and I am so filled with emotion by the address
with which the presentation has been accompanied, as to be quite unable to do
justice to the subjects which it embraces." (Cheers.) "I shall, however, en-
deavor in a few words to address myself to these subjects. I am happy to saj
that during the eight years of my Presidency it was a hope of mine, which I am
glad to say was realized, that all differences between the two nations should be
settled in a manner honorable to both." (Loud cheers.) " All the questions, I am
WICK.
83
glacl to say. were so settled " — (cheers) — " and in my desire for that result, it
was my aim to do what was right, irrespective of any other consideration what-
ever." (Cheers.) " During all the negotiations, I felt the importance of main-
taining the friendly relations between the great English-speaking people of this
country and the United States, which I believe to be essential to the mainte-
nance of peace principles throughout the world, and I feel confident that the
continuance of those relations will exercise a vast influence in promoting peace
and civilization throughout the world." (Great applause.)
rags--
EDINBURGH.
On the 13th of September, General Grant visited Glasgow.
At three o'clock in the afternoon of that day he was presented
with the freedom of the city. The City Hall, one of the largest
public buildings in Glasgow, was filled with spectators. The
bailiffs attended in their cocked hats and furred gowns. Ex-
actly at three o'clock the Lord Provost stepped on to the plat-
form and said that Grant had proved himself the Wellington of
America. "The great and good Lincoln," said the Provost,
" struck down the upas tree of slavery ; but Grant tore it up by
the roots, so that it should never live in his country to suck
8 4
ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
nutriment from its soil. I think the example shown by the
American people in the forgiveness of injuries, and in their de-
sire to live amicably with those who had been their enemies,
presents the greatest triumph of Christian principle and prac-
tice the world has ever seen. In other countries, what crimes
ol vengeance have followed on revolutionary wars ! The scaf-
fold, the galleys, the
fetid swamps of
Cayenne, or the
frozen deserts of Si-
beria, have been the
fate of misguided
patriots; but no
such thing happen-
ed in America when
the war closed. Not
a drop of blood
was spilled in ven-
geance. North and
South shook hands, agreed to decorate together the graves of
their dead, and to go on as one nation — a united and a free
people." After this the address was read. In it the Common
Council "admitted and received, and hereby admit and receive,
General Ulysses Simpson Grant, Ex-President of the United
States of America, to be a burgess and guild brother of the city
and royal burgh of Glasgow, in recognition of his distinguished
abilities as a statesman and administrator, his successful efforts
in the noble work of emancipating his country from the horrors
of slavery, and of his great services in promoting commerce and
amity between the United States and Great Britain."
This address was received with enthusiasm. In replying
General Grant said :
COWGATE, EDINBURGH.
" I rise to thank you for the great honor that has been conferred upon me
this day by making me a free burgess of this great city of Glasgow. The honor
is one that I shall cherish, and I shall always remember this day. When I am
back in my own country, I will be able to refer with pride not only to my visit
to Glasgow, but to all the different towns in this kingdom that I have had the
GLASGOW.
85
pleasure and the honor of visiting." (Applause.) "I find that lam being
made so much a citizen of Scotland, it will become a serious question where
I shall go to vote." (Laughter and applause.) " You have railroads and
other facilities for getting from one place to another, and I might vote fre-
quently in Scotland by starting early. I do not know how you punish that
crime over here ; it is a crime that is very often practiced by people who come
to our country and become citizens there by adoption. In fact, I think they
give the majority of the votes. I do not refer to Scotchmen particularly, but
to naturalized citizens. But to speak more seriously, ladies and gentlemen, I
feel the honor of this occasion, and I beg to thank you, ladies and gentlemen
of this city of Glasgow, for the kind words of your Lord Provost, and for the
kind expression of this audience."
There was a visit to Ayr on the 14th of September, the land
and home of Burns. This was followed by a tour in the region
of Loch Lomond, and a visit to Inverary, where General Grant
was the guest of the Duke of Argyle. No part of the Ex-
President's tour in Scotland pleased him more than his visit to
this illustrious nobleman. The part taken by the Duke of Ar-
gyle during our war, his unswerving adhesion to the cause of
the North, and his efforts to secure for America in her strug-cde
with the South the consideration and support of the English
people, had excited in the General a high feeling of gratitude.
This feeling grew to one of sincere friendship, and frequently
during our journeys in Europe the General, in adverting to his
Scotch trip, spoke of his visit to Inverary Castle as an experi-
ence he would never forget, and of the Duke of Argyle as a
nobleman for whom he entertained the highest respect and
esteem.
Perhaps no part of General Grant's reception in England
was so strikine as the short tour he made on his return from
Scotland through the manufacturing- districts of England. His
journey embraced Newcastle, Sunderland, Sheffield, Birming-
ham, with excursions to Leamington, Stratford-on-Avon, War-
wick, and places of historic interest. It was here that the
General met the working classes of England, and the enthu-
siasm which his visit inspired makes it impossible almost to
bring; it within the limits of a sober narrative. I will, however,
confine myself, as far as possible, to a brief recital of the inci-
dents of the trip, and the demonstrations of welcome.
g6 ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
•
On Wednesday, die 19th of September, General Grant left
Edinburgh and arrived in Newcastle on Thursday. The streets
in the neighborhood of the central station were filled with thou-
sands of people. A detachment of the Newcastle Rifle Vol-
unteers were on duty to preserve order. The General, on
appearing on the platform, was greeted with hearty cheering,
and was received by the Mayor, Sir William Armstrong, and
other representatives of the citizens of the town. The houses
and shops had flags waving from the windows and roofs, and
the bells of St. Nicholas rang out merrily. General and Mrs.
Grant drove to the Mansion House, and in response to loud
cheers, appeared on the balcony. In the evening there was a
dinner with Sir William Armstrong, two hundred guests pres-
ent. On Friday morning, the 21st inst., came sight-seeing.
There was a visit to the old castle, to the ancient church of St.
Nicholas, and the Exchange. An address was delivered to
General Grant by the vice-president, council, and members of
the Newcastle and Gateshead Incorporated Chamber of Com-
merce, which referred to the natural riches and industries of
the Tyne district — iron in all its branches, chemicals, lead, cop-
per, earthenware, fire-bricks, colors, and coals. "The various
branches of the iron trade," said the address, "include melting
the ore into pig iron, the manufacture of all kinds of wrought
iron, rails, machines, ordnance, and the building of iron vessels,
for which our river is famous. The shipment of coal from the
town exceeds 7,109,000 tons per annum, and the number of
vessels annually leaving the river, engaged in the coal trade,
or loaded with the produce of our manufactories, is larger than
the number leaving any other port in the world." The address
alluded to this rapid increase as the result of free trade, and
expressed a regret that this policy had not been more gene-
rally followed by other nations. The General in his response
said :
" The president in his remarks has alluded to the personal friendship exist-
ing between the two nations — I will not say the two peoples, because we are
one people " (applause) ; " but we are two nations having a common destiny,
and that destiny will be brilliant in proportion to the friendship and co-opera-
NEWCASTLE.
87
tion of the brethren on the two sides of the water." (Applause.) " Duringmy
eight years of Presidency, it was my study to heal up all the sores that were
existing between us." (Applause.) "That healing was accomplished in a
manner honorable to the nations." (Applause.) "From that day to this feel-
ings of amity have been constantly growing, as I think ; I know it has been so
on our side, and I believe never to be disturbed again. These are two nations
which ought to be at peace with each other. We ought to strive to keep at
peace with all the world besides" (applause), " and by our example stop those
wars which have devastated our own countries, and are now devastating some
countries in Europe."
Sl'RGH CASTLE.
After the reception by the Chamber of Commerce the party
drove to the new Tyne Swing Bridge, which was opened for in-
spection. The company then embarked on board the steamer
" Commodore." This was accompanied by another steamer
called the " Lord Collinowood," and which carried from one to
two hundred of the leading inhabitants of the borough. The
band of the 1st Northumberland Volunteer Artillery were sta-
tioned on the boat. Shortly after one o'clock the boats left the
new quay, amid the cheers of thousands of spectators, and ran
to Wallsend. The weather was cold but fine, and the river
banks were crowded with workmen, who gave a noisy, hearty
88 ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
welcome to the Ex- President. The shipping was decorated
with streamers, bunting, and flags. There was a firing of guns,
mortars, fog signals, and every species of instrument that
could be induced to make a noise. The General stood in the
bow of the boat, bowing his acknowledgments. At the " Welles-
ley" training-ship there was a short pause to witness the dis-
cipline. On reaching the bar the Tyne pier was examined, and
at Tynemouth the General disembarked. An address was here
presented to the General, complimenting him on his sagacity
and valor in battle, and his clemency in victory. The General
said that he had seen that day on the banks of the Tyne no
fewer than one hundred and fifty thousand people, mostly work-
men, who had left their occupations and homes to manifest, as
he felt it, their friendship for their grandchildren — he would not
call them their cousins — on the other side of the Atlantic. He
did not agree with the Mayor or member of Parliament who
had spoken, in referring to the river as an insignificant one. It
was true in America they had some large streams, but their
greatest industries were carried on on the small streams. They
had not one stream in America as yet that could show the
number of industrial pursuits that the Tyne showed between
Newcastle and the point at which they were now standing.
After this address there was a trial of the Life Brigade — a
force maintained at Tyneside to save life. Two or three life-
boats were manned by the crews and floated among the waves,
which were dashing heavily against the pier. Under the direc-
tion of their captain they executed the motions necessary to res-
cue a disabled ship. A rocket was fired, various lines were
made fast, and a thick hawser was fixed from the battery to the
west end of the pier with commendable celerity. The whole
operation occupied about fifteen minutes.
On the 2 2d of September, a demonstration of workingmen
took place in Newcastle. The importance of this ceremony
may be comprehended from the fact that the local paper, the;
Newcastle Chronicle, the next morning, devoted twenty columns
to a report. " Not since the great demonstration of 1873," says
The Chronicle, " has the grass of the town moor been covered
TYNESIDE,
89
by so vast an assembly around a platform, as that to receive Gen-
eral Grant. It was estimated that no less than eighty thousand
people were around the platform while Mr. Burt, M.P., read the
address." It was dry, the air cold and bracing, and every way
favorable for an out-door demonstration. The proposal that the
laboring men should do honor to General Grant came from Mr.
Burt, in a letter suggesting that the Trades' Councils of New-
castle should take up the matter and secure the General a fitting
reception. From an early hour Newcastle assumed a holiday
aspect. Crowds came in by railway and other conveyances,
from all parts of the northern country. Every spot where a
view could be obtained was crowded. Stephenson's Monument
was a cluster of human beings. Walls, cabs, windows, balconies,
were full. The fronts of the town buildings and other edifices
were covered with American and British flags intertwined. The
flags of other nations were displayed from their respective con-
sulates. Trophies of Venetian masts, crossed with bannerets,
illuminated with the word "Welcome," were shown in different
parts of the town. Thousands of pitmen from the mines of
Northumberland, their wives and sweethearts, came to join the
demonstration.
q ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
The procession was composed as follows : First came the
Odd Fellows, then the Amalgamated Society of Tailors, with
a banner containing a picture ot Adam and Eve driven from the
Garden of Eden ; then the Newcastle Branch of the Secular
Society, carrying the flag unfurled by the British volunteers un-
der Garibaldi ; the Operative Painters, with a picture represent-
ing the breaking of the chains of slavery, with the inscription,
"Welcome to the Liberator;" also banners bearing the por-
traits of John Bright, Joseph Cowen, and Thomas Burt. Most
of the banners borne by the painters were adorned with bunches
of fresh, green fern. Then came the Durham Miners' Associa-
tion, carrying a blue silk banner, bearing a design which repre-
sented the change in the condition of pit-boys, by the introduc-
tion of short hours of labor ; the Hepworth and Ravensworth
colliers, carrying a blue silk banner, representing the union
of capital and labor, a coal owner and workman in friendly con-
versation, with the legend, "Reason, Truth, and Friendship;"
the Blaydon Colliery, with the inscription, "The Workman is
the Pride and Stay of the Country; " the Pelaw Union Ward-
ley Colliery; the Urpeth Colliery; the Kingston Union of Odd
Fellows. Then came the Northumberland miners, sixteen dif-
ferent collieries, represented by their banners and designs, under
marshals and captains, each colliery with its own band ot music.
Some of these banners had significant emblems. The Seaton
Burn Collieries had the following lines on their banner :
"No gloss or coloring will avail,
But truth and justice here prevail :
'Tis education forms the youthful mind,
Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined."
Another showed a figure representing emancipation, and die
tree of union in full bloom. Another banner, of blue silk with
yellow border, contained the words, "We claim manhood suf-
frage."
After the miners came the Newcastle dock laborers and
trimmers, carrying a new banner of blue silk with crimson bor-
der, bearing this motto:
NEWCASTLE.
91
" A golden era bursts upon the world :
The principle of right shall soon prevail :
Meek truth and justice soon shall lift their heads,
And wrong shall sink to everlasting night."
Then came the Hammermen's Society, the Plumbers, the
Household Furnishers, anil the Tanners of Elswiek. The lat-
ter carried a banner bearing these words:
Welcome back,
General Grant, from Arms to Arts," " Let us have Peace,"
"Nothing like Leather." The Masons, the Independent Order
of Mechanics, the
Newcastle Brass
Moulders and Fin-
ishers, the Tyne
District Carpenters
and Joiners, and the
Mill Sawyers and
Machinists followed.
The Sawyers car-
ried a banner with
these words: "Wel-
come, General
Grant, to New-
castle. Tyneside
rejoices to see thee. Welcome, Hero of Freedom." The
United Chainmakers' Association finished the procession. These
workmen marched in good order like battalions of soldiers.
There was no disturbance of the peace, and a few policemen
only kept the line. It was a moving stream of red and blue
banners, and badges, and insignia.
The General rode in the procession to the town moor, rap-
turous cheering attending him until he reached the platform, at
half-past three o'clock. As the General advanced to the front
of the platform, " the cheers of the crowd," says the Newcastle
Chronicle, " could be heard at St. Thomas's Church, nearly a
mile distant. The Mayor opened the proceedings by asking
the crowd to keep good order. Mr. Burt, M.P., then advanced
and presented the address. In doing this he said that the pro-
92 ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
longed civil war which raged in America excited the greatest
anxiety and interest among the workpeople of the North.
" Never," he said, " was there a war in which English armies
were not employed that went so directly to the popular feeling.
This was not merely because their kinsmen were in mortal
combat; but because it was a battle for great principles. It
was not a war for conquest, for selfish aggrandisement, or for
the propping up of a tottering throne ; but it involved the great
questions of freedom, of the rights of man, and the dignity and
honor of labor." Mr. Burt then congratulated America on the
abolition of slavery, upon the pacific tenor of General Grant's
administration, and upon the settlement of the Alabama Claims
as one of the grandest moral victories ever achieved by states-
manship. " When the history of the nineteenth century comes
to be written," said Mr. Burt, "one of its brightest pages will
be that which tells how two of the greatest and most valor-
ous nations of the world settled their differences by arbitra-
tion rather than by an appeal to the power of armies." Mr.
Burt concluded by saying that the working people regretted
that so much of the wealth, energy, and intellect of the world
were devoted to destructive purposes. " These huge standing
armies," he said, " are a menace to peace, and a constant drain
on the life and resources of nations. In the face of these
armies the two great branches of the Anglo-Saxon race have
before them a noble mission. If England and America, acting
on the wise counsels so well given by you yesterday at the
meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, strive not only to keep
peace between themselves, but also to keep at peace with other
nations, they will set an example that was never more needed
than now, and that will be rich in benefits to the whole world in
all coming time." Then Mr. Burt read the address, which was
handsomely bound and engrossed, as follows:
" General : In the name of the working classes of Northumberland and
Durham, we welcome you to Tyneside, and we are proud of the opportunity
afforded us of expressing to you our admiration for the noble deeds which have
made you famous in the history of your country, and the welcome guest of
Englishmen.
NEirc.isn./-:.
93
" At the outbreak of the American civil war, when called upon by your
country to defend its honor and wipe from its character the stain of slavery,
we are mindful that you entered upon that work with prompt zeal and unfail-
ing fortitude ; and we are sensible that the courage which sustained you during
that dark period of American history, was not the courage which enables a
soldier merely to face death, but that nobler courage which springs from a con-
sciousness of duty.
" In those hard-fought battles, in which your great abilities as a soldier
were displayed, and which won for you the absolute confidence of that pure
and noble-minded martyr, Abraham Lincoln, you had the entire sympathy of
the working classes of England ; and we are all the more proud on that account
in honoring you to-day as a faithful and distinguished son of America — a
splendid soldier and a wise and prudent statesman.
" Though you are skilled in the art of war, we are pleased to regard you as
a man of peace ; but the peace which commands your sympathy must be
founded on the eternal laws of equity and justice. The rough scenes of war
have no charms for you ; but we believe if duty called you would be ready
to strike again for the consecration of noble principles.
" General ! you are imperishably associated with the glorious issue of the
American civil war, and posterity will assign you a conspicuous place on the
roll of the world's heroes. Mankind will not forget that you have caused the
' Stars and Stripes ' to float more proudly than ever over the Republic, and
94 ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
we rejoice to know that our kinsmen have testified their gratitude by twice
electing you to the highest office in the United States. We, who are bound to
them by a relationship which no circumstances can sever, join them in a grate-
ful recognition of your services.
" Again, we welcome you as a most successful statesman, in whose custody
the honor and interests of a noble nation were safely intrusted.
" The onerous duties which devolved upon you on your accession to the
Presidency of the United States could not have been so ably discharged had
you possessed less coolness, courage, and tenacity of purpose ; and we greet
you with sincere esteem for pursuing a conciliatory and peaceful policy toward
this country, especially during the consideration of the difficulties between
England and America.
" The terrible consequences which might have resulted to both countries
had you adopted a hostile policy are harrowing to contemplate, and we are glad
to know that you so largely contributed to the preservation of peace and the
amicable settlement of the Alabama question.
" History will chronicle the proceeding at Geneva as a grand achievement
of civilization, and with it, you, General, will ever be identified. In favoring
the principle of international arbitration you have earned the applause of the civil-
ized world, and we readily acknowledge the great blessings which that mode of
settling the difficulties of nations has already conferred on your country and ours.
" It has cemented us more firmly together in the bonds of peace and friend-
ship, and we are sure that no one is more desirous than yourself that the people
of England and America, who are of one blood, and whose interests are identi-
cal, should draw more closely together, so that the future history of the two
nations may be one of unbroken concord.
" And now. General, in our final words we greet you as a sincere friend of
labor. Having attested again and again your deep solicitude for the industrial
classes, and having also nobly proclaimed the dignity of labor by breaking the
chains of the slave, you are entitled to our sincere and unalloyed gratitude ;
and our parting wish is, that the general applause which you have received in
your own country, and are now receiving in this, for the many triumphs which
you have so gloriously achieved, may be succeeded by a peaceful repose, and
that the sunset of your life may be attended with all the blessings that this earth
can afford.
" General ! we beg your acceptance of this address as a testimony of the
high regard and admiration in which you are held among the working people
of Northumberland and Durham."
General Grant, who was received with the most enthusiastic
cheering, then replied as follows:
"Mr. Burt and Workingmen : Through you, I will return thanks to the
workingmen of Tyneside for the very a< i eptable welcome address which you
have just read. I accept from that class of people the reception which they
T\ XESIDE.
9 5
have accorded me, as among the most honorable. We all know that but for
labor we would have very little that is worth fighting for, and when wars do
come, they fall upon the many, the producing class, who are the sufferers.
They not only have to furnish the means largely, but they have, by their labor
and industry, to produce the means for those who are engaged in destroying
and not in producing. I was always a man of peace, and I have always advo-
cated peace, although educated a soldier. I never willingly, although I have
gone through two wars, of my own accord advocated war." (Loud cheers.)
" I advocated what I believed to
be right, and I have fought for it
to the best of my ability in order
that an honorable peace might be
secured. You have been pleased
to allude to the friendly relations
existing between the two great
nations on both sides of the
Atlantic. They are now most
friendly, and the friendship has
been increasing. Our interests are
so identified, we are so much re-
lated to each other, that it is my
sincere hope, and it has been the
sincere hope of my life, and es-
pecially of my official life, to
maintain that friendship. I enter-
tain views of the progress to be
made in the future by the union
and friendship of the great Eng-
lish-speaking people, for I believe
that it will result in the spread of
our language, our civilization, and
our industry, and be for the benefit of mankind generally.' (Cheers.) " I do
not know, Mr. Burt, that there is anything more for me to say, except that I
would like to communicate to the people whom I see assembled before me here
this day how greatly I feel the honor which they have conferred upon me."
(Cheers.)
The ceremonies were brought to a close by General Fair-
child, Consul at Liverpool, who had lost an arm during our
war, speaking as an American citizen, and thanking the multi-
tude for " their magnificent reception of our great chief, Gene-
ral Grant." The General reviewed the multitude and the pro-
cession as it passed along, and the proceedings terminated with
three cheers for the General and one for Mrs. Grant.
STEPHEN-SONS MONUMENT.
96
ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
Perhaps I can clo no better than give the description of the
scene as I found it in the columns of the Chronicle: " A few min-
utes to four o'clock a general craning of necks and faint strains
of music in the distance heralded the advance of the procession.
Everybody tried to look over everybody's shoulder, and the un-
regenerate boot which always selects that precise moment to im-
press upon its neighbor's foot the fact that man is a pedal animal,
commenced its vocation. A swingeing cheer swept up the turn-
pike and round the corner of the Bull Park, firing like a train
INV'ERARV CASTLE.
of cartridges the whole of the crowd up to the platform. ' He
was coming,' that was enough. So everybody cheered again,
and got its lungs into lustiest order, ready for the time when
the procession should actually arrive and the first captain of
the Republic be visible. Like some long nondescript monster,
with a dorsal fin of variegated colors, the procession slowly
wormed its way up from the road in the direction of the plat-
form. Banners flapped as banners only do flap when there is
not only something in the wind, but something in men's hearts as
well. Brass bands did their best to rise to the height of a great
occasion, and magnify the dignity both of Apollo and of Mars.
NEWCASTLE. g~
The big drum — and there might be a score in the procession —
which ma)- always be depended upon to raise enthusiasm to
fever heat, led off gusty rounds of cheers, which finally eddied
and swirled in splendid vociferousness. The first section of the
procession halted at the east end of the platform. On any
other occasion, perhaps, the silver emblems of all the Christian
graces carried by the National Independent Order of Odd Fel-
lows would have excited attention ; but the top of the Mayor's
carriage could be seen, and in a minute or two a vision of plush
breeches and a confused rush told that the General had arrived.
At this moment the crowd, with the adroitness which is always
the mark of genius, and having waited until the General was on
the field to appreciate the boldness of their campaign, executed
a flank movement into the reserved square in front of the plat-
form. They had been, not ill-naturedly though, chafing for
hours at the idea of having the whole front of the proceedings
partially hidden from them by a forest of banners ; and once the
attention of the police was directed to the arrival of the visitor
of the day, they made a dash for the coveted position. As help-
less as straws in a storm tide, the few policemen on duty were
carried forward with the first lines of the crowd. For an in-
stant, perhaps two, these front ranks were alone in the open.
Then with flattering unanimity of imitation, which always ani-
mates that acute observer the public, forty thousand brains were
struck by the thought that the nearer the platform the better
the sight. Like the bursting of floodgates, away the mighty
masses of faces came on, three huge and solid banks, rather
than waves of humanity, reeling in front of the platform with a
good, thorough, old-fashioned crush.
"And sooth to say it was a crush. From here and there
in the fierce press came the shouts and screams of frightened
lads, whose faces, reaching no higher than the waistcoat pockets
of their fathers, were perforce pressed into that accommodat-
ing, but not the less suffocating, part of the mortal temple
which the monks of Mount Athos considered the center of feel-
ing. Still good-naturedly, although butted in a manner not
conducive to assist digestion, a general effort was made by the
7
9 8
ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
men to extricate the youngsters. They were at once, with sun-
dry rips in sundry coats, hauled up from their unseen position
and literally rolled over the heads of the crowd, to be finally
dropped clown inside a railed-off space in front of the platform,
where stout barriers kept off the crush. By this time every-
body was fully occupied, partly in cheering", partly in protect-
ing their ribs from the pressure of the crowd, partly in helping
to bundle these living bales over to the platform, but chiefly in
taking a good long inspection of the General. Looking as
much like an ordinary Tyneside skipper as possible, open-
browed, firm-faced, bluff, honest, and unassuming, everybody at
once settled in his own mind that the General would do. The
cheers became warmer and warmer as that quiet, strong, thor-
oughly British face grew upon them ; and as they increased,
General Grant, who had at first merely touched his hat to the
multitude, bared his head, as an unmistakable everybody-joins-
in-it 'Hurra' roared out from fifty thousand throats, and rat-
tled up to the astonished birds circling overhead. But business
is business, even in demonstrations, and must be attended to.
The Mayor waits to open proceedings, General Grant to the
right of him, and Mr. Burt to the left. Behind and around the
three, who occupy the middle of the platform, are grouped the
friends and leaders of industrial Northumberland and Durham;
faces which have been familiar to the workers of the North for
the last quarter of a century. Since the General first arrived a
wonderful increase has taken place in the crowd, which now
extends far on either side of the platform, stretching away in
front of it to a point where even the voice of Hector would be
unheard. Only part of the band has nearly reached the posi-
tion intended for the section it is connected with, and apparently
the little knot of crimson tunics wish themselves well out of the
squeeze. One hapless individual, burdened with the care of a
French horn big enough to do duty for a monster cornucopia,
is at his wits' end to preserve his own bones and those of his in-
strument. Finally he lifts it on his shoulder, the mouth point-
ing toward the platform, and looking like a cross between the
brass trunk of a metal mammoth and a novel weapon of war.
NEWCASTLE.
99
The unfortunate processionists, elbowed so summarily out of
their places, have been meantime seeking to establish themselves
on the outskirts of the crowd, where, to tell the truth, they are
far better situated than ii they had occupied the places originally
intended for them. Their banners, disposed partially around
one side of the crowd, have a particularly pretty effect, hemming
in the scene with a zone of color. Behind, in the far distance,
may be seen, rising through the gray smoke, Newcastle's spires
NEWCASTLE.
and steeples. Beyond these the dark hills of Gateshead close
round, looking, as they seem to drop down in the soft shadow and
undulation from the long bar of sunlight stretched, a golden rod,
above them, as if they were hung, a stupendous curtain, worked
with raised broidery of houses and churches.
" But the Mayor has commenced to speak, and following
him comes Mr. Burt. The crowd, which has not got over the
excitement yet, keeps up a loud hum, varied, though it cannot
hear a word of what is said, with occasional cheers, by way of
expressing its conviction that the member for Morpeth is saying
the right thing in the right place. When Mr. Burt takes the
blue-bound address in his hand they cheer it, and break out into
iOO
ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
still more sonorous exclamations when General Grant receives
that expression of the interest Tyneside labor has taken in his
visit. The last of the procession, however, has not yet arrived
on the ground, and the music of distant bands, swelling in with
the restless stir of the crowd, prevents any but a few on the plat-
form from ex-
pecting to hear
what reply the
Ex -President
will make.
Seeing the
state of matters
he addresses
himself to the
reporters, de-
livering, for
h i m , a n u n -
usually long
speech, and
speaking with
an evident
feeling which
shows that the
crowd, as is
nearly always
the case with
men who have
handled large
bodies of men,
has touched his
sympathies. The vast concourse, still rushing up from the
turnpike, and which now musters at least eighty to a hundred
thousand, estimate the unheard speech after their own thoughts,
and applaud every now and again with might and main. When
the General finishes, everybody who has not yet shouted feels
it incumbent to begin at once, and those who have bellowed
themselves hoarse make themselves still hoarser in their en-
ADDKE-SS AT NEWCASTLE.
NEWCASTLE. IOI
deavors to come up to the demands of the situation. Hats are
waved with a self-sacrificing obliviousness to the affection sub-
sisting between crown and brim which is beautiful to witness.
And right in the center of the crowd, little shining rivulets
glistening on his ebony cheeks, and his face glowing with in-
tense excitement, the whole soul within him shining out through
his sable skin like a red-hot furnace seen through a dark cur-
tain, stands a negro, devouring Grant with agaze of such fervid
admiration and respect and gratitude that it flashes out the
secret of the great liberator's popularity."
In the evening there was a banquet at the Assembly Rooms,
the Mayor ot Newcastle occupying the chair. In response to
the toast of the evening the General said :
"Mr. Mayor and Corporation of Newcastle : I scarcely know how to
respond to what has been said by the Mayor. I have a very vivid recollection
that immediately upon my arrival upon these shores the Mayor invited me up
here, and we have been carrying on a correspondence, directly and indirectly,
ever since as to the time when I should be here. But as to my saying anything
after I came, such a thing never occurred to me." (Laughter.) "I will say
that the entertainment by your worthy Mayor has exceeded my expectations.
I have had no better reception in any place, nor do I think it possible to
have a better." (Cheers.) "All I have seen since I have been on the Tyne
has been to me most gratifying as an individual, and I think when I go back
to my own country I will find that it has been very gratifying to my country-
men to hear of it. It has been gratifying all along the Tyne to Tynemouth.
It has been gratifying ever since my landing upon English soil. It has been
gratifying because I have seen that which is extremely pleasant, namely the
good relationship existing, that should always exist, between English-speaking
people." (Applause.) "I think that is a matter of the vastest importance,
because I believe that we have the blessing of civilization to extend. I do not
want to detract from other civilizations ; but I believe that we possess the
highest civilization. There is the strongest bond of union between the Eng-
lish-speaking people, and that bond should and will serve to extend the greatest
good to the greatest number. That will always be my delight."
Mr. Cowen, M.P., responded to the toast of the House of
Commons, and in the course of his speech he said " that New-
castle honored General Grant as a man, and welcomed him as
representing that great, free, and friendly nation, that Younger
Britain on the other side of the broad Atlantic." (Applause.)
IQ2 ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
" In the days of his country's dangers and trials he nobly did his
duty. His highest honor was, that during the darkest hour he
did not despair of the Republic. General Grant's achievements
would fill a large and glowing page in the history of his native
land, and no inconsiderable one in the history of our times. His
position as a soldier and a statesman was fixed, and there was
not now time, and this was not the occasion, to dilate on it. He
had won the confidence of his contemporaries and secured the
encomiums of posterity. The world had often spoken with ad-
miration of his valor and his resolution — of his courage and
ability. He had no wish to underrate or overlook these vir-
tues ; but to-night he would speak of his modesty and magna-
nimity. He knew of nothing more touching than the gentleness
with which General Grant conveyed a necessary, but at the
same time a hasty and unpleasant command, from the Ameri-
can War Minister to his brave companion-in-arms, General
Sherman, nor more generous than his dignified treatment ol
the vanquished Confederate captain — a foeman worthy of his
steel. These actions reminded us of the fabled days of chi-
valry. The only incident in modern warfare to be compared
to them was the conduct of our own manly Outram toward the
gallant Havelock on the eve of the fate of Lucknow. On the
questions involved in the great conflict in which our illustrious
guest played so decisive a part, there were wide differences of
opinion amongst us. We all followed his career with interest
and with admiration — many of us, most of us in this district,
with sympathy. The different views existing in English soci-
ety found memorable expression on two occasions in Newcastle.
In the midst of the war, at a banquet in our town hall, Earl
Russell gave it as his opinion that the North was fighting for
empire and the South for independence. Mr. Gladstone, the
year after, in the same place and on a like occasion, declared
that the South had made an army, were making a navy, and
would make a nation. He referred to these statements not for
the purpose of reviving a long-forgotten and exhausted contro-
versy, nor with the object of pointing out that the ' common
people,' when great principles were at stake, were often right
NEWCASTLE.
10 3
when statesmen, who took a technical view of the struggle,
were in error. But he recalled the circumstances because it was
but meet that the people of Tyneside, who did not share the
sentiments of these two Liberal statesmen, should seize the
opportunity of a visit from the great Republican commander
to ' cull out a holiday,' to climb to walls and battlements, to
towers and windows, to qreet the man who fought and won the
greatest fight for human freedom that this century had seen.
GREY STREET AND GREY MONUMENT, NEWCASTLE.
Lord Russell, with characteristic courage and candor, not long
after he made his speech in Newcastle, declared that he had
misapprehended the objects of the American war, and acknowl-
edged he had been wrong in the views he had entertained.
Mr. Gladstone was scarcely so ready and frank with his recan-
tation, but he also ultimately confessed that he had not under-
stood the purposes of the Republican leaders. He trusted that
General Grant's visit to this country would prevent a repetition
of such misconceptions, would help to draw still closer the
bonds of unity between America and England, and tend to
l0 A ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
prevent the bellicose spirits in both nations plunging us into
suffering and confusion for the gratification of unworthy and
antagonistic passions. Our common interests were peace.
We were streams from the same fountain — branches from the
same tree. We sprang from the same race, spoke the same
language, were moved by the same prejudices, animated by the
same hopes ; we sang the same songs, cherished the same liberal
political principles, and we were imbued with the conviction
that we had a common destiny to fulfill among the children of
men. We were bound by the treble ties of interest, duty, and
affection to live together in concord. A war between America
and England would be a war of brothers. It would be a
household martyrdom only less disastrous than war between
Northumberland and Middlesex. The pioneers of the Repub-
lic — the Pilgrim Fathers — were pre-eminently English. It was
because they were so that they emigrated. They left us
because England in that day had ceased to be England to
them. They went in the assertion of the individual right of
private judgment and the national right of liberty and con-
science. They carved out for themselves a new home in the
wilderness, into which they carried all the industrial charac-
teristics and intellectual enerq-ies of the mother land. Thev
did not leave us when England was in her infancy. Our na-
tional character was consolidated before they went, and Shakes-
peare and Milton and Bacon, and all the great men of the
Elizabethan era, were not only figuratively but literally as much
their countrymen as ours. They repudiated the rule oi the
English king, but, as they themselves declared, they never
closed their partnership in the English Parnassus. They would
not own the authority of our corrupt court, but they bowed
before the majesty of our literary chiefs. They emigrated from
Stuart tyranny, but not from the intellectual and moral glories
of our philosophers and poets, any more than from the sun-
shine and dews of heaven. These literary ties had been ex-
tended and strengthened by years. The names of Longfellow
and Lowell, Bryant and Whittier, were as much household
words with us as those of Campbell and Coleridge, Byron and
NEWCASTLE.
I05
Burns, Dickens and Thackeray. Bulwer and Jerrold wrote as
much for America as for England. The works of Hawthorne
and Cooper, Emerson and Irving-, came to us across the sea
bathed in the fragrance ot their boundless prairies, redolent of
the freshness of their primeval pine forests, and were read and
admired as warmly on the banks of the Tyne and the Thames
as on the shores of the Potomac and the Mississippi. But in
addition to the intellectual, there were strong material ties inter-
twining the two nations. When the United States ceased to
TYNEMOUTH.
be part of the English dominions, an increased commercial
intercourse sprang up between us. Coincident with the close
of the American War of Independence, the ingenuity and skill
of our countrymen led to the discovery of those great mechani-
cal inventions which produced the cotton trade. While the
spindles of the Lancashire mill-owners had been weaving wealth
for themselves and power for their country, they had bound in
a web of interest and good-will the American planter and mer-
chant and the English manufacturer and workman. They
trusted that when their distinguished truest returned home, he
I 6 ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
would assure his fellow countrymen that there was, amongst
men of all classes, sects, and parties in England, only one feel-
ing toward America, and that was one of friendship — that we
had only one rivalry with her, and that was to excel in the arts
of peace and the works of civilization.'' I print this part of
Mr. Cowen's speech because it gives a fair idea of the feeling
of the people of Newcastle toward the United States. At the
close of this reception, General Grant drove to Hesley Side,
and spent the Sunday with W. H. Charlton, Esq.
There was an address by the Corporation of Gateshead, to
which General Grant made a response, alluding to the depres-
sion of trade in England as affecting America and the whole
of the civilized world. " But," he said, " the times will grow
better, and must grow better. Whether it be that the result
of over-production, or a little extravagance on the part of civil-
ized peoples, for the time has left a surplus on hand to be con-
sumed, we must all hope and trust that we shall soon see this
depression of trade pass away."
On Monday, the 24th of September, General Grant arrived
in the town of Sunderland, having accepted an invitation of the
Mayor to lav the foundation stone of a new museum on the
south west corner of the park. Rain had fallen, and the streets
were muddy, but the houses were decorated with flags. The
special engine which drew the train in which General Grant
traveled had the stars and stripes flying on it with the union
jack. Here, also, was a procession of workmen and benevo-
lent societies ; among them the Ancient Order of Foresters, the
Odd Fellows, the Free Gardeners, the Sons of Temperance,
Bricklayers, Tailors, Boat-builders, Engineers, Miners, Chain-
makers, and Smiths. As the General walked up the hill to the
park a salute was fired. Just then the sun came out from be-
hind a cloud. An address was read to General Grant by the
President of the Trades Council, in which, after complimenting
the General, lie spoke of the desire of the people for free trade
and the removal of unjust tariffs, as well as the success of the
principle of international arbitration. The General in response
said : " I wish to return my thanks to the Trades Union and the
SUNDERLAND.
107
friendly societies who have honored me with this address this
morning. I wish you to say to these societies that I regard it
as a very great honor. The language of the address which has
just been read has shown so much friendliness, not only for me
personally, but to my country, that it gives me great cause for
pride. I shall preserve this with man)- other addresses I have
received while on these shores, and I shall hand them down to
GENERAL GRANT'S ENGLISH PRESENTS.
my family to be revered by them, no doubt, as long as our
generations last."
After this the ceremony of laying the foundation stone took
place, which was followed by a luncheon and addresses by
members of Parliament. An address was presented by the
Mayor and Town Council of Sunderland. The toast was the
health of General Grant and his wife. To this toast General
Grant responded, and after thanking the company for their
kindness, said: "I know that the best of feeling exists in the
IQ g ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
United States toward the people of Great Britain. We feel
that good feeling- between the two nations is growing, and that
it is a matter of the greatest importance, not alone to ourselves,
but to civilization at large ; moving together as friends, with one
language, one energy, and one support in all that causes the
advance of civilization, we are destined as friends to make a big
figure in the world. As enemies we should neutralize each
other's efforts, and, therefore, it is my sincere hope that the
friendship which is existing now may continue and increase."
At the close of the luncheon the General visited the docks, and
in the evening dined with Mr. Lang, at Thornhill, who cele-
brated the visit of the General by a display of fireworks. On
the 25th the General was the guest of Mr. Hartley, and visited
the glass-works of Hartley & Company.
On the 26th of September, General Grant visited Sheffield.
The town was decorated, and the General arrived on the Pull-
man palace car. He drove to the Cutlers' Hall. The alder-
men were present in scarlet, and the councilors in purple. In
the center of the platform three chairs were reserved for the
Mayor, the General, and Mrs. Grant. The Mayor welcomed
the General to Sheffield, and an address was read in which
America was congratulated on having abolished slavery. In
his response the General said:
" Mr. Mayor, Ladies, and Gentlemen of Sheffield : I have just heard
the address which has been read and presented to me, with great gratification.
It affords me singular pleasure to visit a city the name of which has been
familiar to me from my earliest childhood. I think the first penknife I ever
owned, away out in the western part of the State of Ohio, was marked ' Shef-
field.' I think the knives and forks we then used on our table had all of them
' Sheffield ' marked on them. I do not know whether they were counterfeit or
not, but it gave them a good market. From that day to this the name of your
industrial city has been familiar, not only in the States, but I suppose through-
out the civilized world. The city has been distinguished for its industry, its
inventions, and its progress. If our commerce has not increased as much as
you might wish, yet it has increased, I think, with Sheffield since the days of
which I spoke when we had no cutlery excepting that marked ' Sheffield.' It
must be very much larger than it was then. We are getting to make some of
those things ourselves, and I believe occasionally we put our own stamp upon
them ; but Sheffield cutlery still has a high place in the markets of the world.
SHEFFIELD. Iog
I assure you it affords me very great pleasure the welcome that I have received
here to-day, and I shall carry away with me the pleasant recollections of what
I have seen in Sheffield."
An address was also presented by the Master, Wardens,
Searchers, Assistants, and Commonalty of the Corporation of
Cutlers of Hallamshire, to which General Grant responded as
follows :
" Mr. Master Cutler and Gentlemen of the Society of Cutlers :
After the few remarks I made in reply to the address of the Mayor there is
hardly anything for me to say further than that I feel gratified, highly gratified,
at this reception. In the matter of free trade, I would hardly be able to speak
upon that subject without some preparation. It must be recollected, however,
that the country which I had at one time the honor of representing has gone
through a great war and contracted a great debt in suppressing a rebellion.
That makes it necessary to raise a large amount to support the running ex-
penses of the Government, and to pay the interest on the debt which is owing
in foreign countries to a very large extent. It is impossible to raise these reve-
nues from internal sources. The protective tariff is a matter scarcely heard of
now in the United States, though it was a common subject of talk years ago.
The reason it is scarcely mentioned now is that the revenue from imports is
regarded simply as one of the means of raising the necessary money to pay the
interest upon the national debt and the other expenses incident to the carrying
on of the Government, and if we were to abolish the revenue from imports, the
foreign bondholders would very soon cry out against us because we failed to
pay the interest on the bonds which they hold." (Laughter.) " We get along
rapidly enough in that direction, and we will compete with you in your manu-
factures in the markets of the world."
At the conclusion of this speech, Mr. Pease, as the repre-
sentative of the Chamber of Commerce, made a few remarks, in
the course of which he expressed a hope that in course of time
the American Congress would modify its tariffs. An address
was also presented by the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce,
dwelling upon the maintenance of free and open commercial
communications between the two great English nations. In
reply General Grant said: "It is scarcely necessary I should
add anything to what I have already said in acknowledgment
of my reception in Sheffield. In regard to your merchants and
mechanics who have gone to our country and have helped to
build up our manufactures, I can only say we received them with
1IO ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
open arms. The more of you who go the better we will like it,
and I hope it will be to their advantage. Business with us at
this time is a little depressed, as it is all over the civilized world;
but the day is not far distant, in my judgment — certainly I hope
it is not tar distant — when trade and commerce will revive, and
when we shall see more of you and your sons and daughters
over there ; see them succeed, see them make pleasant homes
and become good citizens and law-makers with us, and see them,
when they are qualified, office-holders. I can assure you no-
thing gives us more pleasure than to see the emigration of the
industry and intelligence of this community. We have room
for all, and a hearty welcome for all, and if you only come
among us we will try to treat you as you have treated me to-
day." There was a reception by Dr. Webster, the General Con-
sul, which the shippers of Sheffield attended ; and in the even-
ing the General dined with the Mayor.
On the morning of the 27th of September, General Grant
visited the cutlery works of Rogers & Sons. From here he
went to the Cyclops Iron and Steel Works. He examined a
mill for rolling wire, where wire was rolled for telegraphic pur-
poses ; an iron frame-plate for locomotives was rolled. This is
a branch of industry which has placed Sheffield at the head of
the world in this work. The General ascended a platform
where he could well observe these stupendous operations. The
plate was intended for the ship " Tegetoff" of the Austrian navy.
When finished it would be fourteen feet three inches long, three
feet wide, and eleven inches thick. The mass of iron when put
into the furnace weighed twenty-six tons ; when finished the
plate would weigh about twenty tons. The reporter of the
Sheffield Telegraph says: " On the furnace doors being opened,
only those whose eyes are accustomed to the scene could view
anything within it beyond a white mass of burning material. A
crane traveling overhead, however, carried a pair of huge tongs
to the mouth of the furnace ; they were thrust within it, and with
the help of the engines the heap of seething metal was drawn
forth upon an iron lurry. The heat in the mill was now tremen-
dous, and the majority of the strangers were endeavoring to
SHEFFIELD.
I I I
shield their eyes from the blinding glare of the material, and at
the same time seeking to protect their faces from the heat. The
lurry was hastened to the rolls, and at the first passage a shower
of fire was ejected as the iron ran through ; at the same time
the dross running from the sides of the plate as whey does from
a cheese. In eight minutes, after being several times passed
and repassed through the gigantic rolls, the operation was con-
cluded. As the General left the mill he was again heartily
cheered, a second compliment, which he again acknowledged.
The derrick for testing rails was shown in operation. A section
was placed beneath it, and a weight of one ton drawn to a height
of twenty-five feet above it, when it was allowed to fall. The
rail, however, only bent, and showed no sign of fracture. The
operation of converting Bessemer steel was next witnessed.
When the party reached this department, one of the huge ' re-
ceivers ' was just ready to be charged with the iron. The blast
was put on, and for twenty minutes the party had an opportu-
nity of viewing at close quarters a display which it would be
II2 ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
difficult for any pyrotechnist to imitate. Now and again as
some mass of slag was driven high into the air, and fell back'
upon some damp place in the pit, an explosion would ensue,
which must have reminded the General of the bursting of shell.
This process appeared to excite the attention of the ladies most
of all, and when at last the operation of converting was com-
pleted, and an adjournment was made to a cooler place, it was
with no small amount of relief to many, the heat being almost
insupportable. In the planing-room it was explained how the
armor plates are dressed into presentable form, how they had
bolt holes drilled through them, and how the port holes were
cut out. In this apartment were exhibited two plates which had
been subjected to experiments at Shoeburyness. They were
manufactured of iron, with a surface of steel, under a process
patented by Mr. Alex. Wilson. Although only nine inches
thick, no shot had been able to pierce through them. The
bending of a section of an eight-inch plate, cold, was perfectly
successful, no flaw of any description being found on the piece
after this severe test."
There was a banquet in the Hall of the Cutlers' Company,
one of the most famous halls in England. This room was deco-
rated profusely with flowers and flags and tropical plants. The
Earl of Wharncliffe, who was present, made a speech in re-
sponse to the toast of the House of Lords, in which he claimed
Grant as a member of the noble family of Seafield, the Earl of
Seafield being the head of the Grant clan. Mr. Mundella, M.P.,
also spoke, making a graceful allusion to his visit to America,
and to his having met General Grant when he was President.
He referred to his visit to Washington, and said: "I was in
Washington, and was introduced by one of the Ministers of
General Grant's Government to the President of the Republic —
General Grant himself. We had some conversation about the
speeches and about the references that had been made to the
relations between the two countries. The words which the
General spoke were few, brief, weighty, and encouraging, and
were in favor of peace with England. And he encouraged me
and Mr. Hughes to ^o on in the same direction as had some of
SHEFFIELD.
1 I
iii^-
the most prominent men in America — the best spirits in the coun-
try ; and, gentlemen, should it ever be your lot, as it has been
mine, to sit down at Boston, and there to meet the literary men,
the poets, and the statesmen of America, depend upon it you
will be prouder of the Anglo-Saxon race from that time forth
than you are to-day. I say these men were of one mind and
one heart, that between the brothers on this side of the Atlantic
and the brothers on the other , „
side there should be peace,
that all sources of quarrel
should be removed. When I
came home I went to Lord
Granville and Mr. Forster, and
they sent me to Mr. Gladstone.
I placed before them all I had
heard and seen in America, and
humble though my part may
have been, I am proud to have
been even one of the humblest
instruments in the formation of
some measures and the confir-
mation of negotiations which
produced that great interna-
tional understanding between
the two nations, which is to the lasting honor of Mr. Gladstone's
Government. Mr. Forster said to me this morning as he came
down with me in the train on his way to Bradford, that we all
ought to be grateful to General Grant, as during his Presidency
he was the confirmed friend of peace with England, and that he
would not allow any political faction to trade upon war with
England, and thereby to make political capital out of such a
criminal cry."
The toast of General Grant's health was proposed by the
Mayor, who alluded to the work which had been done in Eng-
land by Mr. Peabody, and the reverence which Englishmen felt
for the memory of that philanthropist. General Grant in reply
said :
\.\:\\ ING SHEFFIELD.
I i a ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
" Mr. Mayor, and Ladies and Gentlemen of Sheffield : It makes my
heart feel glad when I hear these sentiments uttered in regard to my own
country, and to the friendship which should exist between the two nations. As
I have had occasion to say frequently, it has always been a cherished view of
mine that we should be the best of friends. I am sure, as an official in a
position that gave me some little power of healing the little grievance that
was caused between the two nations, I exercised all the influence I had to bring
about a settlement that would be a final settlement, as I believed — and I be-
lieve now that it is a final settlement. It was not a question of whether we
should get this or that, it was simply a question of whether we should agree ;
it was not a matter of dollars and cents — they were entirely unnamed as com-
pared with the question of a settlement. Our wish was simply to have a
settlement — that both parties should agree and settle the matter. We have
agreed upon terms, and I believe that this is the beginning of a long series of
years — I hope centuries — of friendly and honorable rivalry between the two great
English-speaking nations and the advancement of each. Whatever tends to
the advancement of one in some way or other will tend to the advancement
of the other."
Lord Wharncliffe proposed the health of Mrs. Grant and the
ladies. At the close of the banquet the General went to his
Pullman palace car, where he passed the night, leaving next
morning at seven o'clock, after taking breakfast on the car,
for Stratford-on-Avon. Arriving in Stratford at eleven o'clock
by special train, the General was met by the Mayor, Mr. J. J.
Mason, and was driven to New Place Gardens, where he strolled
about. Afterward the party visited the Church of the Holy
Cross and the Grammar School, where they were shown the
corner which Shakespeare as a boy occupied, where he learned
his "little Latin and less Greek." The General before leaving
the school asked a holiday for the boys; which kindness was
recognized by three times three cheers, and one for Mrs. Grant.
The Shakespeare Memorial, now in process of erection on the
Avon bank, was inspected, and afterward a visit made to the
Church of the Holy Trinity, where repose the ashes of Shakes-
peare, and where the vicar, the Rev. F. Smith, received the
party and showed them the various memorials of the poet. On
quitting the church the General was driven to the pretty village
of Shottery, and a visit was paid to the cottage of Anne Hath-
away. Clopton Bridge was crossed, and the party took the
STRATFORD.
H5
opportunity of looking at the river Avon. At three o'clock ,
there was a luncheon in the town hall. The toast in General
Grant's honor was given by Mr. Flower, an old citizen of Strat-
ford, who had lived in America half a century ago. An address
was presented in a casket made out of wood of the mulberry
tree planted by Shakespeare at New Place. In response to this
toast the General said he
had the greatest gratifica-
tion in visiting the birth-
place and home of the dis-
tinguished citizen of this
great nation who was so
well known in America.
America, as well as Eng-
land, celebrated Shakes-
peare's birthday, and took
pride in his great genius.
He would have been open
to censure had he not visited
Stratford-on-Avon, and he
felt the greatest pleasure in J<£jjS$''
being recei \ ed with such MilSp^
cordiality and friendship.
On the morning of the
29th, the General and party
left for the pleasant town of
Leamington. The town was decorated with flags, and in Bath
Street there was a triumphal arch, bearing the motto, " Wel-
come to the Royal Borough." The road was decorated with
the flags of England and America, and from the windows were
displayed banners, garlands, and mottoes. At the pump room
the General was received by a guard of honor of the Leaming-
ton Volunteers under the command of Captain A. E. Overell.
The Mayor, H. Bright, Esq., delivered an address, in which he
said that the people of Leamington were glad to meet so dis-
tinguished an American, that America was running a close race
with England, almost surpassing its manufactures ; that it pro-
rFORD-ON-AVON.
n 6 ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
duced men of die caliber of Stanley, of whom England and
America were alike proud ; and he congratulated General
Grant upon having taken so prominent a part in the war which
led to the abolition of slavery. " It was a memorable day for
your country," said the Mayor, " and a great day for humanity
at large, when, by the efforts of Abraham Lincoln and yourself,
aided by the enlightenment of the American people, slavery was
forever abolished from your land." In response, the General,
who was warmly cheered, said: "Mr. Mayor, ladies and gentle-
men of Leamington: It is a source of great pleasure to me to
visit your renowned borough. It is a place well known by the
citizens of my own country. Two of my children have visited
you much earlier than I ever found time to do myself, and have
carried home with them most pleasurable recollections, not only
of what they saw in Leamington, but of the very kind treatment
which they received at the hands of some of your citizens. I
have no doubt you have many places of interest surrounding
your city, only a few of which I shall be able to visit during the
short stay I shall be able to make here; but I shall take home
some pleasurable recollections of my visit. I am sure that it
affords me great gratification to see the number of people who
are outside to receive me as the representative of a kindred
people. I know the feeling of friendship between the two great
English-speaking nations is strengthening day by day and year
by year, and I have no doubt but that, in the future, all our dif-
ferences being amicably and fairly adjusted, we shall go hand in
hand as honorable rivals in producing what is necessary for the
comfort and support of men ; and that our united efforts will be
felt throughout the civilized world, and will have a beneficial
effect in carrying a better civilization. I hope that through our
influence we may be able at some future day to settle questions
of difference without resort to arms. Although it has been my
misfortune to have been engaged in as many battles as it was
possible for an American soldier of my generation, I never was
for war, but always preferred to see questions of difference set-
tled by arbitration. But in our last great conflict there was
the institution of slaver)-. It was not a conflict between two
BIRMINGHAM.
"/
nations — it was a family quarrel ; and there was no way of
settlement. Every honorable effort was made on the part of
the North to avoid war. We know as a people — though, per-
haps, it is not generally known — at all events, it is not gene-
rally spoken of — that our martyred President,
when he saw that conflict was inevitable, pro-
posed to the South that they should be
jpaid for their slaves if they would sur-
render them, and come back
into the family circle. But
this they refused, and the
result was, as you all know,
the loss of that species of
property without compen-
sation."
General Grant's visit to
Leamington, Stratford-on-
Avon, and the midland
counties, was succeeded by
a visit to his daughter at
•fp&„"*->- Southampton. Here a few
VRjp*' days were spent in retirement and repose, and on
the ioth of October the General redeemed his promise to pay
a visit to Birmingham. On arriving, he was received by the
Mayor, Alderman Baker, and the member of Parliament, Mr.
Chamberlain, and driven to the Town Hall, where addresses
were presented by the corporation, the workingmen, and the
Midland International Arbitration Union. A dais had been
erected in front of the orchestra, covered with crimson cloth,
decorated with shrubs and flowers, and surmounted by the union
jack and the American flag. The General, accompanied by the
Mayor and Mr. Chamberlain, entered the hall at half-past three,
and were received with much enthusiastic cheering. The
Mayor, in his speech of welcome, alluded to the interest Birming-
ham felt in the United States — how much it watched American
growth and progress, not only in fair-weather times, but in the
darker periods of the American war. In doing so, Birmingham
ANNE HATHAWAY 5
COTTAGE.
US ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
had only followed the leadership of that great man, John Bright.
During the period of America's existence — a century since the
Declaration of Independence — Birmingham had grown from a
village to a great town, and in fifty years had trebled its popu-
lation. The address was read, and in response, the General said :
" Mr. Mayor, ladies, and gentlemen : It is with great pleasure
that I find myself in Birmingham, a city that was so well known
in my own country during the trying periods that have been
referred to. The name of the distinguished gentleman who
has represented you for so long, is as familiar almost in my own
country as it is in his own home, and I can promise that if it
should ever be his good pleasure to visit the United States —
and I hope it will — he will receive as hearty a welcome as it
has been my privilege and pleasure to receive at the hands of
the English communities I have been among. Your city and
its growth are also somewhat familiar to us. The connection
between this city and the United States has been as intimate
almost as that with any other city of the same population in the
kingdom; and there is a warm feeling of fellowship between our
citizens and the citizens of Birmingham. As I have had occa-
sion so repeatedly to express my views on the importance of
this subject, I need scarcely say anything more than to thank
you, Mr. Mayor, and the citizens of Birmingham, for the kind
reception I have received at your hands, and to apologize to
you for having kept you waiting here so long."
An address was also presented on behalf of the industrial
classes of Birmingham, by Geo. Hanson, Esq. This address
congratulated America on the abolition of slavery, and upon
having established arbitration as a principle of international
peace. In response to this address, General Grant said:
" Workingmen of Birmingham : I have just heard your address with great
interest. I have had occasion twice before, I believe, since I have been in Eng-
land, to receive addresses from the workingmen of Great Britain — once in Lon-
don and once in Newcastle-on-Tyne. In my response, on both occasions, I ex-
pressed what I thought was due to the workingmen, not only of my country and
of Great Britain, but to the workingmen all over the world. I said that we in
our country strove to make labor respectable. There is no class of labor that
IURMIXGHAM.
IIQ
disqualifies a man from any position, either in society or in official life. Labor
disgraces no man ; unfortunately you occasionally find men disgrace labor.
Your Mayor has alluded to the fact that the population of Birmingham had
tripled itself in fifty years. I would ask the Mayor whether, if Birmingham had
been deprived of its handicraft laborers, it would have seen any such increase ?
It is due to the labor and to the manufacture of articles which are turned out
by the means of labor, that you have grown in population and in wealth. In
response to the kindly feelings which exist between the workingmen of Birming-
ham and those of the United States, and the compliments you have paid
to me for the efforts I
have made in the cause
of freedom and the
North, I thank you most
heartily."
Then came an
address read by Mr.
A. O'Neill, on be-
half of the Interna-
tional Arbitration
Union. Mr. O'Neill
recalled the fact
that when General
Grant became
President, he frankly declared his motto to be "Let us have
peace." No event, said Mr. O'Neill, in the history of the
American Government could surpass in importance the great
experiment of adjusting disputes by arbitration. Allusion was
made to General Grant's efforts as President to ameliorate the
condition of the Indians by the appointment of commissioners
from the Society of Friends. "Our hearts," continued Mr.
O'Neill, "have been also deeply touched by your just and
beneficent treatment of the colored freedmen. You guided
them in their faltering steps as they marched out of bondage;
you defended them from their enemies ; you cared for them in
their distresses; you aided them in obtaining education; and you
claimed for them their rio/hts as citizens; and now 'the blessinp-
of him that was ready to perish shall come upon you, for you de-
livered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had
none to help him.'" In response to this, General Grant said:
SHAKESPEARES HOME.
j 20 ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
"Members of the Midland International Arbitration Union: I
thank you for your address. It is one that gives me very little to reply to, more
than to express my thanks. Though I have followed a military life for the bet-
ter part of my years, there was never a day of my life when I was not in favor
of peace on any terms that were honorable. It has been my misfortune to be en-
gaged in more battles than any other general on the other side of the Atlantic ;
but there was never a time during my command when I would not have gladly
chosen some settlement by reason rather than by the sword. I am conscien-
tiously, and have been from the beginning, an advocate of what the society rep-
resented by you, gentlemen, is seeking to carry out ; and nothing would afford
me greater happiness than to know, as I believe will be the case, that, at some
future day, the nations of the earth will agree upon some sort of congress, which
shall take cognizance of international questions of difficulty, and whose deci-
sions will be as binding as the decision of our Supreme Court is binding on us.
It is a dream of mine that some such solution may be found for all questions of
difficulty that may arise between different nations. In one of the addresses, I
have forgotten which, reference was made to the dismissal of the army to the
pursuits of peaceful industry. I would gladly see the millions of men who are
now supported by the industry of the nations return to industrial pursuits, and
thus become self-sustaining, and take off the tax upon labor which is now levied
for their support."
On the conclusion of these ceremonies, General Grant visited
the Free Library and Art Gallery, and several public works, and
afterward went to the house of Mr. Chamberlain, whose hospi-
tality he accepted during his stay in Birmingham.
On Thursday, the 17th of October, General Grant, accompa-
nied by the Mayor, the American Consul, Mr. Chamberlain, and
Mr. L. P. Morton of New York, visited several important manu-
factories of Birmingham. The workpeople gave him a hearty and
cordial greeting. At the Cambridge-street Works an address
was presented, signed by the workmen, to which General Grant
answered and said that he was glad to see institutions of learning
connected with a workshop employing so many young persons.
"If," he said, "the example were followed largely it would have
the tendency to elevate labor to its proper standard." The
General studied the various processes of casting pigs of brass
and rolling them into shapes by machinery of great powers.
The methods of tube-drawing and ornamenting were shown, as
well as the system of producing impressions on block tin. There
was a visit also to the celebrated electro-plate works of Messrs.
BIRMINGHAM.
121
Elkington & Company. Among- other objects inspected was a
copy of the delicately beautiful basket of real ferns plated in
gold and silver, which was presented to the Princess of Wales ;
also a choice Japanese tea service, the tray of solid silver coated
with gold; the famous Milton shield and Helicon vase, in re-
pousse — the former representing subjects from "Paradise Lost,"
and the latter, valued at thirty thousand dollars, in the Renais-
sance style, illustrating Music and Poetry. After luncheon, which
70WN HALL, BIRMINGHAM.
took place at the Queen's Hotel, on the invitation of the Mayor,
the button works of Messrs. Green, Cadbury & Richards, and
the world-renowned pen works of Messrs. Gillott were examined.
In the evening there was a banquet at the Town Hall, nearly
three hundred and fifty persons being present. The orchestra
was ornamented with flags, plants, and flowers. Mr. Chamber-
lain, M.P., proposed General Grant's health. It was not, he said,
as one of the greatest of military commanders that Birmingham
did honor to him. While they admired the courage, the perti-
nacity, and the consummate ability with which he conducted a
I2 2 ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
tremendous struggle to its conclusion and won great victories,
they admired still more the use to which he had put his victories,
and they saw in him the first and foremost instrument in the set-
tlement oi issues more important to civilization and to freedom
than any other which had been tried in our times — issues involv-
ing the very existence of America. In America war had been
the prelude to a peace which he hoped, and might fairly believe,
to be the harbinger of a lasting alliance and union. He con-
trasted the career of Grant with that of Napoleon, the latter
having betrayed the confidence bestowed on him by France in
undermining the institutions which he was expected to guard
and defend. In honoring General Grant there was a desire on
the part of England to draw closer the ties which unite the two
great English-speaking nations ; and everywhere the conviction
was gaining ground that their freedom, friendship, and cordial
union was the best guarantee for the freedom and progress of
the world.
General Grant, in responding to the toast, said :
" Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen of Birmingham : I scarcely know
how to respond to a toast which has been presented in such eloquent language,
and in terms so complimentary to myself and to the nation to which I belong,
and in which I have had the honor of holding a public position. There are
some few points, however, alluded to by your representative in Parliament, that
I will respond to. He alluded to the great merit of retiring a large army at the
close of a great war. If he had ever been in my position for four years, and
undergone all the anxiety and care that I had in the management of those large
armies, he would appreciate how happy I was to be able to say that they could
be dispensed with." (Laughter and applause.) " I disclaim all credit and praise
for doing that one thing. I knew that I was doomed to become a citizen of the
United States, and, so far as my personal means went, to aid in eradicating the
debt already created, and in paying my share of any expenses that might have
to be borne for the support of a large standing army. Then, further, we
Americans claim to be so much of Englishmen, and to have so much general
intelligence, and so much personal independence and individuality, that we do
not quite believe that it is possible for any one man there to assume any more
right and authority than the Constitution of the land gave to him." (Hear,
hear.) " Among the English-speaking people we do not think these things pos-
sible. We can fight among ourselves, and dispute and abuse each other, but
we will not allow ourselves to be abused outside ; nor will those who look on at
our little personal quarrels in our own midst permit us to interfere with their
BRIGHTON. , 2 ,
own rights. Now, there is one subject that has been alluded to here, that I do
not know that I should speak upon it at all ; I have heard it occasionally whis-
pered since I have been in England — and that is, the great advantages that
would accrue to the United States if free trade should only be established. I
have a sort of recollection, through reading, that England herself had a protec-
tive tariff until she had manufactories somewhat established. I think we are
rapidly progressing in the way of establishing manufactories ourselves, and I
believe we shall become one of the greatest free-trade nations on the face of
the earth ; and when we both come to be free-traders, I think that probably
the balance of nations had better stand aside, and not contend with us at all in
the markets of the world. If I had been accustomed to public speaking — I
WARWICK CASTLE.
never did speak in public in my life until I came to England — I would respond
further to this toast ; but I believe that the better policy would be to thank you
not only for the toast, and the language in which it has been presented, but for
the very gratifying reception which I have had personally in Birmingham."
Mr. L. P. Morton made a brief speech, expressing his great
personal gratification at witnessing the hospitality and courtesy
shown General Grant, which had produced a deep, and he be-
lieved, a lasting impression on the citizens of the United States.
At the conclusion of these ceremonies General Grant left for
London.
On the 20th of December the General visited Briehton, and
124
ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND.
was the guest of Mr. Ashbury, M.P. On the 2 2d a banquet
took place in his honor. It was given by the Mayor and Cor-
poration. The chief men of Brighton were present. The
Mayor, in proposing the General's health, referred to the mu-
tual friendly and commercial relations which subsisted between
the two countries, and to General Grant's great military and
civil services to his country. General Grant replied as follows:
"Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen : I have to rise here in answer to a toast
that has made it embarrassing to me, by the very complimentary terms in
which it has been proposed. But I can say to you all, gentlemen, that since
my arrival in England, I have had the most agreeable receptions everywhere ;
and I enjoy yours exceedingly. In a word, I will say that Brighton has advan-
tages which very few places have, in consequence of its proximity to the greatest
city in the world. There you can go and transact your business, and return
in the evening. If I were an Englishman, I think I should select Brighton as
a place where I should live, and I am very sure you could not meet a jollier
and better people anywhere. But I would say one word in regard to a toast
which preceded, and that is in regard to your Forces. I must say one word for
the Volunteers, or Reserve Forces, as I believe you call them. They are
what the English-speaking people are to rely on in the future. I believe that
wherever there is a great war between one civilized nation and another, it will
be these Forces in which they will have to place their confidence. We Eng-
lish-speaking people keep up the public schools in order to maintain and ad-
vance the intelligence of our country, and, in time, fit our people for volunteer
service, and for higher training ; and you will always find the men among
them who are equal to any occasion. I have forgotten a good deal our Mayor
has said that I would like to respond to, but I can say, that since I landed in
Liverpool, my reception has been most gratifying to me. I regard that recep-
tion as an evidence of the kindest of feeling toward my country, and I can
assure you, if we go on as good friends and good neighbors, that the English-
speaking people are going to be the greatest people in the world. Our lan-
guage is spreading with greater rapidity than the language of any other nation
ever did, and we are becoming the commercial people of the world."
On the following day the General left Brighton for the
metropolis.
iiil
k
)
CHAPTER V.
PARIS VISITS TO THE PRINCIPAL PLACES OF INTEREST THE
AMERICAN COLONY.
$ ENERAL GRANT'S visit to Paris had been some-
what postponed. Originally the idea had been
entertained of visiting Paris in midsummer, on the
way to Italy. A reception had even been proposed
for the General, which was to have taken place in
Paris on the 4th of July. Certain changes in France, however,
were transpiring, which, in the opinion of the American repre-
sentatives in Paris, might give General Grant's visit in July
somewhat of a political character. The struggle between the
President of the Republic, General MacMahon, and the Jules
Simon cabinet had set in, and it was thought that the presence
of General Grant would be taken by the monarchical and impe-
rial parties in France as savoring of a political character, in
>-5
126
PARIS— PRINCIPAL PLACES OF INTEREST.
favor of the republicans. General Grant could not come to
France without becoming the guest of General MacMahon, and
a false interpretation of the visit might have been entertained.
It was then determined that the journey to Paris should be
postponed until October.
In France political feeling was at fever heat. Though Paris,
the great city, was apparently as peaceful as on the eve of the
Lenten feast, as quiet as before that coup d'etat which Victor
Hugo has described in his " Histoire d'un Crime," every one
knew that the crisis had come. The boulevards might throng
with eager bustling throngs ; all the currents of life, society,
business, and pleasure might be rushing on ; still, in an instant
there might come revolution and anarchy. The writer strolled
under the shadow of the Madelaine, and turned into a street
leading to the Place de la Concorde. It was here the guillo-
tine once stood ; and where the fountains were now gushing.
oceans of blood had been shed, which those waters never would
cleanse. On toward the Bastile swept a broad avenue of light.
There were masses of illumination clustered around the obelisk
of Luxor, and the moon shed its beams on the gilded dome of
PLACE DE LA CONCORDE. l2 y
the Invalides. All around was the murmur and hum of a
great city, the many voices of the night rising and falling like
the cadence of the sea. Paris never looked more beautiful,
more self-composed, but never was more anxious. Walls were
covered with parti-colored appeals. Prominent were the pro-
clamations of Marshal MacMahon, calling on the patriotism
of the people, with official white-paper posters. The wild en-
thusiasm of a New York election was wanting-, with its flashing
torches and multitudes of marching men. Such a thing would
have been impossible in France. Attempt a political demon-
stration and squadrons of cavalry would inclose the street, or
otherwise there might be tumult and massacre.
It was the coming election which was to settle the fate of
France. If honest republicanism could gain the day, it would
show the highest allegiance to the law. It would demonstrate
this fact, that France had grown greater, through all her sore
trials — that the France of the days of Messidor, which Barbier
in his famous poem had compared to a wild, untrainable colt,
had at last been broken,, and had become disciplined and obe-
dient ; not coerced by the iron grip of a Bonaparte, but by the
kinder hand of enlightened public opinion.
Never was republic encompassed with greater difficulties.
Pretenders to the throne were striving to mount its slippery
steps, policemen were trammeling and tethering the press, spies
were dogging every leader, and the clergy were praying for
republican discomfiture. As to the army, it was marching and
counter-marching, a threatening reminder of its power. Worse
than all, the fearful shadow of the Commune rose like a dark
cloud casting its gloom over Paris. When, in spite of all this,
republicanism triumphed, this was the first step toward true
conservative republicanism.
It was when France was all aglow with excitement caused
by a true republican victory that General Grant arrived in Paris.
On the morning of the 24th of October, 1877, the General, ac-
companied by his wife, his son, and the writer, left London in a
special train from Charing Cross. A crowd of Americans assem-
bled at the station bid the General God-speed. Folkestone
[28
PARIS— PRINCIPAL PLACES OF INTEREST.
was soon reached, the express train speeding rapidly through
the pleasant Kentish county. At Folkestone the Mayor and
many of the prominent citizens were assembled, who expressed
their well-wishes, and with hearty cheers the party took the
steamer and crossed the channel. The trip was calm and
pleasant. As the white cliffs of England disappeared in the
seas, the green fields of France loomed up on the horizon. On
landing at Boulogne, the prefect of the department welcomed
the General, in the name of the Marshal President of France.
Bl H LI >GNE
As there were not the excuses of sea-sickness to delay the party
at Boulogne, after but a very short rest the General proceeded to
Paris. Time enough was spent in Boulogne to understand why
it is so appreciated by the English. Lying but a few hours
from London, it is both the summer and winter resort of many
an impecunious Englishman, pleasant climate and cheapness of
living being the great desiderata.
Just before reaching the depot at Paris, General Noyes, the
American Minister, General Torbert, the Consul-General, and an
aide-de-camp of Marshal MacMahon entered the car. In the
name of the President of the French Republic the Ex-President
BOULOGXE. I2q
of the Republic of the United States was welcomed to France.
On arriving, a large crowd, comprising the leading members of the
American colony in Paris, received the General. After greetings
had been exchanged, the General drove to the Hotel Bristol,
through a heavy rain. It would be impossible to give in detail
an account of the many receptions and dinners given to General
Grant in Paris. His stay in Paris was a pleasant one. It is
not worth while to detail such minor incidents of a disagreeable
character which arose because French political feeling would
not regard General Grant's visit to France in the exact light
he intended it to be, a purely unofficial one. Because Mr.
Washburne, our Minister to France during the Franco-Prussian
war, had had at the same time the rights of the German resi-
dents in Paris intrusted to his care, and because he had acted
with justice and humanity, it suited monarchists, imperialists,
and some few of the republican party, to think that General
Grant during his Presidency, in accepting the acts of his foreign
minister had rather inclined toward the Prussians than to
France. Victor Hugo did much to intensify this feeling.
Poetic license sometimes becomes quite indifferent as to facts.
It is a matter of regret that this feeling should have existed,
but as it belongs to the history of General Grant's visit to
France, as such I am forced to write it. Although this feeling
existed, the French were too polite a people to show the least
discourtesy to a guest. It must be mentioned that the Bona-
partists and their reactionary papers went out of their way to
excite anti-German feelings against the General. It was alleged
by them that the General's visit was a demonstration in favor
of republicanism. As a matter of fact the feelings of General
Grant toward France were of the friendliest character. It is
true, however, that one of his few aversions was directed
toward the Bonapartist family. He looked upon the war
between France and Germany as a causeless war, made by an
ambitious and selfish despot to save his dynasty. In regard to
Napoleonism, though General Grant had never written a poem
on the same subject, he entirely agreed with Victor Hugo.
Although during the first few days the weather was bad, this
9
i ;o
PARIS— PRINCIPAL PLACES OF INTEREST.
did not prevent the General's visiting all the places and public
buildings worthy of attention in Paris. There is no enjoyment
in Paris so complete as that of threading its streets. The
party scaled the heights of Montmartre. Montmartre is an
elevated quarter of Paris from whence a full view of the im-
mense city can be had. The Ouartier Latin was frequently
visited. Here are the universities, the schools of medicine, the
far-famed Sorbonne ; it is the old heart of Paris, where for
CHAMPS ELVS&ES.
eight hundred years and more, students from all parts of the
world have come ; here all the great libraries are concentrated.
It is a world in itself, a center of study and amusement, with
its famous theater, the Odeon. There is a well-known street in
the Ouartier Latin, the Rue de l'Ancienne Comedie, which tells
of its former character. Paris is indeed the elysium of loungers.
Save when entangled in the very center of the old ciU, go as
you will, after a while you must emerge to some large and open
place, which acts as a frame to a fine public building. Here are
the Champs Elysees with their broad carriage-ways, where all the
CHAMPS ELYSEES.
131
dashing equipages of Europe are assembled. The sidewalks are
thronged by elegantly dressed people. Walk its length until you
stand at the Rond Point midway, and look up and down. Far
beyond you stands in its lofty magnificence L'Arc de l'Etoile.
This triumphal arch, which is the grandest in Europe, conceived
by the Emperor Napoleon I. in 1806, was finished thirty years
afterward. Noble in form, it is ornamented with famous bas-
reliefs, due to the greatest artists in France. Cast your eye
farther beyond this arch, and the buildings of Neuilly and the
green woods of the Bois de Boulogne, the famous riding- anddriv-
O 0*0
ing park of the Parisian, is seen. Now, standing as you are, face
to the left, and see looming
in the sky the lofty dome
of the Invalides, the last
refuge of France's brave
soldiers. Many a veteran
lives there and talks of his
eventful life, while in his
midst there reposes in his
porphyry tomb all that
remains of Napoleon
Bonaparte. Now turning
directly around, on your
rear look down the broad
Champs Elysees until your
eye lights on the obelisk
of Luxor, the Place de la
Concorde, and the Tuile-
ries. If we had been in
Paris before the Commune
you would have seen the
palace of the Tuileries. Now they only show their ruins ;
but the eye goes beyond them. The massive buildings of
the Louvre are seen, and away beyond that looms up Notre
Dame de Paris, and many a massive church and spire. Still
the picture is not concluded yet. On your right spreads
out the busiest portion of the great city. The line of the
THE INVALIDES.
PARIS— PRINCIPAL PLACES OF INTEREST.
PLACE DE LA CONCORDE.
boulevard is distinguished with the Madelaine — and follow-
ing it on — there is the column of the Bastile. Perhaps, if
not from the Rond Point, at least from the Place Concorde,
the finest architectural apcrcu the world knows is seen. No-
thing' is wanting —
for a river with
many bridges, flank-
ed with stately
buildings, gives va-
riety to the scene.
" How I long,"
said Mr. Greeley,
" for the time when
I can leave this desk
and lose myself in
the wilderness of
London." If Lon-
don is a wilderness,
and I have often thought the loveliest spot I ever saw was
Cheapside at noon, Paris has its especial charms.
A formal visit was paid to the Elysees, and there was a pre-
sentation to Marshal MacMahon. The Marshal was extremely
cordial, and greeted General Grant as a comrade and fellow
soldier, and wanted to show him the army and some military
shows. But here came something which often perplexed the
General's hosts while in Europe, and that was his aversion
to military displays. He never seemed to want to see a re-
view nor hear a drum beat, nor visit any military pageant.
There were many meetings between General Grant and Mar-
shal MacMahon, and the General was impressed with the sin-
cere straightforwardness of the President, who was devoted to
France, and who seemed animated only by the purposes of
both preserving and strengthening his country.
Before the courtesies which were to be extended to General
Grant by the Americans in Paris were rendered, the series of
visits to various parts of Paris were continued, and afforded
much amusement to the party. The Palais Royal, with its
LOUVRE.
covered squares of shops, where the most brilliant, the most
tempting merchandise is offered, was visited. For the major
part of the day the interior gardens of the Palais Royal are
thronged. Here are many leading restaurants; and from a
dinner there, the party could go to one of the two theater.;
which are in the immediate proximity. Across the river,
skirting again the Latin Quarter, was the Luxembourg Palace,
with its noble gallery, containing the works of contemporaneous
artists ; the garden, with the observatory. An especial object of
interest to General Grant was the church of Notre Dame,
which, after St. Peter's, is the grandest ecclesiastical building in
the world. Before its columns, in dusky crypt, has been enacted
the whole history of France.
Royal marriages, baptisms,
and funerals have taken place
here. The Revolution set up
within its precincts the God-
dess of Reason upsetting re-
ligion, to be followed by the
coronation of Napoleon and a
return to the faith. To con-
trast ancient church edifices
with more modern work, the
church of La Trinite, erected
in i860, was visited. The
commercial aspect of Paris
interesting General Grant,
the Tribunal de Commerce
on the Ouai Desaix, and its
method of working, had the particular attention of the Ameri-
can party.
It was to the Louvre that numerous visits were paid. If
a man with endless time and leisure could visit this most re-
markable of galleries, its numerous treasures could hardly be
exhausted in a life of study. Gallery follows on gallery. Here
are all the great masters of the world, the Leonardo da Vincis,
the Raphaels, the Correggios, Guidos, Van Dycks, Murillos,
AKC DE TR1UMFHE.
134
PARIS— PR IXCIPAL PLACES OF INTEREST.
PORTE ST. MARTIN.
Metsus, and Ostades. It is a progression of art, from the earli-
est times up to to-day. Pictures, statues, stretch out in end-
less view. There
are single rooms de-
voted to the works
of a particular
country, and there
is no style or method
of art which is not
represented. As we
passed through the
many galleries,
perched on h i g h
scaffolds were art-
ists from all coun-
tries copying and studying the glorious masters of the past.
Skirting the Rue de Rivoli, emerging from the Louvre, pass-
ing the demolished Tuileries, the Column Vendome rears its
height. Built by the Emperor Napoleon I. in 1810, it per-
petuates the victories achieved at Ulm and Austerlitz. It is
made of bronze, coming from the cannons captured by the
French, and the metal bears carvings commemorative of
the French campaigns. All know how Courbet, the realistic
artist, as a revolutionist, with savage iconoclasm tore down this
column, and how after peace was restored to France and the
Commune was crushed, this trophy of French victory was
again put in its former position.
Sight-seeing was interrupted from time to time by the
numerous attentions and civilities showered on General Grant.
On the 29th of October, General Noyes, the American Minis-
ter, gave the Ex-President a reception at his house on the
Avenue Josephine. This reception was of the most brilliant
character, and was attended by all the leading Americans in
Paris. None of the republican leaders were, however, pres-
ent. Subsequently, Mr. Healey, the artist, arranged a meeting,
at which General Grant, met M. Gambetta. From this and
other meetings, a high feeling of esteem arose for the French
ARCH OF TRIUMPH.
'35
republican leader, who impressed the General as one of the
foremost minds in Europe. It was on the 6th of November
that the members of the American colony, numbering some
three hundred, gave a public dinner to General Grant at the
Grand Hotel. With but few exceptions, every American in
Paris was present. General Noyes presided, and among the
guests were MM. Rochambeau and Lafayette, the latter de-
scended from the Revolutionary hero of that name. The veteran
journalist Emile Girardin was there, whom Horace Greeley
called the greatest journalist in the world. Edmond About and
Laboulaye were present. This dinner proceeded without spe-
cial incident, the General being received with the greatest en-
thusiasm, and making a brief speech. These two dinners,
with one at the Elysees, were the special events of the Gene-
ral's visit. General Torbert entertained the Ex-President at
his apartment. On the 20th of November, Madame Mackey of
California gave a reception at her house near the Arch of
Triumph, which from its splendor recalled scenes in the "Ara-
bian Nights." The
Marquis T alley -
rand-Perigord, de-
scended from the
great Talleyrand,
one of the few no-
blemen in France
who cheerfully ac-
cepted the Re-
public, gave a
princely dinner to
the Ex -President,
which was attended
by over a hundred guests.
Count of Paris was presented to General Grant. Mrs. Sickles,
wife of General Sickles, Madame Bakmitoff, formerly Miss
Bates of Washington, Dr. T. W. Evans, I. H. Harjes, of the
firm of Drexel, Harjes & Co., R. R. Scott, the Secretary of
Legation, and R. M. Hooper, Vice-Consul of the United States
CHURCH UF ST. GENEVIEVE.
M. Laugal gave a dinner, when the
136
PARIS—PRINCIPAL PLACES OF INTEREST.
in Paris, were among those who gave dinners and entertain-
ments in honor of General Grant and his family.
The American colony, of which General Grant was for the
next few weeks the honored guest, is an institution in Paris.
In this city of many nationalities, the American plays a promi-
nent part. Several causes contribute to this. American soci-
ety is composite ; and citizens of the older nationalities desire
to return to the memories and scenes of the older world.
There are exiles, idlers, and students ; business exiles, driven
away in the bankruptcy revo-
lution ; political exiles, suffer-
ing from the fall of Tammany
and the Southern Confede-
racy ; social exiles, who seek
oblivion in absence. There is
so much in Paris to attract,
that, when cultivated citizens
gain wealth, they come to en-
joy the art-life of the metropo-
lis which is surpassed in no
other city. There is a perma-
nent colony, and a floating col-
ony. The permanent colony
numbers in winter as many as
three thousand. The floating
colony is at its height in the
summer, and reaches in ave-
rage years ten thousand. In
years of war, like 1870, it falls below the average. In years of
the Exhibition, it exceeds the average. I remember reading
in the statistics of travel, during the Exhibition, that the
American was next to the English in number. Every year
adds, because persons who once visit Paris are pretty certain to
come again ; and the means of travel grow so much more easy
and attractive each year, that the coming is less and less diffi-
cult. There is a section called the American Quarter. I am
afraid it is the gaudiest and most expensive in Paris. In this
AMERICAN COL ON \ \
137
quarter you find newspapers addressed to the American taste ;
drinking shops with the latest American contrivance in beve-
rages; bazaars, where American fashions are taught in apparel.
The hotels cultivate American custom, and pander to a sup-
posed American appetite for fishballs and buckwheat cakes.
The American section includes the Champs Elysees, the Boule-
vard Haussmann, the Grand Hotel, and Grand Opera Quarter,
and the radius of wide, magnificent avenues which sweep
BOIS DE BOULOGNE.
around the Arch of Triumph. It is noted that in this quarter
the tradesmen paint American coats of arms on their windows,
and charge twenty-five per cent, more for their wares than their
neighbors over the river. There are American clergymen who
minister to your spiritual comfort ; and the American dentist
becomes an institution almost royal in its relations and appli-
ances. There is a Fourth of July which, in ancient days, was
wont to be the season for patriotic refreshment of soul. But
since the jar which the war gave to our patriotism, Americans
do not come together as much as in the past, and the eagle-wor-
138
PARIS— PRINCIPAL PLACES OF INTER EST.
ship, which in other days was a characteristic of our people,
has faded away. There was something of a revival on the occa-
sion of the coming of General Grant, which, let us hope, may
be the beginning of a better and kinder era.
The center and head of the colony is the American Minister.
Washburne reigned for many years, and Noyes reigns in his
stead. Washburne is remembered as a sturdy, prompt, brave,
kindly man, who won renown by remaining at his post during the
siege and the Commune, when the other diplomatists ran away.
IvUE DB KIVUL1 — ST. ]A
Washburne, as I have shown, is not much liked by the French
because of his supposed German sympathies; but I presume it
was the fact that he was assigned to the care of the German
residents in Paris that led to the impression that he took sides
in the war. It was a severe bit of work, and no American can read
the story of our Minister's devotion without increased respect
for his character. The old relations between Washburne and
General Grant would have made it pleasant for the Minister
to welcome the President. But this was not to be. When
General Grant came Washburne had gone, and General Noyes
RUE DU CHAILLOT. r2n
reigned in his stead. General Noyes is a young man, who
came to Paris with an honorable record — the record of a man
who had risen from poverty to the highest office in his State,
who by the processes of self-education had become a famous
member of the Ohio Bar, and who when the war broke out went
into our volunteer army. One of his legs was left in Georgia,
and he shows traces of suffering in his keen, handsome face.
His is an honorable record in peace and in war, and it was
pleasant to see in so important a post as the mission to France
one who had given his blood for the Union. The Consul Gen-
eral, General Torbert, had commanded a division under Sheridan,
and succeeded the amiable, accomplished, and ever-kindly Mere-
dith Read. After Torbert, Fairchild was to come. Of him
too it may be said that his record was an honorable one. In
his boyhood days he crossed the plains, and was among the
Argonauts of California. He returned home, and became
Governor of Wisconsin. He lost an arm in the war, and his
dangling sleeve, like the shorn limb of the Minister, is an elo-
quent suggestion of what our citizens did for the Union. Al-
though it was a disappointment to General Grant not to meet
his old friend Washburne, it was pleasant to have in official
places men who had served under him in the war, and whose
records had been so creditable as those of Noyes, Torbert, and
Fairchild.
Around the legation and the consulate the colony revolves.
General Noyes holds his court on the Rue du Chaillot, the old
hill of Chaillot that you find in the early maps of Paris. If one
place was not as near as another in Paris this might be called
out of the way, but I can well understand how a legation might
be too near for comfort. The tendency of the American mind
to seek his minister upon all occasions when he is overcharged
for candles, when he has lost his baggage, when he is homesick,
and lacks in themes of conversation, when the mails are irregu-
lar, when the right gloves have not come home from the bazaar,
would make the legation a burden if it were too convenient of
access. The fact of an American being a taxpayer gives him
a sense of possession in dealing with ministers and consuls
140
PARIS— PRINCIPAL PLACES OF INTEREST.
which it is inconvenient to question. There are other centers,
however, in Paris, besides the legation : the newspaper offices
in the Rue Scribe, the banking houses, the leading hotels. In
journalism there is The American Register, the property of Dr.
Evans, and under the control of Dr. Crane. The Register
is the oldest of American journals on the continent, and its real
advantage is as a bulletin which tells every American in Europe
where every other American resides. Through its columns the
members of our colony can touch elbows, and feel themselves
- --—- - , at home. There is another
journal called The Gazette,
under the direction of Mr.
Kremer, who was formerly
the publisher of The Regis-
ter, and which shows the
energy of new and ambi-
tious undertakings. Mon-
roe has a banking house on
the Rue Scribe, while the
famous house of Drexel
will lend you money or sell
you bonds on the Boule-
vard Haussmann. On the
Avenue de l'Opera is the
office of the New York
Herald. This avenue is
too beautiful to be called a
vandalism, but those who
loved old Paris, who remember the curious streets and byways,
every street a remembrance of the past and every corner tinted
by some historical association ; those who remember what a plea-
sure it was, for instance, to leave the boulevard at Rue Neuve
Saint Augustin and lose yourself in its devious winding ways,
feeling that around you was the Paris of Henry IV. and Louis
XIV., until you came into the sylvan inclosures of the Palais
Royal ; those who remember what a pleasing stroll it was, and
what a comfort to plunge out of the fresh and modern Paris,
PAVILION OK THE OfERA.
AVENUE DE L' OPERA.
HI
and revel in the quaint and dying past, will resent the Avenue
de l'Opera. But it had to be. In new Paris it was necessary
to have a shorter road from the Grand Opera House to the
palace of the Louvre.
So this avenue came into
being, like the Boulevard
Haussmann, the Boule-
vard St. Germain, the
Street of the Fourth
September, and other
pretentious avenues.
The map was taken, and
a line was drawn direct
from the steps of the
Grand Opera House to
the gates of the Louvre.
The Republic did this,
and it was commended
at the time as an illustra-
tion of the fact that Re-
public and Empire were
alike animated by a desire
to improve and beautify
Paris. The Avenue of
the Opera is a beautiful street with beauty of a pretentious
kind. As you turn from the boulevard, from the Rue de la
Paix, along which falls the shadow of the Vendome Column,
you come to one of the centers of the American colony, the
office of the New York Herald. This office is among the
shrines of the American abroad. He can hear all the news.
He can write his name on the register, and know that it will be
called next morning to New York, and his presence in Paris
spread to an envious or admiring world at home. He can read
all about home, for here is the best reading-room in Europe.
Whether he comes from Pennsylvania or Oregon, Maine or
Texas, he will find his home paper, and read all about the
church and the county fair, the latest murder or the pending
GENERAL GRANT AT THE HERALD OFFICE.
142
PARIS— PRINCIPAL PLACES OF INTEREST.
canvass — deaths and marriages. Perchance he will find some
wandering brother, and there will ensue comforting chat about
America, and how much cheaper it is than Paris, and what
scoundrels these Frenchmen are, especially in the matter of
candles. If he has any news to bestow, Mr. Ryan, who is in
charge of the office, and is one of the oldest and most distin-
guished members of The Herald staff, will listen with an eager
and discerning ear.
The Herald office was one of the favorite haunts of General
Grant in Paris. He would slip in of a morning and seek out a
quiet corner, and brood over the newspapers for an hour or two.
There are other haunts patronized by the colony. There is
the club-house, the Washington Club, over which Colonel Eve-
lyn presides, where members may discuss baccarat for twenty
thousand dollars, or the Athanasian creed, just as they please,
for the deliberations of this club are secret. The colony breaks
up into little zones or worlds, in which there is not always the
harmony that you could wish. There is a Congress or a Jaco-
bin Club, which holds sessions in the Grand Hotel. You can
obtain admittance to this assembly by the franchise of a cigar
or a glass of wine. The colony has class distinctions and
draws lines. There is the old resident and the new resident;
the American in trade ; the idle American ; the American who
speaks French ; the one who does not, but always buys a
French newspaper and pretends to read it in public in a dazed
condition. There is the colonist who has family relationships
— the colonist who never obtrudes his domestic life upon
friends ; the American who wears the red ribbon of the Legion
of Honor; the democrat, who despises all such aristocratic
nonsense, but who would give a good slice of his income to be
able to wear it without clanger from the police. These are
the phases of colonial life which are apparent to the looker-on
in Paris ; but under all is another phase which you must know
Paris well to know it at all — the real life in Paris, the life of those
who come for the enjoyment of the higher phases of Paris
society.
There are those who belong to what might be called the
THE VIRTUOSO CO LOW.
143
virtuoso colony. The members form that uneasy class of peo-
ple who collect things. There are many phases in this class :
the virtuoso who is a kind of pawnbroker or Chatham-street
dealer of the Original Jacobs tendency, and who runs from one
bric-a-brac and curiosity shop to another, buying all that is cu-
rious and odd, to be resold to American customers in the sum-
mer. There are some in the colony who follow the trade, who
will sell you anything from a china jug of Louis XIV.'s time
to a stolen fragment of the Column Venddme, and failing to
make five hundred per cent, profit, will take five. There is one
collector whose hobby is the French Revolution. A picture,
print, or book on the French Revolution is to him a source of
joy. He is a bit crazed on the subject, and will spend an after-
noon on the quays among the old-book stores, and if he can
find a print of Mirabeau, a colored caricature of Robespierre,
or an edition of Pere Duchesne, goes home in triumph. If he
has one rare print and sees another of the same, he will buy it,
not because he needs it, but to prevent some one else from
144
PARIS— PRINCIPAL PLACES OF INTEREST.
possessing it. I know another, a most respected member of
the colony, whose taste is for books and prints illustrating the
American Revolution. There was a time when Paris was a
mine for those who had fancies in this way. America and
France were so closely connected during the Revolution that a
great part of the literature of the country was tinted with
events in the Jerseys and Virginia, and the achievements of the
famous General Washington. Franklin, residing in Paris for
NOTKE DAME.
several years, had French sympathies, and was honored by the
French people. I do not know how many portraits of Franklin
there are, but I have heard hundreds as the figure. To collect
these Franklins, to have copies of the peculiar prints, those
with a turn to the nose or an extra button to the garment, or
rudely engraved and with no more resemblance to the philoso-
pher than to any conspicuous figure in that history — any odd,
quaint, or unusual Franklin — is a rare pleasure.
There was a collector who had an admiration for Napoleon
the First. So he searched and inquired and purchased until
he had "a collection." One day he was in the Latin Quarter
THE VIRTUOSO COLONY. x *r
discussing his fancy with a dealer in prints. " How many dif-
ferent prints of Napoleon are there?" "Three thousand,"
was the answer. There is another of the colony whose spe-
cialty is the Commune. This came and flourished and fell in
1871. One would think that it would be an easy matter to
eather the records of that brief and recent time. But there
are necessary documents and copies of proclamations and news-
papers of the Commune as difficult to buy as those of the
French Revolution. Another of my virtuoso friends has a
fancy for Horace. Let it come in any shape, any translation
or style, and the day that brings it is calendared among the
red-letter annals. Another finds life only supportable through
the painter Velasquez. My friend spends his time in going
from place to place, wherever there is a reputed work of Ve-
lasquez, to look at it, and dwell upon the color and the move-
ment, and the clear life and light that come from the marvel-
ous canvas. Others collect old china and porcelain. Of this
I know little — my fancies in the cup and plate line being easily
satisfied. But I am told that no fascination grows upon the
collector with more power than this for china, and that some of
our countrymen have been known to experience emotions of an
agitating nature upon discovering a plate of the time of Louis
XIV. There are collectors, too, whose designs in the collect-
ing line are neither quaint nor high nor patriotic, but who have
grossly diseased fancies for things forbidden to men. Of such
one writes with pain and anger.
There are types not classes of an original character. There
is the stout old dowager, who has three daughters she wants to
marry, and she trails them from Paris to the Springs, and from
the Springs to Paris, and to Italy and the Pyrenees. You
always encounter her just when you don't want to be bothered ;
and she informs you how that horrid beast in yellow whiskers
came so near marrying Matilda ; but he was not a count or a
Prussian officer — only an adventurer from Wiesbaden. Then
comes your friend the British officer, once in the Guards, who
plays billiards, and likes Americans so much that he will not
consort with Englishmen. He says he is a relative of the
146
PARIS— PRINCIPAL PLACES OF INTEREST.
Duke of Bethnal Green, and wears his colors. Our British
friend has troubles with his family, and they limit his allowance ;
when he becomes thirty he will have his money, and a little
loan until that time would be so jolly — and if you would like to
know the Duke, be at Chantilly on Sunday. Then we have our
friend the Count, who speaks English with such a clear accent,
and has been all over America, and will become a director in
your company and place shares with his noble family for ,£5,000.
Then you have your Irish friend, whose French — barring the
Tipperary accent — is fluent, who is a graduate of Trinity Col-
lege, and was punished for his devotion to the true cause, and
found times bad enough even in New York, and would like to
travel with you, and pay his share of the expenses, if you could
advance him a little until he hears from his bankers. Then
you have your friend who chews tobacco and sees nothing in
Paris to compare with America, and he has an invention, and
wants to ascertain how he can invite the whole Paris press to a
dejeuner; never mind the expense — a bottle of champagne on
BOIS DE BOCLOGXE.
147
each side of each plate, if necessary. Then you have your
friend who belongs to the Church, and has a cough, and travels
on a purse made up by his congregation, and means when he
reaches Rome to deliver a lecture against the Catholics ; who
wants to dispute with the Pope in person, who eats an early
breakfast, is always on the run from one palace to another, and
carries a carpet-bag with him, which holds his clothes. Then
comes your sharp young man, who crosses the ocean six times a
year — as purchaser of goods for wholesale houses in New York,
lljytp:
THE LOUVRE.
and knows the best tables d'hote, and tells English travelers
of the horrors of American life, and how no prudent man
would walk up Broadway without carrying a loaded pistol,
and how Americans are dying for a monarchy, and would like
to be ruled over by one of the Queen's sons. Then you have
your friend who is always in trouble, whom no one treats well,
who suffers from a succession of unappeasable wrongs ; and you
lend him a hundred francs to pay the landlady who is actually
in possession, and have your own thoughts when you see him
beaming with smiles, riding in the Bois de Boulogne in the
afternoon with — well, we need not be too particular.
There are colonists that one does not meet at the Grand
148
PARIS— PRINCIPAL PLACES OF INTEREST.
Hotel or on the boulevards. One who knows told me that
during the siege Americans came to light of whose existence
the legation was not aware. Some come for study and
rest — literary people and artists — who slip down to Fontaine-
bleau during the summer, and in the winter do their work in
quiet out-of-the-way studios, over near the Luxembourg. When
Mr. Lowell came to Paris he took an apartment in the Latin
Quarter, near the libraries, and was never seen in hotel or
AMERICANS AT THE GRAND HOTEL.
banking house. Here he entertained Mr. Emerson, and I
question if one colonist out of twenty knew that two of the
most famous Americans of the day were dwelling with them.
As an art center Paris is not as pretentious as Florence or
Rome. There is no such gallery as in Madrid or Dresden.
But good work has a perpetual market, and around Paris there
are endless opportunities for study and observation. In Paris
it is so easy to burrow into the deep earth and hide away, with
no care for society or kid gloves. Paris is a charming place for
true literary work. Writing people — who suffer from the damp,
RUE ST. HON ORE. ! 4 q
depressing fogs of London and the roar and fever of New
York life, say that Paris has a tranquillity and sunshine that
they do not find elsewhere. When the mind becomes jaded
and will not obey the spur, there are the outlying forests and
lone walks in the Bois, and little runs to Sceaux to dine under
the chestnut trees, or a day at Versailles to see the fountains
play.
If the colonist is literary and historical in his tastes, he will
find inspiration in the associations of the wonderful city. You
may walk miles and miles along the Paris streets and almost at
every step you have palaces and palace ruins, from the wall of
the baths where the Roman emperor Julian bathed, down to
the charred wall of the Tuileries. But under this is a history.
Here, for instance, lived Robespierre. It is a plain, dingy
house, on the Rue St. Honore — a house of his time, as the
architecture shows, but now occupied by a tradesman. Duplay,
the carpenter, and the daughter, and Robespierre, with his dog,
have vanished like shadows ; and this narrow gateway, which
looks so dark now, and through which passed and repassed the
first men of France in the anxious days of terror, is given over
to workmen who plod in and out, and tradesmen who chaffer
with you over a bargain. And you have only to take a short
walk along the route paced daily in those days by Robespierre
himself, and you come to the site of the Jacobin Club, where
Mother Jacobin ruled until Thermidor came. But club and
club house, and all the men and women who were wont to
gather there, have gone into the realms of silence, and now you
see a commodious market-house, and burly women cry fish on
the spot where Danton once thundered. Nor is it far to the
old Church of St. Roch, which has this memory — that one Na-
poleon Bonaparte found the beginning of his career here — for
St. Roch is the church which was held by the insurrectionists
when he, as general of the Convention, opened upon them
with real powder and ball, and so ended the French Revolu-
tion. Cross the river and see the top garret-room which Na-
poleon and Junot occupied at five francs a month — the darkest
shadows ahead — nothing to do but to sit brooding and looking
ISO
PARIS— -PRINCIPAL PLACES OF INTEREST.
out at the Tuileries, sweeping so majestically before them and
mocking their fate with the irony of its grandeur. You may
return and cross the boulevard and walk a little way toward
Montmartre, and see the house where Napoleon lived when he
returned from Egypt. It is on the Rue de la Victoire. When
he went to live there with Josephine it was called Rue Chau-
tereine, but in his honor it was named the Street of Victory,
and is so named until this day ; and you may see his home,
where was planned the Eighteenth of Brumaire, with its open
NEW OPERA HOI I-
court-yard, which has a general appearance of dinginess and
looks like the court-yard of a livery stable. While in this
vicinity you may see where Mirabeau lived and died, and in
the room underneath you may now suit yourself with hats and
caps ; or you may continue your inquiries and discover the
house where John Paul Marat, "the friend of the people," was
taking his bath one day when Charlotte Corday stabbed him.
Two institutions around which our colony centers harmoni-
ously are the circus and the Bon Marche. Saturday is the
evening given to fashion ; and upon every Saturday evening
you will find the high benches and uncomfortable seats crammed
AU BON MAR CHE.
151
with the American colony. Here all distinctions are lost. Here
the lords of the Washington Club and the commoners of the
Conoress, in the Grand Hotel, assemble in strength. Next to
the circus, as an institution, is " Au Bon Marche." If there
are fond husbands who, having visited Paris, read these words,
I know what memories they recall. O fellow countrymen,
who love and honor and have vowed to protect and cherish,
when you come to Paris avoid " Au Bon Marche"! Who
PONT NEUF.
enters here with a full purse, and wife and daughter in train,
must leave all hope behind, at least while the money holds out.
"Au Bon Marche" is a magazine for the sale of everything
that woman can crave. When you compass what is meant by
this definition, you will know its dangers and temptations. I
mention it as one of a class — a vast class. You run against
stores of this character all over Paris. They are named like
the cafes and the taverns, but with a wider sweep of fancy.
"The Scottish Mountains," "The Carnival of Venice," "The
Spring," "The Great House of Peace," "The Good Devil,"
15-
PARIS— PRINCIPAL PLACES OF INTEREST.
"The Infant Jesus," "Old England," "A Thousand and One
Nights." These are some of the names given to the dry-goods
stores, or rather shops, containing all that woman can need or
crave, and where Americans are expected to come and squan-
der their fortunes.
Our countryman when he comes to Europe not as a colonist,
but as a sojourner, finds a fascination in Paris. He plans his
continental trip, and you bid him farewell at the railway station,
AU BON MAKCHE.
and see him disappear with hat-box, cane, shawl, umbrella, soft
felt hat, and guide books, and say again " Good-by," as though
you would not see him for a season. In a week or two you
run against him on the boulevards, most probably wearing a
new style of hat, and learn that he has " done " the Continent,
and means to have another " go " at Paris.
During the midsummer months the self-constituted Congress
in the Grand Hotel is well attended, and the home-sick Ameri-
can will have his heart gladdened by the sharp cockatoo accent
in which he hears the English language spoken, reminding him
"THE CONGRESS." ,ri
so noisily of home. This Congress is easy of access. Social
distinctions are overlooked. I have seen the Congress in full
session, attended by a gambler, a doctor of divinity, two or three
bankers, a general officer of the army, and one or two fraudu-
lent bankrupts. The members were harmonious and discoursed
in company, they drank out of the same wine-bottle, and talked
at the top of their voices, and almost quarreled as to who should
pay for the wine. But as the summer dies away the Congress
thins out. Some hurry home ; others go to the south ; and
whoever enters the high and stately room toward November
will see a painful spectacle. The last American of the season,
deserted by his companions, sits over his third bottle of wine,
vainly looking for a familiar face, smoking a mammoth cigar,
his feet spread over a chair, his eye looking dismally at the
carving and the decorations and the equipages that come and go.
The familiar faces have fled. There is no one to whom he can
express his contempt for the French nation — no one to whom
he can impart his information as to what Bismarck ought to
have done. He is stranded and alone. On mail days he has
his American paper as a comfort, and the eagerness with which
he reads that journal would delight its editors. Down to the
last, the very last items, marriages and deaths and ship news
and advertisements, beginning with the personal column, he
ruminates and reads again and again, until nature summons
him to his champagne.
If we asked this belated American what he thought of
Frenchmen, he would state his opinion that they were vastly
overrated in the accomplishments which all the world assigns
to them. No Frenchman, strange to say, can cook. He may
make a little salad, or some inefficient sauce, but for a " square
meal " give our American friend a good old-fashioned Virginia
negro grandmamma, who understands hoe-cake. There are no
oysters in France, and the few that may be had for their weight
in hard money are a poor consolation for the body accustomed
to saddle-rocks and blue-points. Our friend will confound
you on this cookery question by showing that there is not an
oyster stew in all this great city. There is champagne, to be
154
PARIS— PRIXC1PAL PLACES OF INTEREST.
sure, so dear to the heart of the American abroad as well as at
home ; but champagne, according to his theory, is made by
Germans and German capital. Cheese is a grievance to him.
How any human being can eat French cheese, and why every
French waiter will insist upon offering our compatriot cheese at
various stations of the meal, is something he cannot understand,
unless there be some hidden insult to all the world in the com-
position of the cheese — a circumstance he is disposed to be-
lieve.
ST. EUSTACHE.
This same countryman believes that, as a general thing,
French ladies are in the habit of dancing at the Jardin Mabille.
Have I described Mabille ? I am half afraid of that shrine.
Well, Mabille is a garden just off the Champs Elysees, where
you pay a moderately large fee for entrance. There are one or
two small fountains, wooded walks, a shooting gallery, little
alcoves, where you may sip coffee or what not, and a profusion
of colored lanterns blaze everywhere, on painted canvas, that
looks like endless forests, and innumerable mirrors flash the
light to and fro. In the center is a band of musicians and a
JARDJM MAB1LLE.
155
boarded dancing floor. This is the Jardin Mabille. Mabille is
himself at the door, with his keen, Oriental face, taking the
money. It is a summer garden, and the music and dancing are
under the stars. Well, Mabille has in his employ several young
women, with hard, leering faces, and several young men, with
shiny hats, who mingle around in the crowd as though they had
paid to come in. When the music commences (generally the
music of the harmonious Offenbach) these young men and
women rush upon the boarded floor and dance peculiar dances
— the " Can-can," among others — not much worse than I have
seen it on the New York stage. Our Paris-American Congress,
assembled in a circle, believes that it sees the ladies of Paris at
a common evening entertainment. I could never see the Jardin
Mabille except to be disgusted with it, and why our American
friends should visit it I cannot imagine, except that Mabille is
said to be a very bad place, and they attend expecting that some-
thing outrageous will certainly happen. I do not imagine that
it occurs to one out of ten of our observing countrymen that
Mabille is simply an institution kept by a Frenchman for Eng-
lish and Americans to visit. During the first season the Ame-
rican frequents Mabille. If he prolongs his stay, and becomes
a colonist, he takes this garden at its value and never visits it
at all.
An instructive exhibition to those of our countrymen who
are curious about the manners and customs of the nation will be
found over in the Latin Quarter, in the dancing hall near the
Luxembourg. There is a low entrance, guarded by gensdarmes.
A circular sun of blazing red light points the way. If you are
curious and pause a moment, you will see in the light the figure
of a soldier in bronze on a pedestal, in the attitude of command,
his hand pointing to some imaginary foe. This bronze figure
represents the famous Marshal Ney, and on this spot, where
you may stand and hear the fiddling and the dancing, Marshal
Ney was shot by French soldiers under Louis XVIII. for hav-
ing commanded French soldiers under Napoleon. This dancing
hall on Sunday evening, when the clerks are in abundance, or
on Thursday evening, when the students come in numbers, is
1^6 PARIS— PRINCIPAL PLACES OF INTEREST.
not without its attractions to the observing American mind.
The romp and noise and clatter, the buzz and hum of loud
conversation, song and repartee, smoking and drinking, continue
until the music strikes up and the multitude dissolves into
a mass of dancing humanity. As to the dancing, I cannot say
more than that it is very wild and clumsy, and I have heard my
American brethren condemn it in strong terms. There are
other dancing halls in outside sections, and one especially on
the Rue St. Honore, much frequented by our countrymen,
almost opposite where Robespierre lived.
You can understand, perhaps, how the average American
abroad, his observations limited to the Luxembourg and Mabille,
will have original notions as to the morals of France. The
French are like the Chinese. They do not accept the foreigner.
They have made Paris the most beautiful city in the world,
because they are artists by nature, and could not have made an
ugly city had they tried. Whether you see Paris in detail as
you go roaming along the boulevards, or see it by day from the
top of the Arch of Triumph, or by night from the heights of
Montmartre, you are impressed with its marvelous beauty.
This Paris was made by Frenchmen for Frenchmen. But there
is no excess of welcome. A Frenchman will never ask how you
like his city. Of course you like it, and know and feel and
are glad to admit that for beauty and taste and all the re-
sources of civilization there is nothing in the world like Paris.
But that American instinct for commendation which leads the
Yankee to call every post village a " city " and every alderman
a " celebrated " man is not found amone the French. There
is no welcome in the French character toward the foreigner,
none of the going into society which greets the foreigner in
America. The American colony is regarded very much by
Paris in general as New York would regard a German colony
in Hoboken or a colony of Poles near the Bowery. The ave-
rage Frenchman when he thinks of America is apt to confound
the United States with Brazil and Paraguay — to think of it all
as one country, inhabited by an extravagant, expensive, and in
some respects, a wild people, who, strange to say, are white.
SUMMER SIGHT-SEERS.
157
Nor is this surprising when one considers the character of the
representatives of our country who come to Paris. There is,
of course, the class accustomed to foreign life ; studious men,
who seek the Latin Quarter ; business men, who keep in trading
circles ; the American gentleman, with his " European habit "
upon him, who knows Paris and avoids his fellow countrymen,
and lives down in the narrow streets toward the Palais Royal.
But every summer there comes the shoal of sight-seers from
England and America. The English traveler is a type in him-
LUXEMBOURG PALACE.
self. You see him in the comedies, in the satirical papers ; the
children play with a toy made like an Englishman. He is
described as a man with one eyeglass, a small billycock hat, a
plaided coat and striped trousers, a brown hanging beard, an
opera glass swung over his shoulder, and the inseparable um-
brella. This is the Englishman as French fancy paints him.
So he was to our fathers. But the typical American changes
with every season.
There was the hegira of " war Americans " during the
Rebellion, when there were a Southern and a Northern colony,
who used to frown on each other as they passed along the
153
PARIS— PRINCIPAL PLACES OF I.XTEREST.
boulevards. The French police had their hands full to prevent
these Montagus and Capulets from doing more than bite their
thumbs at one another. I remember a comic print of the time,
entitled " North and South Americans Discuss Politics." The
scene was an omnibus on a boulevard, filled with passengers.
Seated on the top at one end was a Northerner with a pistol
drawn, firing at a Southerner at the other end, who had a pistol
drawn also, the alarmed passengers striving, in every attitude,
*T DKS ARTS.
to avoid the shots. French feeling was much with the South,
upon whose supporters the Emperor was wont to smile his
gloomy, inscrutable smile. After the cotton loan was sold and
money ran short, our erring countrymen found Paris a hard
place, and were reduced to many shifts. But with the war came
the shoddy lords. During the closing years of the war this class
ran over Paris, and amazed the frugal French mind by extrava-
gance and want of culture. This was the harvest time of the
cooks, and the concierges, and waiters, and more especially the
dealers in pictures and imitation jewelry. The shoddy lords
THE AMERICAN COLOXIST.
159
were followed by the petroleum aristocracy — an astonishing
class, who generally came in groups, under a competent courier,
who spoke all languages and robbed his clients. Then came
the Tammany hegira. First we had Mr. Sweeny and some of
the chiefs, who came to study Paris, so that they might gain
hints for beautifying New York. The example became con-
tagious, and all the Americus boys, wearing diamond pins and
gaudy scarfs, drove around in carriages and drank champagne
before breakfast, and smoked amazing cigars, and gave the
waiters a napoleon for drink-money, and spent their time in riot
and folly. As most of these astonishing young men were known
as colonels, or generals, or judges, or senators in Albany, and
as in their interviews with Frenchmen they took no pains to
diminish their importance at home, Frenchmen began to have
their own ideas as to the ruling classes of our dear native land.
But this happy hegira came to an end. The men with their
diamonds are gone. They no
longer boast of their con-
sequence in New York.
To those having artistic or
literary tastes, Paris has im-
mense attractions. If you come
here a stranger and under au-
spicious stars, and gain entrance
into the art zone or the literary
zone, you are blessed among
wayfarers, and Paris comes to
you as you would never see it
were you to tramp the boule-
vards twenty years. The
American colonist, thoroughly
seasoned in Paris, with his
European habit full upon him,
is in the main a pleasant person. He has acquired the best
qualities of the French. He does not hold you at arm's length
and give you his views. His home animosities about politics
and so on are deadened, and in their stead you see a genuine,
THE BRIC-A-bRAC DEALER.
!6o PARIS— PRINCIPAL PLACES OF INTEREST.
full-grown patriotism — a love of the whole country, democratic
and republican. The finished American colonist has acquired
a thorough knowledge of the side streets — he is the discoverer
of the oddest out-of-the-way places for dishes, or queer prints,
or books, or odds and ends. You see in time what underlies
the French varnish of Paris life — that French varnish which
foreign eyes so frequently see and nothing else. You have
glimpses of the true life in France and learn what it is that has
made this people, with all their faults and misadventures, the
richest and thriftiest in the world. This edge of colonial
life is full of interest ; but has it no drawback ? I have spoken
of what is called the European habit, and of the advantage
that one finds in foreign travel when he has it upon him.
" Ah, my friend," said a wise man that I know, who has lived
many years here, to one who spoke with him in a hopeful
bright way about coming to live in Paris and making it a home,
"Ah, my friend, don't; you will never have any true home
elsewhere should this Paris fever come upon you. It will
not come at first. Madame your wife will see many things to
annoy her. If she is religious and has our Puritan notions,
as most women have, whether Catholic or Protestant, she will
not understand the theaters being open on Sunday and races at
Longchamps on the same day. Then there are social and per-
sonal freedoms permitted to men and women which fall rudely
upon eyes that have always looked at such things behind a veil.
This never-ending panorama of life and brightness and activity —
these boulevards, the passage Choiseul, the Palais Royal, the
Champs Elysees — where do you find a counterpart ? If you
are poor you can dine at Duval's for two francs ; if you are
rich you can pay a hundred at Bignon's. You can live in the
Rue du Bac at fifty francs a month, or in the Avenue Gabriel at
a thousand, and you will neither lose nor gain in respectability.
You select your cafe. You give John a few sous now and
then, and the cafe is your home. So in time the habit grows
upon you. Life is so smooth ! The Government being of the
paternal kind, does so many things for you that you lapse into
easy ways. Then the people are so pleasant. But this is not
THE DISSATISFIED COLONIST.
161
surprising. A Frenchman is always pleasant, but it is only
courtesy. You know him twenty years, and he is as agreeable
in the end as in the beginning — no more! It never is home.
You like the city, you grow attached to certain ways and places.
You form a sincere regard for your concierge; but it is not home.
You never take root. But what are you going to do ? You
cannot go home. Who are you going to see ? Then you have
your European ways, which are not the ways of America. You
want your coffee so, and so it
never comes, and life begins
to fret you. One home has
gone, and you have not gained
another. This ever running,
rippling stream of life, many-
tinted as the rainbow and as
full of joy as a summer wind,
this is not home ! Then think
of dying here, and of being
buried in a hearse with plumes
and coachmen with mourning
garments — garments that have
mourned over three genera-
tions, and will mourn over
three more, perhaps. No, my
friend, do not let this Euro-
pean habit come upon you, or you will one day be, in a dreary
sense, a man without a country and a home."
These are the words of a colonist who knows France well —
a satisfied colonist, no matter what his griefs may be, one who
loves Paris well. But we come to the dissatisfied colonist — ■
the American who sees in New York the consummate full-
ness of all civilization. He cannot leave Paris. He must
educate his children or attend to certain business, or what not.
He is always angry with the French people. He reads the
American newspapers with hungry eagerness, and is in a state
of constant excitement over events in New York. You meet
him on the boulevard, and he flashes into speculations upon
THE DISGUSTED AMERICAN.
l62
PARIS— PRINCIPAL PLACES OF INTEREST.
home news, and surprises you with his averments that the jury
will never agree to convict that negro of arson down in Arundel
County. His French is not of an illuminative, descriptive quality,
and he supplements it by swearing at the coachmen, who take
his speeches for compliments, and smile in answer. He has had
a quarrel with his concierge, with his bootmaker, with a florist.
It was a question of ten francs with the latter, and it was taken
before one justice of the peace and another, and after paying
m^m.
^m
VILLEFRANC III-.
five hundred francs in costs, he won his case. " Ah," he said
to the writer, "you can never trust the French. Bismarck
should have exterminated them. They are all cowards, all
hypocrites — all — worse than that. I have lived here five years,
and I tell you I never saw a Frenchman who would not steal.
They are monkeys and barbers. I was at a French party the
other night, and it shows just what they are. None of your
square-up-and-down parties — champagne and cards in the back
room, and boned turkey and terrapin, like civilized people —
but ices and meringues and thin little cakes and liquors ; and
THE COLONIST WITH A MARQUIS. x 6^
you rush out into the corridor and smoke a cigarette and hurry
back, and then a young chap with a stubby mustache stands up
and reads an original poem, and you cannot understand what he
says except that it is about France and Germany, and Alsace
and Lorraine ; and it ends ' Revenge ! Revenge !' and they all
shout and cry, and the men rush up and kiss him on both
cheeks — yes, on both cheeks, the fools. If I had my way —
but let me tell you about a bill I got last month, and a charge
for candles."
But is there any society abroad for the colony? Oh, yes;
very charming circles — French, English, and American. The
colonist who can speak French, to begin with, is an object of
envy and reproach to those who cannot. I discover also that
it is a ereat card to know a nobleman. I have heard of one
family who entertain largely, especially floating Americans in
summer, who, it is said, keep a marquis. This nobleman was
in distress, and had a dismal home down in Montmartre. But an
enterprising American found him out, and during the summer
when he gives a dinner, the marquis, with a red ribbon in his
lappel, is present and presented. This gives dignity to the din-
ner, and has a majestic effect upon the American guests. Be-
fore he arrives it adds to the zest of the conversation to discuss
whether the marquis will come, whether his engagements will
allow him to come, whether the rumor is true that he was sud-
denly summoned to the Count de Chambord. After he goes
(which is early, his highness not finding the average Ameri-
can conversation stimulating) comes the discussion of the mar-
quis and his pedigree — Montmorency at least — grandfather
guillotined by Robespierre. The circumstance of the marquis
being actually under contract to wine and dine at so much a day,
for the benefit of free and independent American travelers, I
do not guarantee. It came to me as gossip from a satirical,
slighted colonist, who had not been asked to meet the marquis ;
and who, not being much in the society of French noblemen,
has the conviction that they are very poor and know nothing
except to play on the violin and lie in wait for the daughters
of wealthy American gentlemen, who, having garnered in their
y6* PARIS— PRINCIPAL PLACES OF INTEREST.
millions in the development of our petroleum industry, or in
furnishing supplies to our brave boys in the field, crave a coro-
net for their family, if even only a French one.
But hold ! for now I come upon enchanted ground, and
before me stretches a vista that would lead far beyond the pa-
tience of the most industrious reader. When I begin to speak
of counts, I fear lest, in telling tales that have been told to me,
words would fall wounding where I have no right to wound.
So long as Americans are vain of title and rank and have mar-
riageable daughters, so long as our petroleum and bonanza
dowagers see in a coronet a glory exceeding the glory of the
sun, or the moon, or an army with banners, and to be prized
even above true, genuine American manhood, so long will our
maidens dear be bought and sold in a strange sad way.
It was in this colony that General Grant lived for a month
or so until the winter days came, and early in December he
left for the South of France. The American Government had
placed at his disposal the man-of-war " Vandalia," which was
cruising in the Mediterranean, and she had arrived at Ville-
franche to await the General. On the 13th of December, 1877,
at five in the afternoon, General Grant, his wife, his son
Jesse R. Grant, and the writer of this narrative embarked on
the " Vandalia," amid cheers from the other American ships in
the harbor, and kind wishes from the many friends who came
to see us off. We at once steamed out to sea toward Italy,
Egypt, and the Holy Land.
IIISIIE'llH'iliSL! : :,,,:.. U...1U
VESUVIUS AND THE BAY OF NAPLES.
CHAPTER VI.
THE MEDITERRANEAN VESUVIUS POMPEII.
1|!|HE "Vandalia" cast anchor in the beautiful Bay of
raSsr Naples December 1 7th, about ten in the morning.
We came hoping to find sunshine, but the Consul,
B. Odell Duncan, Esq., who comes on board to wel-
come the General, tells us there has been no such weather
known for many seasons. It would be even cold in our incle-
ment New York. I rejoice in the possession of a capacious
ulster, which I brought into the Mediterranean against many
protests, but which has been a useful companion. Poor Naples
looks especially cold. These poor Neapolitans need sunshine,
and they are almost too cold to beg. So much has been writ-
ten about Naples that I may be spared a catalogue of its attrac-
tions. On anchoring in the harbor the General and his wife
landed, and made a tour of the city. There was the summer
165
I 66 THE MEDITERRANEAN— VESUVIUS— POMPEII.
palace, in which royal persons live for a few weeks every year,
and whose grounds are open only by permission. There is the
castle of San Martin, an old monastery, now turned into a mu-
seum and a barracks. We spent a good hour in looking at its
curiosities, which did not impress us either as curious or star-
tling. "This," said the guide, "is the picture of Mr. So-and-so,
who generously gave this museum to Naples." "Well," said
the General, aside, " if 1 had a museum like this I would give it
to Naples or whoever would take it." There was a beautiful
chapel, in which the Lord is no longer worshiped, but which
was a gem of elaborate decoration. There was a burial ground
of the monks, surrounded by marble pillars, upon which skulls
were engraved. In the center was one larger skull, grinning,
and over the temples a withering laurel wreath. Around this
cemetery were the cloisters under whose arches our friends the
monks used to walk and read and meditate, with such sugges-
tions as the skulls would inspire. It was ghostly enough, and
there was a comfort in turning from it to the balcony, a few steps
off, which overlooked the brow of a hill, showing Naples be-
neath us and Vesuvius beyond, and the shining sea. We stood
on the balcony and looked down from our dizzy height, and
thought how much more in consonance with true religion it was
to worship God as we saw him here in his majesty and glory,
and not over stones and bones and sights of evil omen.
There, far above, was Vesuvius, and we were impatient for
the ascent. It was too late when we arrived in Naples, but the
General, with military promptness, gave orders for the march
next morning. We stood on the deck and studied the stern old
mountain, and picked out the various objects with a telescope,
and did an immense amount of reading on the subject. The
volcano was in a lazy mood, and not alive to the honor of a visit
from the Ex-President of the United States, for all he deigned
to give us was a lazy puff of smoke, not a spark, or a flame, or
a cinder. I suppose the old monster is an aristocrat, and a con-
servative, and said, "What do I care for presidents or your new
republics! I have scattered my ashes over a Roman republic.
I have lighted Caesar's triumphs, and thrown my clouds over
ON THE V AND ALIA.
167
the path of Brutus fresh from Caesar's corpse. Why should I
set my forces in motion to please a party of Yankee sight-seers,
even if one of them should be a famous general and ex-ruler of
a republic? I have looked upon Hannibal and Caesar, Charle-
magne and Bonaparte. I have seen the rise and fall of empires.
I have admonished generations who worshiped Jupiter, as I
have admonished generations who have worshiped the Cross.
I am the home of the gods ; and if you would see my power,
|J|:1VK IO VESl'VIUS
look at my base and ask of the ashes that cumber Herculaneum
and Pompeii." So the stubborn old monster never gave us a
flash of welcome, only a smoky puff now and then to tell us that
he was a monster all the time, if he only chose to manifest his
awful will. We stood upon the deck in speculation, and some
of us hoped that there would be an eruption or something worth
describing. The General was bent on climbing to the very
summit and looking into the crater, and with that purpose we
started in the morning of Tuesday, December iSth.
We should have gone earlier, but many high people in uni-
forms, commanding one thing or another, had to come on board
I 68 THE MEDITERRANEAN— VESUVIUS— POMPEII.
and pay their respects. It was ten before we were under way,
the General and party in the advance, with our courier, whom we
have called the Marquis, on the box, and Mrs. Grant's maid
bringing up the rear. We drove all the way. You will under-
stand our route when I remind you that the Bay of Naples is
something like a horseshoe. On one side of the shoe is the
city, on the other is Vesuvius. Therefore to reach the mountain
we have to drive around the upper circle of the shoe. The
shores of this bay are so populous that our route seemed to be
one continuous town. We only knew that we were passing the
city limits when the guard stopped our carriage to ask if there
was anything on which we were anxious to pay duty. As there
was nothing but a modest luncheon, we kept on, rattling through
narrow, stony streets. Beggars kept us company, although
from some cause or another there were not as many as we sup-
posed. Perhaps it was the new government, which we are told
is dealing severely with beggars ; or more likely it was the
weather, which is very cold and seems to have taken all ambition
out of the people. Still we were not without attentions, and
from streets and by-roads a woman or a man, or sometimes a
blind man led by a boy, would start up and follow us with
appeals for money. They were starving or their children were
starving, and lest we might not understand their distress, they
would pat their mouths or breasts to show how empty they
were. For starving persons they showed great courage and
endurance in following our carriage. The General had an
assortment of coins, and, although warned in the most judicious
manner against encouraging pauperism, he did encourage it,
and with so much success that before he was halfway up the
mountain he was a pauper himself to the extent of borrowing
pennies from some of his companions to keep up the demands
upon his generosity.
What we observed in this long ride around the horseshoe
was that Naples was a very dirty, a very happy, and a very pic-
turesque town. We learned that the supply of rags was inex-
haustible. I never knew what could be done with rags until I
saw these lazzaroni. They seem to have grown rags, as a
SPECULA TORS.
169
sheep grows his fleece, and yet there was no misery in their
faces. Happy, dirty, idle, light-eyed, skipping, sunny — you
looked in vain for those faces, those terrible faces of misery and
woe, which one sees so often in London. I take it, therefore,
that beo-o-ine is an amusement, an industry, and not a necessity
— that the Naples beggar
goes out to his work like
any other laborer. He is
not driven to it by the
gaunt wolves hunger and
disease. One scamp — a
gray-bearded scamp, too —
who followed us, was a
baker, who made and sold
loaves. He was standing
at his counter trading
when our carriage hove in
sisfht. At once he threw
down his loaves and started
after us in full chase, moan-
ing and showing his tongaie
and beating his breast, and
telling us he was starving. laz^r™, o* naples.
Well, when he received his coin he went to his store, and I pre-
sume began to haggle over his bread. That coin was clear gain.
He was not a beggar, but a speculator. He went into the street
and made a little raise, just as brokers and merchants at home
go into the "street" and try an adventure in stocks. The Neapoli-
tan speculator was a wiser man than his New York brother. He
ran no risk. Even if he did not gain his coin the run did him good,
and his zeal gave him the reputation of an active business man.
In the meantime our horses begin to moderate their pace
and the streets to show an angle, and horsemen surround our
carriage and tell us in a variety of tongues that they are guides,
and, if we require it, will go to the summit. Women come to
cabin doors, and hold up bottles of white wine — the wine called
Lachrymae Christi, by some horrible irreverence — and ask us to
I70
THE MEDITERRANEAN— VESUVIUS— POMPEII.
stop and drink. And already the houses begin to thin, and we
have fields around us and glimpses of the sea ; and although the
lazy volcano, with its puffs of smoke, looks as far distant as
when we were on the deck of the " Vandalia " miles away, we
know that the ascent has begun, and that we are really climbing
the sides of Vesuvius.
While we are making this slow ascent let me recall some
facts about Vesuvius, which are the results of recent readme —
reading made with a view to this journey. In the times of
fable these lava hills were said to have been the scene of a bat-
tle between the giants and the gods, in which Hercules took
part. Here was the lake Avernus, whose exhalations were so
fatal that the birds would not fly over its surface. Here, also,
was the prison house of Typhon, although some critics assign
him to Etna. But Etna, Vesuvius, and Stromboli are a trinity
of volcanoes, evidently outlets to the one sea of fire, and any
one would do for the prison house of a god. It was here that
Ulysses came, as you will find in the eleventh book of the
THE ASCENT OF VESUVIUS. l7r
Odyssey. Three centuries before the Christian era a great
battle was fought at Vesuvius between the Romans and the
Latins, the battle in which Decius lost his life. It was on Ve-
suvius that Spartacus encamped with his army of gladiators and
bondsmen, in his magnificent but unavailing blow for freedom.
Just now there are two cones or craters — one passive, the other
active. We read in Dion Cassius of an eruption which does not
speak of the present crater. The great eruptions are placed in
the years 79, 203, 472, 512, 6S5, and 993. The eruption in
472 seems to have been the severest known since the shower of
ashes that destroyed Pompeii. In the early eruptions there was
nothing but ashes and stones. The first mention of lava was in
572. Sometimes the volcano has done nothing but smoke for a
century or two. About three centuries ago a new peak, 440
feet in height, was formed in twenty-four hours, and there it is
now before us as Monte Nuovo. There was no eruption, how-
ever, and the hill is as placid as one of your Orange hills in
New Jersey. In the last century there was a good deal of
movement, as we have, from the pen of Sir William Hamilton,
the British Minister at Naples, accounts of eruptions in 1776,
1777, and 1779. There are also pictures in the Museum of two
eruptions in the later part of the century, which must have
been terrible enough to suggest the last day if the artist painted
truly. In one of these eruptions the liquid lava, mixed with
stones and scoria;, rose 10,000 feet. At times Sir William saw
a fountain of liquid transparent fire, casting so bright a light
that the smallest objects could be clearly distinguished within
six miles of the mountain. There was another eruption in 1 793,
which Dr. Clarke described — volleys of immense stones. The
doctor went as near the crater as possible, and was nearly suf-
focated by the fumes of sulphur. The lava poured down the
sides in a slow, glowing, densely flowing stream. Thousands
of stones were in the air. The clouds over the crater were as
white as the purest snow. In a week the lava stopped, and
columns of light red flame, beautiful to the view, illuminated the
top. Millions of red-hot stones were thrown into the air, and
after this came explosions and earthquakes, shocks louder than
T -~ I HE MEDITERRANEAN— VESUVIUS—POMPEII.
cannon, terrible thunder, with a "noise like the trampling of
horses' feet." The next eruption was in 1822, when the crater
fell, reducing" the mountain's height about eight hundred feet.
Since 1822 there have been several eruptions, the most impor-
tant happening in 1S61. Vesuvius is now a double mountain
upon an extended base from thirty to forty miles in circumfe-
rence, not more than one third the base of Etna. Its height
varies. In 1868 it was 4,255 feet; but since 1872 it has slightly
diminished. Stromboli is 3,022 feet, but, although in constant
motion, the stones nearly all fall back into the crater. Etna is
10,870 feet in height, but slopes so gradually and has so broad a
base that it looks more like a tableland than a mountain. I did
not see Stromboli, for although we sailed near it the mist and
rain hid it from view. I have seen Etna, however, and think it
far less imposing and picturesque than Vesuvius.
In the meantime we are going up steadily. The horses go
slower and slower. Some of us get out and help them by walk-
ing part of the way and taking short cuts. The few houses
that we see on the roadside have evidently been built with a
view to eruptions, for the roofs are made of heavy stone and
cement. General Grant notes that where the lava and stones
have been allowed to rest and to mingle with the soil good
crops spring up, and here and there we note a flourishing bit of
vineyard. Soon, however, vineyards disappear, and after the
vineyards the houses, except an occasional house of shelter, into
which we are all invited to enter and drink of the Tears of Christ.
Our convoy of horsemen, who have been following us for a mile
or two, begin to drop off. The Marquis has been preaching to
them from the box in various languages upon their folly in wasting
time, and they heed his warnings. There are no beggars. It is
remarked that beggars always prefer a dead level. One bright-
eyed boy keeps at our side, a lad with about as dirty a suit of
clothes and as pretty a pair of eyes as you could see even in
squalid, smiling Naples. Well, there is something in the eyes,
or it may be in the boyishness of their possessor, which quite
wins one of the party, for when the Marquis insists that he
shall join his fellow mendicants in the valley below, a gracious
THE LAVA PATH.
1/3
protection is thrown over him, and he follows us up the road.
I think the patronage must have pleased him, for he gathered a
handful of wild flowers and presented them, and refused a coin
which was offered in return ; but the refusal of this coin did not
prevent his acceptance of two or three others, and a good dinner
included, an hour or two
later in the day.
Still we climb the hill,
going steadily up. Those
of us who thought we could
make the way on foot re-
pent, for the way is steep
and the road is hard. All
around us is an ocean of
chaos and death. There
in all forms and shapes
lie the lava streams that
did their work in other
days, black and cold and
forbidding. You can
trace the path of each
eruption as distinctly as
the windino-sof the stream
from the mountain top.
We are now high up on
the mountain, and beneath
us is the valley and the Bay of Naples, with Ischia and Capri,
and on the other horizon a range of mountains tinged and
tipped with snow. In one direction we see the eruption of
1872 ; the black lava stream bordered with green. What
forms and shapes ! what fantastic, horrible shapes the fire
assumed in the hours of its triumph ! I can well see how
Martial and Virgil and the early poets saw in these phenomena
the strife and aneer of the eods. Virgil describes Enceladus
transfixed by Jove and the mountain thrown upon him, which
shakes and trembles whenever he turns his weary sides.
This is the scene, the very scene of his immortal agony.
NEAPOLITAN BOY.
i/4
THE MEDITERRANEAN— VESUVIUS— POMPEII.
There are no two forms alike ; all is black, cold, and pitiless.
If we could only see one living thing- in this mass of destruc-
tion ; but all is death, all desolation. Here and there, where
the rains have washed the clay, and the birds, perhaps, may
have carried seed, the grass begins to grow ; but the whole
scene is desolation. I thought of the earlier a^es, when the earth
was black and void, and fancied that it was just such an earth
as this when Divinity looked upon it and said, " Let there be
light." I thought of the end of all things, of our earth, our fair,
sweet and blooming earth, again a mass of lava, rock and ashes,
all life gone out of it, rolling through space.
The presence of a phenomenon like this, and right above us
the ever-seethine crater, is in itself a solemn and beautiful si^ht.
We all felt repaid with our journey ; for by this time we had
come to the journey's end, and our musings upon eternity and
chaos did not forbid thoughts of luncheon. For the wind was
cold and we were hungry. So when our illustrious captain in-
timated that we might seek a place of refuge and entertain-
THE HERMITAGE. j-.
ment, a light gleamed in the eyes of the Marquis, and he reined
us up at a hostelry called the Hermitage. This is the last rest-
ing-place before we reach the ascent of the crater. Here the
roads stop, and the remainder of the journey must be made on
foot. Just beyond the Hermitage is a Government institution
known as the Observatory, a point where information for
weather reports is gained. We thought when we came into
these upper regions that we were in an atmosphere too pure for
the beggars. We were congratulating ourselves upon this cir-
cumstance coming up the mountain side, but on descending we
had a beggar or two to await us. I suppose they belonged to
the hostelry, and were simply speculating upon us like our friend
the baker, whom we had left haergflingf over his loaves far down
in Naples. Some of us, the General certainly, had come this
distance meaning to climb the crater. But it was very cold,
and we had delayed our departure from the ship, so that the
day was well on. So, instead of climbing the rocks and looking
into a sulphurous crater, we organized a kind of picnic in the
Hermitage. The house seemed to have been an inquisition or
a dungeon — the rooms were so large, the walls were so thick,
there were such mysterious, narrow passages and chambers.
But people who build houses under the rim of Vesuvius must
build for fire and flame, and showers of ashes and stones, and
the Hermitage could stand a severe eruption before it became
untenable. A slight crackling fire of twigs was made on the
hearth, and a brazier of burning coals was brought into the
room. We were some time in comprehending the brazier, but
when its uses became apparent, it was comforting enough.
There, in quite a primitive fashion, we had our luncheon, help-
ing ourselves and each other in good homely American fashion,
for we were as far from the amenities of civilization as though
we were in Montana.
After luncheon we walked about, looking at the crater, where
fumes were quite apparent — at the world of desolation around
us, some of it centuries old, but as fresh and terrible as when it
burst from the world of fire beneath us. But there was still
another picture — one of sublime and marvelous beauty. There
176
THE MED1TERRAAEAX— VESUVIUS— POMPEII.
beneath us, in the clear, sunny air — there was Naples, queen
among cities, and her villages clustering about her. Beautiful,
wondrously beautiful, that panorama of hill and field and sea,
that rolled before us thousands of feet below ! We could count
twenty villages in the plain, their white roofs massed together
and spangling the green plain like gems. There were Capri
and Ischia — their rugged outlines softened by the purple-golden
glow of the passing day — lying at the mouth of the bay as if
to guard this rich valley. There was Naples, her rags and dirt
quite veiled and only her beauty to be seen. There was Mi-
senum, where Pliny saw the destruction of Pompeii. There
was Nisita, where Brutus took refuge when he fled from the
murder of Caesar. There was Sorrento, where Tasso lived.
Every village has its history and associations, for these plains
and islands and promontories have been for ages the seats of a
brilliant and glorious civilization — a civilization which even now
only shows the beauty of decay. The splendor of a Roman
imperial civilization has gone from Italy. Ages of darkness
and superstition and despotism have rested upon her like the
ashes which cover Pompeii. Let us hope that a new era is
coming, which, based upon freedom and patriotism, will far excel
even that of the Caesars. These were our thoughts as we stood
in the cold winds studying the magnificent scene. And thinking
of the living, we thought of the dead — of the cities of the plains
which perished one thousand seven hundred years ago. The
romance that surrounds Naples only deepens the tragedy of
Pompeii and Herculaneum, and we found our thoughts ever
turning from the glory and majesty of all we saw to those buried
cities of the plains, as we were hurried home again — home to
our graceful vessel whose lights awaited us in the harbor.
On the 19th of December the General and his party visited
Pompeii. We arrived at Pompeii early in the morning con-
sidering that we had a lonor ride. But the morning was cold
enough to be grateful to our northern habits, and there was
sunshine. Our coming had been expected, and we were wel-
comed by a handsome young guide, who talked a form of Eng-
lish in a rather high key, as though we were all a little hard of
THE CITY OF DEATH.
177
hearing". This guide informed us that he had waited on Gene-
ral Sheridan when he visited Pompeii. He was a soldier, and
we learned that the guides are all soldiers, who receive duty
here as a reward for meritorious service. There was some
comfort in seeing Pompeii accompanied by a soldier, and a
b r a v e one.
This especial
guide was intel-
ligent, bright,
and well up in
all concerning
Pompeii. We
entered the town
at once through
a gate leading
through an em-
bankment. Al-
though Pompeii,
so far as exca-
vated, is as open
to the air as New
York, it is sur-
rounded by an
earthen mound
resembling some
of our railway
embankments in
America. Look-
ing at it from
the outside you
might imagine it an embankment, and expect to see a train
of cars whirling along the surface. It is only when you pass
up a stone-paved slope a few paces that the truth comes upon
you, and you see that you are in the City of Death. You
see before you a long, narrow street running into other narrow
streets. You see quaint, curious houses in ruins. You see
fragments, statues, mounds, walls. You see curiously painted
STREET IN NAPLES (PORTA CAl'UANA).
1 yg THE MEDITERRANEAN— VESUVIUS— POMPEII.
walls. You see where men and women lived and how they
lived — all silent and all dead — and there comes over you that
appalling story which has fascinated so many generations
of men — the story of the destruction of Pompeii and Hercula-
neum.
You will say, "Yes, every schoolboy knows that story;"
and I suppose it is known in schoolboy fashion. It will complete
my chronicle of General Grant's visit if you will allow me to tell
it over again. In the grand days of Rome, Pompeii was a walled
city numbering about twenty thousand inhabitants. It was
built on the sea-coast, and was jarotected from the sea by a wall.
I should say in extent it was about as large as the lower section
of New York, drawing a line across the island from river to
river through the City Hall. It was an irregular five-sided
town, with narrow streets. Its inhabitants were, as a general
thing, in good standing, because they came here to spend their
summers. I suppose they had about the same standing in
Roman society as the inhabitants of Newport have in American
society. Pompeii was an American Newport, a city of recrea-
tion and pleasure. It is said the town was founded by Hercules,
but that fact you must verify for yourself. It was the summer
capital of luxurious Campania, and joined Hannibal in his war
against Rome. Hannibal proposed a kind of Southern Confede-
racy arrangement, with Capua as capital. After Hannibal had
been defeated Capua was destroyed and Pompeii spared —
spared in the end for a fate more terrible. Cicero lived near
Pompeii, and emperors came here for their recreation. In the
year 13 the city had an omen of its fate by an earthquake, which
damaged the town seriously, throwing down statues, swallowing
up sheep — so appalling "that many people lost their wits." In
64, when Nero was in Naples singing, there was another earth-
quake, which threw down the building in which his majesty
had been entertaining his friends. This was the second warn-
ing. The end came on the 24th of August, 79, and we know
.ill the facts from the letters written by Pliny the Younger to
Tacitus — letters which had a mournful interest to the writer,
because they told him that Pliny the Elder lost his life in the
PLIXY'S LETTERS. , -„
general desolation. Pliny tells how he was with his uncle, who
commanded the Roman fleet at Misenum. Misenum is just
across the bay from Pompeii — twenty miles, perhaps, as the
crow flies. On the 24th of August. Pliny the Elder was takino-
the benefit of the sun — that is to say, he had anointed his per-
son and walked naked, as was the daily custom of all prudent
Romans. He had taken his sun bath and retired to his library,
when he noticed something odd about Vesuvius. The cloud
assumed the form of a gigantic pine tree and shot into the air
to a prodigious height. Pliny ordered his galley to be manned,
and sailed across the bay direct for Vesuvius, over the bay
where you may now see fishing boats and steamers.
A letter from some friends whose villas were at the base of
the mountain warned him that there was danger ; but like a Ro-
man and a sailor he sailed to their rescue. As he drew near the
mountain the air was filled with cinders. Burning- rocks and
pumice-stones fell upon his decks, the sea retreated from the
land, and rocks of great size rolled down the mountain. His
pilot begged him to return to Misenum and not brave the anger
of the gods. "Fortune," he said, "favors the brave — carry me
to Pomponianus." Pomponianus was what we now call Castel-
lamare, a little port from which the fish come. Here the erup-
tion fell upon him. The houses shook from side to side, the
day was darker than the darkest night. The people were in
the fields with pillows on their heads, carrying torches. The
fumes of sulphur prostrated Pliny and he fell dead. The scene
of the actual destruction can be told in no better words than
those of the younger Pliny, who watched the scene from Mise-
num. Remember it was twenty miles away, and you can fancy
what it must have been in Pompeii. " I turned my head," writes
Pliny, "and observed behind us a thick smoke, which came
rolling after us like a torrent. I proposed, while we had yet
any light, to turn out into the high road, lest we should be
pressed to death in the dash of the crowd that followed us. We
had scarcely stepped out of the path when darkness overspread
us, not like that of a cloudy night, or when there is no moon,
but of a room when it is shut up and all the lights are extinct.
i So
THE MEDITERRANEAN— VESUVIUS— POMPEII.
Nothing then was to be heard but the shrieks of women, the
screams of children and the cries of men ; some calling for their
children, others for their parents, others for their husbands, and
only distinguishing each other by their voices ; one lamenting
his own fate, another that of his family ; some wishing to die
from the very fear of dying, some lifting their hands to the gods ;
but the greater
imagining that
the last and
eternal night
had come which
was to destroy
the world and
the gods to-
gether. Among
these were some
who augmented
the real terrors
by imaginary
ones, and made
the affrighted
multitude falsely
believe that Mi-
senum was ac-
tually in flames.
At length a
glimmering
light appeared
which we im-
agined to be ra-
ther the forerun-
ner of an approaching burst of flame, as in truth it was, than
the return of day. However, the fire fell at a distance from us.
Then again we were immersed in thick darkness, and a heavy
shower of ashes rained upon us, which we were obliged every
now and then to shake off, otherwise we should have been
crushed and buried in the heap. At last this dreadful darkness
DINNER AT THE HERMITAGE.
THE MUSEUM. jgj
was dissipated by degrees, like a cloud of smoke, the real day
returned, and even the sun appeared, though very faintly and
as when an eclipse is coming on. Every object that presented
itself to our eyes, which were extremely weakened, seemed
changed, being covered over with white ashes as with a deep
snow."
This was in the latter part of August, 79, and Pompeii slept
in peace for more than sixteen hundred years. Ashes twenty
feet deep covered the town, and it is believed about ten thou-
sand persons perished. In 1748 the first excavations were
made by the Bourbon Charles III. The villa of Diomedes was
opened in 1771. It was in this villa that a group of eighteen
skeletons was found. It was not until 1S06, when the French
took Naples, that the work was pursued with any intelligence.
About one third of the town has already been opened, and the
excavation goes on under judicious superintendence.
Our first visit was to the museum, a carefully arranged col-
lection. Here you may see windows and doors as they came
from the ruins. There are also casts of eight human bodies, the
faces and forms expressing the agony of the last moment. One
is that of a finely formed woman, her brow resting upon her
arm, lying in an easy attitude of repose. Some had their
clothing on, others scarcely a vestige of clothing. Some were in
attitudes of despair and combat, as though they would resent
Death when he came. There were skeletons of animals and
skulls. There were vases as they came from the opened cham-
bers, rainspouts in terra-cotta, helmets, bucklers, and swords
that belonged to the gladiators. There was bread as found in
the oven, and a dish in which the meat was roasting. There
was a pot in which were the remnants of a sucking pig, the skele-
ton of the pig clearly traceable. There were barley and olives
and various kinds of food. Almonds, pears and figs, pouches of
coin, sandals, garments, rings and trinkets, amulets that were to
keep off the evil eye. All was here arranged as found in the
ashes of the buried city. And all was so real — so horribly real
— I cannot express the impression which came over us as we
passed from the gate into the very streets of the buried town —
: g 2 THE MEDITERRANEAN— VES UVIUS— POMPEII.
the very streets of this bright, gay, luxurious town. We could
not realize the solemnity of Pompeii. It seemed so natural that
we should come here — so natural that we should be at home, so
natural that this should be a living and not a town that had
been buried and risen again — that our visit seems a day's holi-
day in a charming country town, and not a mournful march
through a town of ashes and death.
Here, for instance, is the home of our friend, M. Arrius Dio-
medes. Our friend is a patrician, a great man in Rome, who
came to his villa by the sea for summer air and repose after the
cares of the capital. I am certain that he would receive us with
true Roman courtesy did he know of our arriving. But he has
vanished into the night, and all we have is the gracious word
"Salve," in mosaic, on the door-sill. Here it is in indelible
mosaic — curiously worked, is it not? You push the ashes away
with your foot, for somehow our patrician friend is not as well
served with all of his slaves. You push the ashes aside and
read the warm word of welcome, its white stones smiling as
though they would anticipate the greeting of the master. So,
encouraged, we trace our way into this suburban villa. The
street through which we have just passed is the Street of the
Tombs, but let us draw no inhospitable omen from that, for our
Roman friends are stoics and find no terror in death. There is
much dust and ashes, and roofs that might be mended, and the
villa of M. Arrius Diomedes has changed somewhat since his
retreating footsteps pressed for the last time the welcoming
word on his door-sill. We can examine this house at our lei-
sure, if we are curious to see how our noble friends lived in the
golden days when Caesars reigned. You note that there is a
slight ascent to the house, the doorway being as much as six or
seven feet above the roadway. Well, this is as should become
a patrician, and a man like Diomedes does not choose to live
under the staring gaze of gladiators and tragic poets, and the
riffraff of people who flock about Pompeii. You go up to the
porch by an inclined plane, and pass through the peristyle into
an open court-yard, where the rain was gathered. On one side
the descending staircases point the way to the rooms devoted
rOMPEII.
183
to the humbler offices of this princely house. Around us are
rooms, say twenty in all, which open on the court-yard. In one
corner are the rooms for bathing, for our host belongs to a race
who do honor to the gods by honoring the body which the gods
gave them.
Here are cooling chambers, warm chambers, an anointing-
room, a furnace. If you do not care to go through the process
of a bath, you may anoint yourself and walk in the sun. Here
is a chamber fitted for the purpose — a gallery lighted by win-
dows looking out upon the trellises, where I am sure the roses
would be creeping in luxuriant bloom were our friend only here
to look after his home. The roses have faded, but if you pass
into a small room to the right
you will see why this gallery
was built. Out of that win-
dow — which unfortunately is
wanting in glass — out of that
window, through which you
may gaze while your slave
anoints your person and per-
fumes your tresses, you may
see beyond the gardens the
whole sweeping Bay of
Naples as far as Sorrento.
After you have enjoyed your
bath, and care to discipline
your body further, here is
another room, upon which
the sun beats with undis-
puted power, a room given to
in-door games and amuse-
NEAPOL1TAN FISHER GIRL.
ments. Here is the eating
room, commanding a view of a garden, and here is a room which
was once the library — a library of papyrus volumes — where we
can fancy our friend studying the sciences with Pliny, or verify-
ing a quotation with Cicero. The papyrus rolls are not here, to
be sure, although some of them are up in the Naples Museum,
I g^ THE MEDITERRANEAN— VESUVIUS— POMPEII.
and since we have this modern fashion of printing we shall not
envy M. Diomedes his few cherished scrolls. And if you ask for
the ladies, you are pointed to the staircase leading to the gym-
nasium, or the door leading to the venerium, where I am afraid
we should not under ordinary circumstances be welcome. You
see our friend has exclusive notions about the ladies, and prefers
to dispense his own hospitalities. Beyond these rooms is a
garden, a garden inclosed by walls, and over the walls should
be a trellis of flowers. Under the walls is a portico, where M.
Diomedes and his friends can walk when it rains. Here should
be a fountain, rather here is the fountain, but the waters some-
how have ceased to flow. But you may put your fingers into
the very spout and admire the grain of the marble, for the work
came from the hands of cunning workmen. If you open this
door — alas ! I am afraid it is open, with no prospect of its being
closed — if you open this gate you will find that it is the rear of
the villa and looks out upon the vineyards, the gardens and the
sea. This garden should be full of mulberries and figs, and if
the gardening slaves were diligent, we should now be walking,
not in ashes, but under a shady wall of vines, and breathing the
perfume cf the violet and the rose.
You will observe, if time is not pressing, that our friend was
fond of the arts, and that the walls of these rooms are decorated
with care. This is none of your whitewashing — none of your
French paper and modern English decorations, all running to
pale green and gray. Our noble host lived in the land of
sunshine, and drew his colors from the rainbow. To be sure,
the colors do look fresh — so fresh as to make you wonder if
they are already dry. But time will give them the Titian and
Rembrandt tint; time will mellow them, if we only wait long
enouoh. When a Roman nobleman builds a home like this, a
home possessing all that taste, and luxury, and wealth can wish
— if, I say, a Roman patrician like Marcus Arrius Diomedes
plants all these gardens and constructs so luxurious a home,
you must not be impatient at the glowing colors. Perhaps, if
you are an artist, you will note the poverty of his invention in
the matter of colors — red, blue, green, yellow, and black. These
A NOBLEMAN'S HOME.
185
are all that seem to have occurred to his craftsmen. And you
will object to many of his pagan themes. But do not forget, I
pray you, that our friend is a pagan, and that you will find in
this home, and the homes of his neighbors and kinsmen, many
things to offend a taste educated up to the moral standard of
Boston and New York. But, happily, we are neither mission-
aries nor critics, but friends — friends from far America — who
have heard much of Pompeii, and have come to call upon this
opulent citizen. See with what minute care this house is deco-
rated. The floors are of mosaic — white stones on a black
ground, or black stones on a white ground, describing plain
geometrical lines and curves. If you study closely this mosaic
work you will find it of marble (black and white) and red tiles,
buried in mortar. If you pass on you will see even finer work.
Here, for instance, is a group of dancers and musicians,
masked figures, playing upon the tambourine, the cymbals, and
the pipe. What skill, what patience in the fashioning, in the
folding drapery, the movement of the limbs, harmony of motion !
! g 6 THE MEDITERRANEAN— VES U VI US— POMPEII.
You note that the walls are all painted ; and if you do not like
the glaring colors in some rooms, pause for a moment before
this figure, a female form floating into space. The lips are
open in the ecstasy of motion, the limbs are poised in the air,
and the light drapery, through which the sun shines, seems to
toy with the breeze ; the bosom almost heaves with life and
youth. It means nothing, you say. You miss the sweetness
of the later schools ; you see nothing of the divine, seraphic
beauty which lives in the Madonnas of Raphael ; you miss
the high teachings of our modern art — the mother's love
in the Virgin's face, the love that embraceth all things in the
face of the suffering Redeemer. You miss this, and long for
that magic pencil which told, as in a poem or an opera, of the
splendors of ancient and modern Rome. You say that our
friend knew only of fauns and satyrs and beastly representations
of lecherous old Silenus and that drunken brute Bacchus ; that
even his Venus was a degradation rather than an idealization of
woman ; that his art was physical, and became an apotheosis
of strength and vice and passion. You ask what possible use,
either as entertainment or study, can there be in a bearded
Bacchus, or in many other things that I am not permitted to de-
scribe ? This art is not our art, and as we study it and admire
much of its taste and skill and truth to nature, we cannot but
feel, and with grateful hearts, that the Pompeiian age is dead,
and that we come in a new age ; that the gods whom our friend
worshiped have faded into night, and that a nobler, higher
faith has taken their place, giving purity to our art. This we
owe to the work done by Jesus Christ. And if you marvel that
our friend Marcus Arrius Diomedes did not feel the same influ-
ence, remember that our friend is a Roman, a patrician and a
man of great wealth and station, and not a man to shape his
tastes after the canons of a Jewish carpenter, crucified just sev-
enty-nine years ago, and of Jewish fishermen who followed him,
and have been meetly punished for their follies and crimes.
But our friend Diomedes does not come, and I am afraid
there is no use in waiting. Pompeii is a most interesting town,,
and there are a thousand other things to be seen — the Forum,
THE AMPHITHEATER.
I8 7
for instance, the amphitheater, the temples of Jupiter and Venus,
the Exchange, the tombs. How real it all seems ! Here are
the narrow streets, with stepping stones to keep us out of the
running water as we cross. Here is the wide street, the Broad-
way of the town, and you can see the chariot ruts worn deep
into the stone. The General notes
that some of the streets are out
of repair, and it is suggested that
Tweed was not the first magistrate who failed to pave the
roads. Here are the shops on the highway, shops in which
you may buy and sell to your heart's content, if we can
only believe the signs on the walls. One irritable mer-
chant (I suppose he has amassed a large fortune and retired
from business) informs the public that there must be no
lounging about his shop, and that if people do not mean
business they had better go elsewhere. If you think my
translation is a free one, I will give you the exact inscription :
" Otwsis locus hie non est, disccde monitor" — " Loiterer, pass on;
jSS the MEDITERRANEAN— VESUVIUS— POMPEII.
this is no place for idlers." Passers-by are warned against
committing trespass by two large serpents painted on the walls;
and if we are disposed to seek other entertainment in Pompeii,
not having found M. Diomedes at home, here is a tavern, the
Elephant Snake Inn I suppose it should be called, having as
its sign an elephant in the folds of a serpent. The sign also in-
forms us that within may be found a triclinium or dining room,
" with three beds and other conveniences." Politics seem to be
running high in this luxurious town. Here is an advertisement
in which Philippus beseeches favor and patronage that he may
be made a duumvir of justice. Sometimes these inscriptions
take the form of compliment and adulation. The candidate,
instead of beseeching suffrage of the unterrified, the hisfh-
minded people, seeks the aid of some high-placed citizen, just
as a century or two ago our tragic poets and comedians used to
address their wishes to some mighty duke or most ducal lord and
king. You note that in spite of the paganism, and other things
in which we have improved, there was a great deal of human
nature — of Massachusetts and Brooklyn human nature — in these
Pompeiians. In those days people wrote on the walls, as home
idiots do now, their names and inscriptions, verses from a poem,
jibes from a comedy. Here is an advertisement setting forth
that Julia Felix, daughter of Spurius, has to let a bath, a vene-
rium, nine hundred shops with booths and garrets, for a term
of five years from the 6th of August. Mme. Julia wishes like-
wise tenants with references, as she has no desire to deal with
immoral persons. Another scribe named Issus seeks the patron-
age of the sedile as one " most deserving." We note as we
go on that this was a city of fountains, and that superstition was
rile, there being on nearly every house some engraved charm
to protect the inhabitants from the evil eye. I wish these
charms were all as innocent and proper in their character as
our dear old homely horseshoe, which has protected so many
generations from the perils of witchcraft.
The sun is shining as we pass from the narrow streets and
come upon the Forum. The heart leaps as we look upon this
scene of the elegance and the strife and the patriotism of
THE PANTHEON.
I 89
twenty centuries ago. The sun shines upon many a broken
column, upon entablatures falling into decay, upon plinths and
molds that retain only a faint semblance of their former beauty.
I have seen a picture called " Pompeii Restored," with special
reference to the Forum. I see an oblong space like that in the
court-yard of the Louvre. This space is surrounded by columns
form i no- an arcade, and galleries above the arcade. On one
side was the temple of Mercury, on the other the Pantheon.
This space is five hundred and twenty-four feet long and one
hundred and fifty feet wide. On the other side is the temple
of Jupiter and the temple of Venus. The temple of Jupiter
borders on a road spanned by triumphal arches — one to the
immortal glory of Nero, that great emperor who one day-
rode in triumph down the very road over which we are
sauntering- this morning' in the wake of a nimble and loud-
talking guide. This temple of Jupiter is the home of the
presiding deities of Pompeii, if any oi us choose to go in and
worship. But I am afraid we are more interested in the prison
where the skeletons of the prisoners were found, the shackles
still confining them. Here is the Pantheon, or what we are at
liberty to call a Pantheon until the men of science really deter-
mine whether it is so or not, or, as is supposed, a temple of Vesta.
I am afraid it makes very little difference now what it is, as it is
incontinently a ruin. Another building about which there is
doubt is called the Senaculum, where the senators met. These
various temples were decorated with a profusion which I have
not space to catalogue. Statues, endless statues, and busts,
paintings, sacred utensils, altars, and columns — what a world of
wealth and labor was expended upon the worship of these pagan
gods ! What a strange religion it must have been ! Here are
dancing figures, battles with crocodiles, devotees performing
sacrifice to Priapus. Here, more apt than the others to-day
at least, is Penelope discovering Ulysses. In the room of one
of the priests of the temple of Venus was a painting of Bacchus
and Silenus, which must have inspired a frail kind of devotion.
Around the Forum are pedestals on which were exalted in their
day the statues of the men and the gods Pompeii delighted to
! q THE MEDITERRANEAN— J £S i " I TVS— POMPEII.
honor. If we marvel at the extreme expense lavished on the
Forum, especially as compared with the other parts of the town, we
must remember that in these ancient days the Forum was where
the Roman citizen passed most of his time. He spent his days
at the baths, the theater, and the Forum, and, as a consequence,
whenever you find any remains of the old Rome, you find that
the bath, the theater, and the Forum were the centers of display.
We might spend mere time with the temples, but I am
afraid the religion of Pompeii is not severe enough to inspire
our awe. There is a temple to Fortune, built by one Marcus
Tullius, supposed descendant of Cicero. There are temples to
Isis and Esculapius — that of Isis being in excellent preservation.
These priests were severer in their devotions than our friends
who held out at the other establishments. They were celibates,
who lived mainly on fish, never eating onions or the flesh of the
sheep or hog. I suppose they were faithful in some respects,
for the skeletons of two were found in this very temple, one at-
tempting to break a door with an ax and another at dinner.
As one of the rules of this order was perpetual devotion before
the statue of the deity, it is supposed they were at their prayers
when the hour came. Let us honor them for that, and trust
that even fidelity to poor foolish Isis will not be forgotten in the
day when all remembered deeds are to have their last account.
But almost as dear to Pompeii as her baths and Forum were
the theaters. Here is a building which is known as the school
of the gladiators. All the evidences show that Pompeii excelled
in gladiatorial displays. Why not ? Her people were rich and
refined, and in no way could a community show its wealth so
much as by patronizing the gladiators. The school shows that
there were accommodations for as many as one hundred and
thirty-two in that building alone. Inscriptions show that in
some of the public displays as many as thirty or thirty-five pairs
of gladiators exhibited at one time. We did not visit the large
amphitheater, the small theater being sufficient for our purpose.
The ancient theaters were always open to the sun, this being a
climate blessed with a sun. They were planned very much like
our own. Where plays were performed there was a stage, an
STREET IN POMPEII.
IQI
orchestra, rows of shelving seats made of cement or stone, aisles
and corridors and lobbies, just as you find them in Wallack's or
Drury Lane. The mask played a prominent part in these plays,
no object being more common among the discoveries of Pompeii
than the tragic and the comic mask. The plays were mainly
from the Greek, and one can imagine and almost envy the multi-
tudes who swarmed
along these bench-
es and witnessed
the tragedies of
/Eschylus. There
is room enough in
this theater (the
one which General
Grant and his party
so calmly surveyed)
to contain five
thousand people.
Beyond this is a
STREET 1M POMPEII.
small theater which would hold fifteen hundred persons. The
amphitheater is at the outside of the town, and from the
plans of it the writer studied, our party being too weary to
walk the distance, it was a counterpart of the bull rings which
you see in Spain at the present day. The amphitheater was the
t Q 2 THE MEDITERRANEAN— VESUVIUS— POMPEII.
popular place of amusement in Pompeii, as the bull ring is to-
day in Madrid and Seville. It had accommodations for the
whole population. In the center was an arena, and in the
center of the arena an altar dedicated to Pluto or Diana, or
some of the Jupiter species. It was here that the gladiators
fought. Sometimes they fought with wild beasts who were in-
troduced into the arena.
We have representations in the museum of combats be-
tween gladiators and the bull, the lion and the panther. In
some of these pictures the man is unarmed. Others show a
gladiator in the attitude of a Spanish matadore in a bull ring,
fighting a bear. The gladiator holds the cloak in one hand and
the sword in the other, precisely as Senor Don Larzuello goes
down the arena in Madrid to fight an Andalusian bull. There are
frescoes showing how men fought on horseback, the men armed
with helmets, spears, and oval bucklers about large enough to
cover the breast. The most frequent pictures are those of gladi-
ators on foot, wearing winged helmets, buskins of leather, on
the thighs iron guards, greaves on the knees, the other parts of
the body naked. You remember, no doubt, the picture of
Gerome, representing the arena — one gladiator prostrate, the
other over him with sword extended, awaiting the signal from
the emperor as to whether he would slay his foe. The signal
was given by the spectators turning their thumbs if they want
death. It was the wounded man's privilege to ask for life, which
he did by raising his finger in supplication. In most of these
pictures we have the raised finger in entreaty. Some show that
the prayer has been refused, and the sword of the victor is at
the throat of the victim. In this amphitheater the Christians
were thrown to the lions, and the ashes still encumber the door
through which the ghastly bodies of the slain were dragged
after they had been "butchered to make a Roman holiday."
It is in these remnants of Pompeiian splendor that we see
the cruelty of the old Roman life. We turn from it with a feel-
ing of relief, as it is not pleasing to think that such things ever
were possible in a world as beautiful and refined as that sur-
rounding Pompeii. We pass to happier scenes, glimpses of the
REMNANTS OF SPLENDOR. m ,
real life as it was two thousand years ago. The value of these
ruins is in the truthfulness of what we see around us. We tire
of temples, and fauns, and shows. How did these people live ?
We see that there was little or no poverty in Pompeii. If there
was any Five Points or Seven Dials quarter it has not been ex-
cavated. This was a happy summer town, where people came
to find their pleasures. There was the house of unspeakable
shame, which the guide, with glistening eyes, pointed out to the
General as the special object of interest to tourists. But our
General had no interest in scenes of shame and vice, and declined
to enter the house. We sauntered about from street to street,
and looked at the house called the house of the Tragic Poet. It
is here that Bulwer Lytton places the home of Glaucus, in his
" Last Days of Pompeii." We pass a lake house where the
mills are ready to grind corn, and our guide explains how it
was done in the ancient days — " Pretty much," the General re-
marks, "as it is done in primitive settlements now." Here is
an arcade which was supposed to be a market. Here is a sub-
terranean passage leading to a dungeon. In the roof was a hole
through which the judge announced to the prisoners their fate.
We can fancy Christian martyrs clustering under these walls,
and fearing not even the lions, in the blessed hope of that salva-
tion whose gospel had only come from the shores of Galilee.
We see ruined tombs and evidences of cremation, and house
after house, streets and houses without end, until we become
bewildered with the multitude and variety of sights. The im-
pression made by the journey may be summed up in a remark
of General Grant, that Pompeii was one of the few things which
had not disappointed his expectations, that the truth was more
striking than imagination had painted, and that it was worth a
journey over the sea to see and study its stately, solemn ruins.
The Italian authorities did General Grant special honor on
his visit to Pompeii by directing that a house should be exca-
vated. It is one of the special compliments paid to visitors of
renown. The guide will show houses that have been excavated
in the presence of Murat and his queen, of General Champion-
net, and Joseph II., of Admiral Farragut and General Sher-
13
i 9 4
THE MEDITERRANEAN— VESUVIUS— POMPEII.
man, and General Sheridan. These houses are still known by
the names of the illustrious persons who witnessed their exhu-
mation, and the guide hastens to point out to you, if you are
an American,
where honor
was paid to our
countrymen.
When S h e r-
man and Sheri-
dan were here
large crowds
attended, and
the occasion
w as made
quite a picnic.
B u t General
Grant's visit
was known only
to a few, and so
when the di-
rector of exca-
vations led the
way to the proposed work,
there were the General and
It; his party and a group of our
gallant and courteous friends
from the "Vandalia." The
quarter selected was near
the Forum. Chairs were ar-
ranged for the General, Mrs. Grant, and some of us, and there
quietly, in a room that had known Pompeiian life seventeen
centuries ago, we awaited the signal that was to dig up the
ashes that had fallen from Vesuvius that terrible night in August.
Our group was composed of the General, his wife and son, Mr.
Duncan, the American Consul in Naples, Commander Robeson,
of the "Vandalia," Lieutenants Strong, Miller and Rush, and
Engineer Baird, of the same ship. We formed a group about
E\C \\ ATING A HOUSE.
EXCAVATING A HOUSE. lQ) -
the General, while the director gave the workmen the signal.
The spades dived into the ashes, while with eager eyes we
looked on. What story would be revealed of that day of agony
and death ? Perhaps a mother, almost in the fruition of a proud
mother's hopes, lying in the calm repose of centuries, like the
figure we had seen only an hour ago dug from these very ruins.
Perhaps a miser hurrying with his coin only to fall in his door-
way, there to rest in peace while seventeen centuries of the
mighty world rolled over him, and to end at last in a museum.
Perhaps a soldier fallen at his post, or a reveller stricken at the
feast. All these things have been given us from Pompeii, and
we stood watching the nimble spades and the tumbling ashes,
watching with the greedy eyes of gamblers to see what chance
would send. Nothing came of any startling import. There
were two or three bronze ornaments, a loaf of bread wrapped in
cloth, the grain of the bread and the fiber of the cloth as clearly
marked as when this probable remnant of a humble meal was
put aside by the careful housewife's hands. Beyond this, and
some fragments which we could not understand, this was all that
came from the excavation of Pompeii. The director was evi-
dently disappointed. He expected a skeleton at the very least
to come out of the cruel ashes and welcome our renowned guest,
who had come so many thousand miles to this Roman entertain-
ment. He proposed to open another ruin, but one of our "Van-
dalia " friends, a very practical gentleman, remembered that it
was cold, and that he had been walking a good deal and was
hungry, and when he proposed that, instead of excavating
another ruin, we should " excavate a beefsteak " at the restau-
rant near the gate of the sea, there was an approval. The
General, who had been leisurely smoking his cigar and study-
ing the scene with deep interest, quietly assented, and, thanking
the director for his courtesy, said he would give him no more
trouble. So the laborers shouldered their shovels and marched
off to their dinner, and we formed in a straggling, slow proces-
sion, and marched down the street where Nero rode in triumph,
and across the Forum, where Cicero may have thundered to
listening thousands, and through the narrow streets, past the
196
THE MEDITERRANEAN— 1 ESi'l TVS— POMPEII.
wine shops filled with jars which contain no wine — past the
baker's, whose loaves are no longer in demand — past the thrifty
merchant's, with his sign warning idlers away, a warning that
has been well heeded by generations of men — past the house of
the Tragic Poet, whose measures no longer burden the multi-
tude, and down the smooth, slippery steps that once led through
the gate opening to the sea — steps over which fishermen trailed
their nets and soldiers marched in stern procession — into the
doors of a very modern tavern. Pompeii was behind us, and a
smiling Italian waiter welcomed us to wine and corn, meat and
&
bread, olives and orano-es. Around his wholesome board we
m
gathered, and talked of the day and the many marvels we hi
&
seen
-~w
THE MEU1 I KUKANl£ AN.
CHAPTER VII.
THE MEDITERRANEAN.
jJFE arrived in Palermo at noon on the 23d of Decem-
ber, 1877. We found Palermo attractive enough,
especially as the town was in the full glow of Christ-
mas finery. Here we celebrated our Christmas fes-
tival. The officers of the " Vandalia" dedicated their festival
as a special honor to Mrs. Grant. The day was colder than
usual in this sunny climate, and those of us who had remem-
bered to bring winter apparel did not find it out of place. Pa-
lermo, although under the dominion of the liberal King Victor
Emmanuel, still contains enough of the Bourbon and ecclesias-
tical element to give a festival like Christmas especial value.
On Christmas Eve a delegation of ship captains, now in port,
plying between Palermo and New England, called and paid
197
198
THE MEDITERRANEAN.
their respects to the General. Christmas morning their ships
were radiant with bunting in honor of our guest. The morning
came with the ringing of multitudinous bells, whose peals came
over the bay, telling us that the good people of Palermo were
rejoicing in the Nativity. The effect of this bustle and tumult
of sound — bells in every key and tone, ringing and pealing and
chiming, their echoes coming back from the gray hills, under
whose shadow we were anchored, was unique, and as every bell
awakened a memory of home, the day brought a feeling of
homesickness, visible on many faces, as they came into the
wardroom, interchanging the compliments of the season. The
General remained on board until noon to receive the visit of
the prefect, who came in state, and was honored with a salute
of fifteen guns. His Honor remained only a few minutes, in
which he tendered the General all the hospitalities and courte-
sies of the town. But the General declined them, with thanks.
After the departure of the city authorities, the General and
Captain Robeson went on shore and sauntered about for two
or three hours, looking on the holiday groups who made the
day a merry one in their Sicilian fashion. There were spurts
of rain coming from the hills, which dampened the enthusiasm
of this lazy, happy, sun-loving people.
There was nothing in the rain to deter any one accustomed
to our cold, gray northern skies, and the General continued his
walk without even paying the weather the tribute of an um-
brella. Some of the officers went to the pretty little Episco-
palian church, and others busied themselves in preparing for
the Christmas dinner. I never knew the capacities of a narrow
wardroom until I saw what Lieutenant Miller and his assistants
achieved on the " Vandalia." The hatchway became an arbor,
the low ceiling bloomed with greenery, the mast seemed about
to return to its original leafage. The table became a parterre
of flowers and trailing vines, and although the limitations of the
service were felt in the candles and candlesticks, the whole room
was so green and fresh and smiling when we came down to din-
ner, that it seemed like a glimpse of far, dear America. The
hour for dinner was half-past five, and we assembled in the
CHRISTM. IS DINNER.
I 99
wardroom with naval promptitude. I give you the names of
the hosts : Chief-Engineer J. Trilley, Surgeon George H.
Cooke, Lieutenant-Commander A. G. Caldwell, Lieutenant E.
T. Strong, Past Assistant-Engineer G. W. Baird, Past Assist-
ant-Engineer D. M. Fulmer, Lieutenant Jacob W. Miller, Pay-
master J. P. Loomis, Lieutenant Richard Rush, Captain L. E.
Fagan, commanding the marines; Lieutenant H. O. Handy,
Lieutenant W. A. Had-
den, and Master J. W.
Dannenhower.
In this list you have
the names of the ward-
room officers of the
" Vandalia," and if it were
not so soon after the feast
as to excite a suspicion
of my disinterestedness,
I would tell you what a
gallant, chivalrous com-
pany they are. The
quests of the evenine
were : General Grant and
wife; Commander H. B.
Robeson, commanding
the ship ; Jesse R. Grant,
and the writer of these
lines. The General look-
ed unusually well as he
took his seat between
Lieutenant-Commander Caldwell and Paymaster Loomis, his
face a little tanned by the Mediterranean sun, but altogether
much younger and brighter than I have seen him for many
years. The abandon of ship life, the freedom from the toils
of the Presidency, the absence of the clamor and scandal of
Washington life have driven away that tired, weary, anxious
look which marked the General during his later years as Presi-
And, as he sat under the green boughs of the Christmas
GENERAL GRANT AND CAPTAIN ROBESON IN PALERMO.
dent.
200 THE MEDITERRANEAN.
decoration, the center of our merry company, it seemed as if he
were as young as any of the mess, a much younger man by far
than our junior Dannenhower, who looks grave and serious
enough to command all the fleets in the world. Mrs. Grant
was in capital health and spirits, and quite enchanted the mess
by telling them, in the earliest hour of the conversation, that
she already felt when she came back to the " Vandal ia" from
some errand on shore as if she were coming home. I wish I
could lift the veil far enough to show you how much the kind,
considerate, ever-womanly and ever-cheerful nature of Mrs.
Grant has won upon us all ; but I must not invade the privacy
of the domestic circle. She was the queen of the feast, and we
gave her queenly honor.
This was the company, and I give you our main, as an idea
of what a ship's kitchen can do for a Christmas dinner :
Potage.
Tomate puree.
Bouchees a la reine.
Cabellon a la Hollandaise.
Puree de pommes.
Dindonneau aux huitres.
Haricots verts.
Filets aux champignons.
Petits pois.
Punch a la Romaine.
Salade.
Plum pudding.
Mince pies.
Dessert.
It was nearly six when the soup made its appearance, and it
was half-past eight before the waiters, in their cunning white
canvas jackets and black silk scarfs, brought in the coffee.
The dinner went with the cadence of a well-rehearsed opera.
There was no hurry — no long pauses. The chat went around
the table, the General doing his share of talk. I wish I could
tell you many of the things that were said ; but here again
the necessities of my position fall in the way. Suffice it to say
that it was a merry, genial, home-like feast, and when Mrs.
Grant sueeested that we remember in our toast, " Loved ones
CHRISTMAS.
20I
at home," it was drunk with many an amen, and many a silent
prayer for the loved ones over the seas. I mention this toast
because it was the only one of the evening. There was a con-
spiracy, headed by Surgeon Cooke, to force Lieutenant-Com-
mander Caldwell into proposing the General's health and com-
pelling him to speak. But Caldwell, like the illustrious captain
on his right, is an obstinate and a somewhat silent man, and
CHRISTMAS DINNER ON THE " VANDAUA.
there was no speech. But what was more welcome was the
cigar, which ended our evening.
It was between nine and ten when we came out on deck.
The ships in our neighborhood were blazing with fireworks, and
vocal with songs and cheers from neighboring ships — cheers
among other things for " General Grant." The men who gave
these cheers were Germans and Englishmen who were in port
on their way from Constantinople to England. They were
honoring Christmas in their honest, homely way, and, knowing
that the General was with us, they sent him their hearty wel-
202 T HE MEDITERRANEAN.
come and congratulation. So we sauntered about and listened
to the merriment on the ships and the ringing of the Christ-
mas bells in Palermo, and watched the moon trailing through
the clouds, and studied the outlines of the hills where the
Carthaginians once held the power of Rome at bay. Our
Christmas had been a merry and pleasant one — as merry and
pleasant, I will add, as such a day can be thousands of miles
from home.
The next morning there were calls to make — official calls on
consuls and generals and prefects and great people. This is one
of the duties — I was nearly writing penalties — of our trip. The
incognito of General Grant is one that no one will respect. He
declines all honors and attentions, so far as he can do so with-
out rudeness, and is especially indifferent to the parade and
etiquette by which his journey is surrounded. It is amusing,
knowing General Grant's feelings on this subject, to read the
articles in English and home papers about his craving for pre-
cedence and his fear lest he may not have the proper seat at
table and the highest number of guns. General Grant has de-
o o
clined every attention of an official character thus far, except
those whose non-acceptance would have been misconstrued.
When he arrives at a port his habit is to go ashore with his
wife and son, see what is to be seen, and drift about from palace
to picture gallery like any other wandering, studious American
doing Europe. Sometimes the officials are too prompt for
him ; but generally, unless they call by appointment, they find
the General absent. This matter is almost too trivial to write
about ; but there is no better business for a chronicler than to
correct wrong impressions before creating new ones. Here,
for instance, is an editorial article from an American newspaper
which has drifted into our wardroom over these Mediterranean
seas. The journal is a responsible newspaper, with a wide cir-
culation. It informs us that General Grant travels with a
princely retinue ; that he is enabled to do so because the men
who fattened oh the corruptions of his administration gave him
a share of their plunder. He went to the Hotel Bristol in
Paris. He took the Prince of Wales's apartments. He never
VANDALIA.
203
asks the cost of his rooms at hotels, but throws money about
with a lavish hand. These are the statements which one reads
here in the columns of an American journal. The truth is that
General Grant travels not like a prince, but as a private citizen.
He has one servant and a courier. He never was in the Prince
of Wales's apartments in the Hotel Bristol in his life. His
courier arranges for his hotel accommodations, as couriers
always do, and the
one who does this
office for the Gene-
ral takes pains to
make as good bar-
gains for his master
as possible. So far
from General Grant
being a rich man, I
think I am not break-
ing confidence when
I say that the dura-
tion of his trip will
depend altogether
upon his income, and
his income depends
altogether upon the
proceeds of his in-
vestment of the
money presented to
him at the close of
the war. The Presi-
dency yielded him
nothing in the way of capital, and he has not now a dollar that
came to him as an official. By this I mean that the money
paid General Grant as a soldier and as a President was spent
by him in supporting the dignity of his office. Everybody
knows how much money was given him at the close of the
war. As this was all well invested and has grown, you may
estimate the fortune of the General and about how long
MRS. GRANT.
204
THE MEDITERRANEAN.
that fortune would enable him to travel like a prince or a Tam-
many exile over Europe. There are many people at home who
do not like General Grant, who quarrel with his politics and
think his administration a calamity. That is a matter of opinion.
But his fame as a soldier is dear to every patriotic American,
and I am glad of the opportunity of brushing away one or
two of the cobwebs of slander
which I see growing over it.
But this is a digression.
I was thinking of Palermo in
her holiday finery ; for the
Christmas bells are in the air,
and, as we walk from street to
street, we see the South, the
Catholic South, in every group.
I can well imagine how this
sunny, picturesque town might
grow on one after a time. Yet,
to our prim, well - ordered
Northern eyes, it is hard to
become accustomed to its dirt
and squalor. This Sicily is
the land of many civilizations.
Here the Greek, the Cartha-
ginian, the Roman, and the Saracen have made their mark.
This is the land of the poetry of Homer, the genius of Ar-
chimedes, the philosophy and piety of Paul. These hills and
bays and valleys have seen mighty armies striving for the
mastery of the world. Certainly, if example, or precept, or
the opportunity for great deeds could ennoble a nation, Sicily
should be the land of heroes. But its heroism has fallen into
rags, and the descendants of the men who destroyed the Athe-
nian fleet in Syracuse, and who confronted the power of Car-
thage at Agrigentum, now spend their time sleeping in the sun.
swarming around chapel doors to beg, and hiding in the hills to
waylay travelers and rob them or keep them for a ransom.
Brioandaee has for generations been the dominant industry in
CATHEDRAL OF PALERMO.
PALERMO. 20 _
the Sicilies. If I were to repeat all the stories of the banditti
I might tax your credulity. There is nothing that takes
romantic dimensions so rapidly as stories of crime and adven-
ture. But one of the gentlemen who called on General Grant
yesterday is an English banker resident. A few months ago he
went out of town with his brother to visit some mining property
in which he was interested. When he reached the station, and
was quietly walking through the town, two horsemen galloped
up, leading a riderless horse. They had carbines over their
shoulders. They stopped the banker and bade him mount.
He objected, and appealed to some fellow passengers for pro-
tection. They shrugged their shoulders, and told him that
God's will had to be done, and he had better mount; these
armed men were Leoni, the terrible brigand, and a lieutenant
who would murder any who interfered with him. So the banker
was mounted and carried into the hills. He lived in a cave and
was arrayed in brigand's costume. A messenger was sent to
his family saying that unless sixty thousand francs were paid
within a certain time the banker would be slain. The money
was paid, one half by the Government, the other by the family,
and the banker came home after three weeks' life in the hills.
All this happened within a few months, and the victim is as
well known in Palermo as Mr. Belmont in New York. The
capture was arranged on careful business principles. The
bandit bribed a servant of the banker to inform him of his
master's movements, and took his measures accordingly.
I allude to brigandage as a dominant industry. But it is
due to the Italian Government to say that the authorities have
done all in their power to suppress it. This brings me to
another point — the manifest and gratifying advance that has
been made in Sicily since the union of the Italian nation under
Victor Emmanuel. I have no doubt that there are many things
about such a reign as that of the Bourbons to be regretted,
especially by a society like that of Palermo. In the Bourbon
days kings came here and lived in the palaces. Now the pal-
aces are deserted. Occasionally a prince comes and there is a
ripple of life, but as a general thing Palermo is no longer a
20 6 THE MEDITERRANEAN.
royal, courtly town. I visited one or two of the houses of the
king- — houses which are untenanted unless by the royal ser-
vants. There was the chateau of La Favorita, for instance.
We reached it by a long drive through the environs of the city,
under range of Monte Pellegrino. This range is one of the
attractions of the city. It is a gray limestone of early forma-
tion, which Goethe found " indescribably beautiful." To my
mind it resembles the Palisades, opposite Yonkers, although
there is more beauty, more grandeur in our brown Hudson hills.
It was to a cavern here that St. Rosalia retired to live out her
brief and holy life, and pilgrims go to the shrine where her
statue lies carved in marble and covered with bridal robes. We
drive along the base of the hills through avenues of orange and
olive trees until we come to the chateau. Two or three liveried
servants awaited us. The gates were closed. The avenues
were untidy. There was no sign of life in the house, and yet
the site was one of rare natural beauty. It was the work of
Ferdinand IV., a mighty sovereign, who now rests with God.
Ferdinand governed for as many years as George III. He
was driven out by the French and brought back by the English,
and after receiving from Murat many attentions when Murat
was king, afterward shot the French hero as a revolutionist.
Ferdinand belonged to the driftwood period of European poli-
tics, and had an uneasy time of it until Waterloo secured the
tenure of every despotism in Europe. This chateau is one of
his works. It is a Chinese building, with rooms in various
styles of decoration — Turkish, Pompeiian, and Chinese. The
view from the observatory, the bit of sea on the left sweeping
through the hills, the majestic range of limestone in front, to
the right the city, with shipping in the harbor and the sea
beyond, embowered in groves of roses and oranges and lemons
and olives, made the spot one of the most attractive I have
ever seen. Yet it is abandoned to a few servants. No royal
persons come here. The grounds are closed, except to those
who can obtain permission. I noticed this spirit of exclusion
in other royal habitations, and it led to the wish that some
radical parliament would throw open the royal reservations to
PALERMO.
207
the people whose money made them what they are and for
Avhose pleasure they should be preserved.
Yet the day of awakening has come even to this Bourbon
nest of Sicily. It is seventeen years since Garibaldi began here
the mad errand which was to go into history as one of the most
glorious of heroic deeds, for it was from Palermo that he
marched with a handful of soldiers and overthrew the Bour-
bons. Behind that handful of men was the spirit of Italian
THE MADONNA, 1'ALEK.M
unity, which seemed to break out with all the force and fire and
splendor of her volcanoes. In that time great changes have
come over Sicily. I was told that for twenty-five years before
the union of the kingdoms not a house had been built in Paler-
mo. Now a mole has been thrown out into the bay. Walls
and walks encompass the sea. Fine avenues have been laid
out; and it was a gratification to an American and a sign of the
new days that have come to pass to see that one of these ave-
nues bore the venerated name of Lincoln. There are besrsfars
enough, as General Grant and his friends could testify, but the
authorities are pursuing and repressing beggary. The brigands
20 8 THE MEDITERRANEAN.
still infest the hills, but they are severely handled when caught,
and the regular troops are fast making brigandage a crime and
no longer a form of political action. Much, very much remains
to be done in Sicily, and every step showed us matters for re-
gret and amendment. We tried to speculate upon what a firm,
gifted Englishman or American would do with this island. But
when we remembered what Sicily had been ; that under the
reign of the Bourbons the feudal spirit survived ; that the
Church has held it in the darkest tyranny ; that for ages no light
has fallen upon its people ; that they have been trained and
coaxed and driven into the deepest superstition and ignorance ;
when we remembered this we forgave Sicily even her bandits
and her beggars, and rejoiced with her sons in the coming of
the glorious day of freedom and light — recalling as we did the
eloquent lament of Byron over Italy of the Bourbon days :
" Italia ! O Italia ! thou who hast
The fatal gift of beauty, which became
A funeral dower of present woes and past,
On thy sweet brow is sorrow plowed by shame,
And annals graved in characters of flame."
It was not without a regret that we saw the anchors slowly
release themselves from their oozy bed and the good ship swing
from her moorings. The day was far spent, and the sun was
throwing the mountain of Hamilcar in long trailing shadows
over the bay of the beautiful Palermo. Beautiful Palermo —
beautiful despite the dust and grime, the poverty and idleness,
the weakness and crime of her people. Something, perhaps it
was those Christmas bells, had won us to the place. Or per-
haps it was the four American flags shining in the sunshine.
Or perhaps it was the orange groves. Or perhaps it was the
mountain which recalled the Palisades on the Hudson. Or
perhaps it was the romantic thought that in those hills and
caverns banditti were in wait who would have welcomed any
one of our party, more especially our silent captain, as a lucra-
tive prize. Or perhaps we were thinking of Paul and his jour-
neyings to Rome, and the fact that the seas we were about to
dare were the seas which had tossed the apostle about for so
PALERMO.
209
many days. Or perhaps it was memories of the Odyssey and the
wanderings of Ulysses, and the knowledge that we were soon
to skirt the shores of the ^Eolian Islands, and to pass between
Scylla and Charybdis. I cannot tell you what spell it was that
gave Palermo its beauty. But we sat on the quarter deck and
talked of these things — the romance, and the history, and the
poetry of the place — while every moment it was fading from
sight. Our wandering Ulysses, in the silent comfort of an
ISLAND OF STKOMBOL1
afternoon cigar, had many warnings of the sirens. Our Pene-
lope was congratulating herself that she was daring the sea with
her lord, and not at home awaiting his coming. We read how
Paul went to Malta, and how Ulysses went on his travels. We
dug out of books the legends, and sat on the deck weaving the
memories of the place into a garland, like idle people as we
were, weaving- flowers — in a wood. Beautiful Palermo faded
into a deeper mist, and still out of the mist came those Christ-
mas bells whose peals had been so much of a comfort. I sup-
pose, after all, it was these Christmas bells that gave Palermo
its beauty. Every peal awoke an echo in our hearts, and every
echo had a memory of home. We were far off on Mediter-
2io J HE MEDITERRANEAN.
ranean seas. We were in the lands of chivalry and fable. But
our thoughts were in dear, far America, and some of us talked
of children, and some of us of friends, and however the talk
might drift into classic or scriptural ground, it always came
back to home. The Christmas bells were pealing cheerily, tell-
ing that all Palermo was in a holiday mood. The shadows
grew longer and longer. The hills faded into clouds. Our city
became a line on the horizon. The breeze caught our boat, and
with steam and wind we plowed through the waves. The
shadows came — they always come, even in the Mediterranean.
And as we stood and looked at the passing day the sunshine,
wreathed in clouds, fell upon Palermo and lighted its domes
and housetops, bathing them with glory.
So Palermo faded from us, and we took our leave of it as
the night came, and we sped on into the whispering sea. But
with night came more clouds and wind, and after we had supped
the sea arose and we had a gale and rain. It would have been
a trifle in the Atlantic, but we were bent on pleasure, and it was
not pleasant to think of the mists and storms in the country of
the Odyssey. I arose early in the morning to see Stromboli.
This island has an obliging volcano, which never pauses in its
entertainment. But when we came to Stromboli, although we
were near enough to be under its shadow, there was only the
rain. Captain Robeson pointed it out to me and I fancied I
saw it, but I am afraid it was only a cloud. If there was any
danger of the sirens enchanting our Ulysses the weather saved
him. All we saw of the islands was a mass in the mist. The
night became angry and the day brought a heavy sea, and
I could well understand the anxious look of the captain when,
about six in the morning, he came out of his cabin in his oil-
cloth coat and glass in hand. We were driving rapidly upon
the Calabrian coasts, and there was a rock he desired to see.
The rock had its place on the chart as the signpost showing the
way into the Straits of Messina. But it had a far more impor-
tant place in our imagination, for it was the rock of Scylla, and
the straits into which we were entering were the straits tor-
mented by the whirlpool of Charybdis.
STRAITS OF MESSINA.
21 I
We passed the rock of Scylla about eight in the morning.
It was an ordinary rock, not very large or imposing. As for
Charybdis, if such a whirlpool existed, its turmoil is over, for
we plowed through the waves undisturbed by its emotions.
"This part of our trip was through the Straits of Messina. The
straits are narrow, not much wider than the Hudson opposite
New York, and as we sailed through we had a fine view of one
of the most beautiful prospects in Europe. On one side was
Sicily, on the other Calabria. We passed Messina — now a city
of 70,000 people — her domes white and shining in the sunshine.
Messina has suffered from conquerors since the days of Hanni-
bal, from the plague, and from earthquakes. It was early in 1 783
that the earthquake threw down the transept of her cathedral.
Passing Messina we next saw on the Italian coast the town of
Reggio, now a flourishing settlement of 16,000 souls. Reggio
has had its own troubles with earthquakes, and in 1783 was al-
most destroyed. It was here that Garibaldi landed when he
crossed from Sicily. It was also in the hills behind Reggio —
212 THE MEDITERRANEAN.
those dark brown hills that we see so clearly in the morning
sun — that he made his fatal fight of Aspromonte, and was
wounded and taken prisoner by Pallavicini in 1862, the same
General Pallavicini who was so polite to General Grant the
other day in Naples, when he marched his troops in review
before us. Reggio, however, has a deeper interest to us than
even attaches to the fame and fortunes of the illustrious Gari-
baldi. It is the Rhegium of the New Testament. "And land-
ing at Syracuse," saith the gospel, " we tarried there three
days. And from thence we fetched a compass and came to
Rhegium." Passing Reggio we soon saw on our right the ma-
jestic mountain of Etna. All day it remained with us — the
snow covering its summit — thirty miles away, but so vast and
high that it seemed only a mile or two. Etna is a quiet vol-
cano, or at least we could see nothing but a cloudless sky above
it. It looks more like a tableland than a mountain. This is
because of its size. The mountain is ten thousand eight hun-
dred and seventy feet high, but the crater is a chasm two or
three miles wide, and the circumference of its base is more than
a hundred miles. It is not an unreasonable volcano as volca-
noes go, not breaking forth more than once every ten years.
The last demonstration was in August, 1874. When the sun
went down Etna was still watching us. The sea was high, and
our course was directly south to the famous island of Malta.
We arrived at Malta about one in the afternoon of the 28th
of December. The gale continued to be severe. We thought
of the ancient times when Paul was thrown on the island.
You will find the story in the last chapters of the Acts of the
Apostles — how Paul was fourteen days driven up and down in
Adria ; how the apostle bade the centurion and soldiers be of
good cheer and stand by the ship ; how the angel of God ap-
peared to Paul, and told him to have no fear ; how the ship,
with its two hundred and seventy-six souls, was cast on the
rocks ; how they came to a place where two seas met, and
•' when they were escaped, then they knew the island was
called Melita." You will remember, also, they were a barba-
rous people, who were kind, and kindled a fire, and how the
MALTA. 2I ,
viper came out of the fire and hung upon Paul's hand. You
will remember, also, that Paul shook off the viper, which is a wise
thing to do with venomous beasts, and that the people were
amazed because Paul did not swell and fall dead, and " said he
was a god," and treated him courteously and honored him with
many honors, and on his departure laded him with such things
as were necessary.
If there were no other historical attraction in Malta but
what is thus written in the New Testament it would be well
worth a visit. But Malta, now one of the strongholds of the
British Empire, one of the citadels on her Indian highway, has
had more than her share of the mutations of human fortune.
It is supposed to have been the island of Ogygia, where Homer
gave a home to Calypso. It fell in the hard hands of the
Carthaginians. Then the Romans came and threw it into their
empire. Then came the Vandals, the Goths, and the Arabs in
fierce succession. Afterward came the unique dominion of the
214 THE MEDITERR ANEAN.
Knights of St. John, who came from Rhodes when the Turks
pulled down the cross. In 1800, Napoleon, then on his way to
Egypt, took the island; but in 1802 it came into the hands of
the English, who have made it as strong as Gibraltar ; strong
enough to be regarded as impregnable.
We had made fast to our anchorage and had fired the salute
of twenty-one guns, by which a vessel of war does honor to a
foreign port, when an officer reported to General Grant that
the Duke of Edinburgh was coming on board. The ship next
to the " Vandalia" was the " Sultan," a noble English ironclad,
under the command of his royal highness. The General
was standing on the deck, studying the town, when the captain's
boat of the " Sultan," with the duke steering, whirled around
the stern. His royal highness was received at the gangway
by Captain Robeson. He was dressed in his uniform as cap-
tain, wearing on his breast the star of the Garter. The Gene-
ral advanced and greeted the duke and presented the gentle-
men with him, and they retired to the cabin. They remained
in conversation for the best part of an hour, talking about
Malta, its antiquities, its history, England, education, the East-
ern question, the weather, and Besika Bay. His royal high-
ness said he had orders to sail, and supposed his destination was
Smyrna. He had had his time at Besika Bay, and did not re-
gard the return with any enthusiasm. He spoke of the visit of
his brother-in-law, the Grand Duke Alexis, to America, and of
the gratification of the family at the reception by our people.
The duke is the pattern of a sailor, and has all the ease and
off-hand grace of his family. On taking his leave his royal
highness asked the General and family to visit him at his palace
of San Antonio and take luncheon. The palace of San An-
tonio is about four miles from the town. It is surrounded by
orange groves and walls, and is noted as the only large garden
on the island. The drive was through an interesting, glaring
country, the perpetual glare almost dimming our eyes. When
we reached the palace the duke and duchess received the
General and party. After luncheon his royal highness es-
corted them through the orange groves. At noon General
MALTA.
215
Grant visited the Governor General of Malta. On leaving, the
General was saluted with twenty-one guns. A regiment was
drawn up in front of the palace as a guard of honor. The
governor, a famous old English general, Van Straubeuzee,
wore the order of the Grand Cross of the Bath. He received
the General and party at the door of the palace, surrounded by
his council and a group of Maltese noblemen. After presen-
tation to Lady Van Straubeuzee the same ceremonies were
repeated. In the evening there was a state dinner to the
General and party at the palace, including among the guests
Commander Robeson and Lieutenant-Commander Caldwell,
of the " Vandalia," as well as the captain and executive officer
of the " Gettysburg." At the dinner General Grant's health
was proposed, which was responded to in the heartiest manner.
We all then went to the opera, and on the entrance of the
General the company sang the " Star-spangled Banner," Miss
Wheelock of Boston singing the air. The cheering was en-
2 J 6 THE MEDITERRANEAN.
thusiastic, and the reception of the General cordial in the last
degree.
There were many temptations to remain in Malta. Hos-
pitalities showered upon us. All the great ones of the place,
beginning with his royal highness the Duke of Edinburgh, vied
with one another in making our visit a pleasant one. I think
if our mail had been ordered to Malta instead of Alexandria,
we should have remained anyhow. At the last moment there
was a disposition to stay, but the General had taken his leave
and sent his cards, and he is not apt to change his mind. In the
morning of the last day of the year he pushed ashore and
roamed about an hour or two through the quaint streets of
the strange old town. I have called the town Malta, but it
is really named Valetta, after John de la Valette, who was
Grand Master of the Order of St. John, and built the town in
the middle part of the sixteenth century. The knights held
Malta for nearly two hundred and fifty years, and remained
until the French and then the English drove them out. The
people have a peculiar dialect, based on the Arabic, with
plenty of Italian, French, and English thrown in. The pre-
vailing industry seems to be following officers and strangers
around all day and begging. The town has many beautiful
views, and I could see very easily how life might be tolerated
here for the warm, genial air. It was the last day of the year
when we pushed out into the bay and turned our prow toward
the Mediterranean. There was quite a group of officers on
deck surrounding the General and his party. As we neared
the " Sultan " the band played our national airs, winding up
with " Auld Lang Syne." We exchanged greetings with them,
and with our compatriots of the "Gettysburg," who had ga-
thered on the quarterdeck to say good-by. So our last remem-
brance of Malta is the music that came from the " Sultan,"
the hurra that came from the " Gettysburg," and the lower-
ing of one solitary flag, far up the cliff, which indicated that
our consular agent was on the watch and was bidding us good
speed.
I am writing these lines while our ship is speeding through
M. 1L TA.
217
the Mediterranean, in the region where St. Paul found the wind
called Euroclydon. We left Malta in a soft summer breeze,
and in the night the winds came, and this morning the sea is
high and sweeps over bows, and the rain falls and oozes into
your cot. As stumbling
about a slippery deck is
not the most entertaining
proceeding to one whose
life has been mainly spent
on land, I came down stairs
and sat down to write. It
occurred to me that folks
at home would like to have
a sketch of our life at sea,
how we live and what we
do when we are under sail.
Our company is com-
posed of General Grant,
his wife, his son Jesse R.
Grant, a maid, and a courier,
Mr. Hartog, who has been
with the General on his
journey. The General oc-
cupies the cabin, which he
shares with the captain. It is a commodious cabin, prettily
decorated, with the exception of one appalling print of Wel-
lington and Blucher meeting at Waterloo. This print rather
overwhelms the cabin, and I can imagine nothing more con-
ducive to sea-sickness than a calm study of this bewildering
work of art. The General has a commodious little room in
the bow of the ship ; his son lies in a swinging cot and takes
his rest like the clock pendulum. The steady routine goes
on around us. On a man-of-war, life moves to the beat of the
drum. The hours, the watches, the calls, the drill, the dis-
cipline, the ceremony — the sense of command and the sense
of obedience — all this is so new to us that it becomes interest-
ing. Life on board of a man-of-war is like being a cog in a
STREET IN MALTA.
2i8 THE MEDITERRANEAN.
wheel — you go around and around and cannot help yourself.
You rise by the beat of the drum ; the drum beats when you
go to sleep. Its alarm summons you to dinner. Everything
is strict, steady, precise. Here is a company of young gentle-
men — and, as far as one can know, gifted and accomplished
gentlemen — who give up home, and a career at home, to live
for years and years in a space about as large as a New York
drawing room. Their whole life changes. They merge their
individuality in a code of regulations. They listen for the drum
tap that may call them at any moment — at midnight to fight the
storm, at daybreak to fight an armed foe. Home and friends
are given up, and a new life — an artificial life — is accepted. I
can think of nothing more attractive than such a life in the be-
ginning, when faces are new, and one feels the sea breeze fresh-
ening his brow. But after six months, after a year or two —
how wearisome it must be ! Yet here are gentlemen who are
now in the second year of their cruise, and one sees no signs of
strife or chafing. I suppose such things do exist, and that there
are skeletons in the staterooms which stranger eyes cannot see ;
but I have not seen them, or any token of their existence. I
should not ask better comrades in time of peace, or better de-
fenders in time of war, than my good friends of the " Vandalia"
mess.
Our General fell into his sea life quite readily. He seemed
to welcome the sea with the rapture of a boy going home for a
holiday. He is not an early riser, but keeps up the American
custom of a breakfast at ten. After breakfast he takes up a
newspaper, if he can find one, and a cigar. My friend Mark
Twain will be glad to know that the General read with
delight and appreciation his " Innocents Abroad." In Naples
one of us discovered an English version of the " Nasby Papers,"
which was a boon. About noon, if the weather is calm, the
General comes on deck, and converses or studies the sea and
the scenery. Dinner comes at six o'clock, and after dinner
there is talk. When the General is in the mood, or when some
subject arises which interests him, he is not only a good, but a
remarkably good talker. His manner is clear and terse. He
AT SEA.
2IO
narrates a story as clearly as he would demonstrate a problem
in geometry. His mind is accurate and perspicacious. He
has no resentments, and this was a surprising feature, remem-
bering the battles, civil and military, in which he has been en-
gaged. I have heard him refer to most of the men, civil and
military, who have flourished with him, and there is only one
about whom I have seen him show feeling. But it was feeling
like that of the farmer in the school-book who saw the viper
MEETING WITH THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH.
which he had warmed to life about to sting him. I had known
General Grant fairly well before I became the companion of his
travels, and had formed my own opinion of his services and
character. A closer relation strengthens that opinion. The
impression that the General makes upon you is that he has im-
mense resources in reserve. He has in eminent degree that
"two o'clock in the morning courage" which Napoleon said he
alone possessed among his marshals and generals. You are
also impressed with his good feeling and magnanimity in speak-
ing of comrades and rivals in the war. In some cases — espe-
cially in the cases of Sherman and Sheridan, MacPherson and
2 20 ™E MEDITERRANEAN.
Lincoln — it becomes an enthusiasm quite beautiful to witness.
Cadet days are a favorite theme of conversation, and after cadet
life the events of the war.
Among our company is a gentleman who attends the Gene-
ral as a courier or secretary in foreign tongues. I call our
friend " secretary " because the title is the one of his own
choosing. His name is Jacques Hartog, native of Holland,
educated in Paris, and citizen of the world. We call him the
" Marquis." The title expresses Mr. Hartog's address and
accomplishments, and I am proud to publish the renown that
the "Vandalia" mess has conferred upon him. He has an
aristocratic air, and it is almost like a breeze from land — a
breeze from the Sicilian shores laden with the odor of the
orange blossoms — to see the Marquis come to breakfast in the
wardroom, with the sea rolling heavily, having passed a bad
night. We are all fuzzy and ragged ; we have taken refuge in
flannels and old clothes ; we have that uneasy feeling which
verges on illness. The Marquis comes with the manner of a
lord of the antechamber in the days of Louis Ouatorze. Every
hair is in its place, the curl is posed on the brow, the face is clean
as a parchment, the full brown mustache has the faintest suspicion
of brillantine, the scarf-pin is adjusted. There is not a crease in
his garments. If the Marquis were a good sailor there would be
no special merit in this, but our noble friend is a bad sailor and
hates the sea, every motion of the ship being a misery to him.
For a nobleman in the agonies of sea-sickness, of a constant sea-
sickness, to array himself as though he were about to prome-
nade the Champs Elysees, shows a power of self-control which is
worthy of admiration. The Marquis wants to know the Ameri-
can people, and this trip he proposes to make the glory of his
career. Although General Grant pays him liberally, no pay
could induce him to travel on board a man-of-war. To have been
the courier or secretary of General Grant will be a title of dis-
tinction in his profession. Consequently, he takes pride in his
office, and especially in fighting the General's battles with
hotel-keepers, hackmen, and beggars. Partly because of his
renown, and partly because he will not allow a feather of the
THE MARQUIS.
221
General to be plucked, he has aroused enmity in his profession.
Other couriers, jealous of him, write anonymous letters, saying
he is a scoundrel, and threatening to expose him. These com-
munications he reads with unruffled composure, and lays them
before his master,
who disdains them
and treats the Mar-
quis with unabated
confidence. T h e
Marquis does not
express positive
opinions on many
subjects, cultivation
and travel having
hardened his mind.
His intellect swings
from point to point,
ISLAND OF CAPRI.
like my swinging cot, into which I mount with so much care for
fear of vaulting out on the other side. But about hotel-keep-
ers and couriers, as a class, he has pronounced opinions. A
hotel-keeper is very good so long as you keep him well in
hand and show him you know his character and resources.
But once give way, and he will overwhelm you with charges for
soap and candles and extras. As for couriers, the Marquis
thinks badly of them as a class. " My aim," he said, " has
222 THE MEDITERRANEAN.
been to elevate my calling to the dignity of a profession. But
your other courier, why, all he wants is a commission and to
make money. Now I like to make money, of course, but I
want to make reputation first." Two other subjects upon which
the Marquis has pronounced opinions are sea travel and the
fickleness and inconstancy of woman. If he had his way he
would either make the ship go forty-five knots an hour and burn
more coal or run her ashore. As for woman, he shares opinions
like those of Rochefoucauld and Voltaire and Lord Byron. I
observe, however, that the fair sex always suffer from the obser-
vations of gentlemen of rank who see much of the world. You
will know from this that our noble friend is unmarried. I
advised him in one of our conversations to form an alliance with
some of our ladies of great fortune ; but he does not have an
exalted opinion of American ladies, as seen in Paris, and would
require a large sum of money before he offered his hand and
his title. Another subject which interests him is the political
future of General Grant. He believes the American people
should elect the General to the Presidency, and that they should
do it next year. I explained to him that it would be diffi-
cult, very difficult, for us to have a canvass for the Presidency
next year, or indeed before 1880. The Marquis would readily
come to the United States in the event of the General's elec-
tion, and I gave him all the information in my power as to the
law and mode of naturalization. His immediate purpose is to
write a guide-book for European travel. In this book he will
recommend only such hotels as General Grant has patronized.
So great is the esteem in which the General is held by all Eng-
lish and American travelers that they will rush to the General's
hotels and avoid all others. I suggested that this would be de-
structive of the other houses, but the Marquis answered that his
aim was to destroy the other houses. He proposed dealing
with them as Napoleon did with the Republic of Venice and
the minor States of Italy. His guide-book will have ample
space for advertisements, which he will insert at reasonable
rates, and on the proceeds of this work — to be called " Hartog's
Guide" — and upon his fame as General Grant's secretary, the
THE MARQUIS. ,_,
--J
Marquis will retire to his home in Paris, and there spend the
remainder of his days in glory — in envied glory and content — ■
unless political events should summon him to the United States.
These are the views of the Marquis, expressed at various times
on our trip. This dream of glory came to me vividly as I was
passing through the steerage only a few moments ago. It was
early in the afternoon and the sea was high. There, on the
floor of the deck, with his greatcoat around him — there, pale
SICKNFJ^S OF THE MARQUIS.
and ghastly, was my noble friend. Some of the midshipmen
had been trying to console him with suggestions of beans and
pork and molasses. Others had been telling him of fearful
storms in the air coming from the coast of Africa. My noble
friend had surrendered, and there, huddled up against the walls
of the engine room, he lay in pain and grief and illness. "And
this," I said as I climbed up the stairway to the deck, not quite
sure whether I would keep my feet — " And this is only another
instance of what men will do for glory." For glory my noble
friend leaves Paris, the boulevards, the opera bouffe, his even-
ing stroll and his cigar, his petit souper at Velour's, his bat
224
THE MEDITERRANEAN.
masque, and all the joys of French life, and tumbles about on
this cold and cruel sea. All for the glory of being the secretary
of General Grant, who, by the way, was quietly walking up and
down the quarterdeck in a greatcoat, smoking his after-break-
fast cigar, caring nothing for the sea and the storm.
An English nobleman is reported to have said that a man
who would say he liked dry champagne would say anything. I
thought to-night, as I felt my way along the deck from the
General's cabin, that a man who would say he liked the sea
would say anything. The night was cold. The rain was fall-
ing and bubbling about in pools. The wind was ahead, and the
good old ship every moment wriggled and trembled as she
thrust her head in the sea. Officers in weird costumes of oil-
cloth and gutta-percha were moving about, looking at the sky
and the rigging, and the barometer and the canvas. Hadden
was walking the bridge with his trumpet, like an uneasy spirit,
staring into the night. There was the night before us, around
us, beneath us — not a star in the sky, only heavy, angry clouds.
Every now and then the sea came with a tug and whirl, and
sometimes forced its way over the bow. Far up on the yards
were the lights to warn other ships of our coming. There,
perched in the rigging, was a dripping Jack Tar, staring into
the nieht. Now and then a call is heard — a call in some dialect
unknown to me, which is answered from the bridge. But on
the forecastle one of my fair, peach-faced young friends in the
steerage, a midshipman, keeps his dripping watch, staring into
the night. On the quarterdeck my old friend the quarter-
master, with his gray head and grave face, holds watch and
ward, staring into the night. Somehow I have great confidence
in the quartermaster, and feel safe when I see him on deck.
There is something so respectable and fatherly about this quar-
termaster that you instinctively depend upon him in a storm.
In the wardroom some of the officers are writing, others are
trying to read. As we come from the deck there is a run of
comments and criticisms in that fresh Saxon sailor method of
speech which breathes of the sea. The night is very dark, re-
lieved only by the phosphorescent flashes of the waves and a
THE STORM. 2 2K
burst of lightning which illumines the horizon toward Sicily
and Crete. The captain comes out and looks into the night,
and visits the chart room and the binnacle, and goes up to the
bridge to talk with Hadden and stare into the night. 1 suppose
the oracle has given him some response, for he returns to the
cabin. The General is cheerful over his zeal and success as a
sailor, and is disposed to vaunt his seamanship when one of us
proposes to go to bed to prevent further uneasiness. The lady
of our ship has been unable to leave her cabin on account of
the storm, although all reports concur in saying that she proves
to be an admirable sailor. The captain overrules one of her
suggestions — that we should come to an anchor — by the state-
ment that it would do no good ; and the General vetoes another
suggestion — that we should return to Malta — by the argument
that we are as near to Alexandria as to Malta, and nothing
would be gained by returning. The good ship strains and
twists and keeps on in her course.
The chief engineer, who is an amiable man and never com-
plains, now finds fault with the water for coming into the cabin.
You see it has been coming in for an hour, and when the boys
have finished swabbing I suppose it will come in again. I repeat
that a man who would say he liked the sea would say any-
thing. I am looking at my cot, which swings over my head as I
write. I wonder if I am really going to climb into it to-night with-
out coming out on the other side, and in among the pitchers
and charts in Lieutenant Strong's room. I wonder if the rain
will come through the blankets as it did last night. I wonder if
the cot in the midnight watches will begin a series of battering-
ram assaults on the dining table, as it did the night before, as-
saults which were only terminated by the engineering skill of
Mr. Dannenhower. Well, we might as well be cheerful about
it. I try and find a light side to it, although Mr. Caldwell
makes the profound observation that nothing could be worse
than a ship when it rains. Caldwell as an executive officer is
in an exceedingly cheerful mood to-night, arising from the fact
that he has a good deal to do. Well, I would much rather
have him command the ship than myself, my disposition being
226 THE MEDITERRANEAN.
to vote for Mrs. Grant's proposition to bring the ship to anchor.
But since I am not in command, and since the ship will go on
like a fate, right on to the shores of Phoenicia, I try and kill an
hour by writing this paragraph and giving you a sketch of one
of our evenings at sea.
I suppose there must be a fascination in this life if we could
see it. I still think, to repeat, that a man who would say he
liked the sea would say anything. In this opinion I am sus-
tained by my noble friend the Marquis. That gentleman in-
formed us all this evening that the English were all fools (fools
emphatically expressed) for keeping yachts, and that if he had
a million dollars a year he would never keep a yacht. But my
noble friend was in deep depression of spirits at the time. He
had been lying all the afternoon in a corner on the lower deck,
near the engine, disturbed by the noises of the machinery and
the smell of the oil. He had tried to dine, and no one knows
better the philosophy of dinner, but he retreated with the soup.
A man — even a man with the naturally broad and generous
mind of the Marquis — would be apt to take a dismal view of
yachting. If I were sure there was no rain in my cot I might
find reasons for owning a yacht. But rain in one's cot, and an
unruly sea outside, and water oozing along the cabin floors,
and a general feeling of inexpressible discomfort, the feeling
that you know where you are now, but you are not sure about
the minute after next, these are incidents tending to dampen
the enthusiasm of any man — of any man in this ship, unless
it is Caldwell, who, as I remarked, has never been so happy and
cheerful as since the storm came. I knew when he came down
stairs five minutes ago, all wreathed in smiles, that the barome-
ter was going down, and that his heart was leaping with the
thought that he might be on the bridge all night battling with
the winds. But there's where we differ, and why, among other
things, the Providence who ordained our fate made it his duty
to be the executive officer of the " Vandalia " and mine to write.
If I must go to sea I want a calm sea. I never saw one too
calm for my nerves, not even on the Delaware and Raritan
Canal. I like sunshine, and when I was in Naples found rea-
THE STORM. 22 y
sons for envying the poor ragged beggars who had gorged
themselves with macaroni and were sleeping in the sun. 1
like to sleep in a bed which does not swing like a pendulum and
into which the rain does not fall. I like a hansom cab. I felt
like saying to General Grant the other evening when he was
talking about some of his generals, that if I could only com-
mand an army in a hansom cab I would do wonders. I do not
like rain or cold, or tumbling seas. One of the reasons which
made me welcome this trip was the certainty that I would pass
mm
m
STREET OF MOHAMMED ALT, ALEXANDRIA.
from the fogs of London into the enrapturing sunshine of
France and Italy. Well, I have not found the sunshine yet, as
I said to myself in an ironical mood, when I found myself row-
ing ashore in tropical Malta wearing a heavy English ulster. I
wonder if I will find it in Egypt, toward which we are driving,
driving, driving through the cold, unrelenting rain.
I am afraid I shall do the Mediterranean an injustice if I
leave the impression that it is always an ugly sea. When I
wrote the last paragraph I had just come in from the rain. But
this morning the rain has gone and our sea is as gentle as a
millpond, and we begin to rejoice in sun and cloudless skies.
The old ship brightens up like a spring morning, and the deck
22 8 THE MEDITERRANEAN.
swarms with sailors putting everything in order. Give me a
man-of-war for putting things in order. There is no end to the
washing, the scrubbing, the cleaning of brass. In a short time
the traces of the storm are removed and we have quarters.
The marine guard comes to its post — every man as fresh as a
new pin — and as Captain Fagan carefully inspects the line, our
General notes that the line is well kept and the men in good
discipline. The sailors at their guns, the engineers at their
quarters, every man at his post, the inspection goes on, and re-
ports are made. One or two poor fellows who jumped over
and swam ashore in Malta, and were taken, are now " in the
brig," and the lady of our ship has been using her influence to
have their punishment lessened — it being the holiday season,
and so on. I do not like to ask whether she has succeeded or
not, for, as you will see, it is really none of my business. But
I have great confidence in the persuasive powers of Mrs. Grant,
and I only allude to this incident because it gives me an excuse
for referring to her generous and thoughtful character, to that
never-failing kindness and amiability which go so far to enhance
the pleasure of our trip. As you stand on the quarterdeck and
see the well-ordered movements of the ship ; the men in uni-
form going from place to place ; the calls, the commands ; the
great menacing guns crouching under the ports ; as you watch
the always changing novelty of a man-of-war's duties, and feel the
soft, warm airs coming over the calmest of summer seas, you
be^in to feel that there is some attraction in a sailor's career.
You see we are all on a sharp lookout this morning, for Strong
has just been to the chart room, and announced that land may
be seen at any time. Strong is the navigating officer, and I
sometimes fear he has sold himself to the common enemy of
mankind, or how else could he prophesy to the minute when
we shall see certain rocks and lights? Why should he sit up all
hours of the night figuring, figuring huge columns of figures,
unless — well, I will not venture my suspicions. He has told us
this morning that we may see land at any moment, and we all
believe in Strong, and look steadily at the horizon, now fringed
with a shining mist. How glorious is the sea in repose ! Under
ALEXANDRIA. 22 o
the forecastle is a group of young officers, and we hear sounds
of laughter. The Marquis is out in full force, and is entertain-
ing our friends with anecdotes of high life in Paris and render-
ings, recitative and musical, from the operas of M. Offenbach.
The fringe of shining mist assumes a form — a low, white beach;
and, as we look closer, tapering lines and towers. We know,
then, that the coast before us is really Egypt — the land of imagi-
nation and fable — and that these tapering lines and towers are
the minarets of Islam. It is not long before we come inside
the port of Alexandria, and before our engines are stopped we
hear the cheers from the ships and the Egyptian bands playing
American national airs. These dear old strains were the last
we heard at Malta and the first we hear at the Nile. You see
the protecting telegraph has hovered over us, and friends knew
of our coming ; and before these pages reach the shore they
must pass through the smoke of the cannon now about to thun-
der Egypt's welcome to General Grant.
CHAPTER VIII.
EGYPT AND THE NILE.
'E arrived in Alexandria January 5th, 1878, coming
only because we wanted an anchorage, our point be-
ing Cairo and the Nile. We remained there three
days. Our reception was cordial. The "Vanda-
lia" had hardly anchored when the governor of the district, the
admiral and the generals, pachas and beys, the Consul General,
Mr. Farman; the Vice Consul, Mr. Salvago ; Judges Barringer
and Morgan, and the missionaries, all came on board. The re-
ceptions lasted an hour, and as each officer was saluted accord-
ing to his rank and the salutes were returned, there was smoke
enough in the air for a naval engagement, and we could almost
fancy another battle of the Nile like that fought only a step or
230
ALEXANDRIA. , r
two up the coast one eventful day, nearly eighty years ago. The
governor, in the name of the Khedive, welcomed General
Grant to Egypt, and offered him a palace in Cairo and a special
steamer up the Nile. It is Oriental etiquette to return calls as
soon as possible, and accordingly in the afternoon the General,
accompanied by his son, Commander Robeson, Chief-Engineer
Trilley, and Lieutenant Handy, of the navy, landed in the offi-
cial barge. As this was an official visit, the " Vandalia " manned
the yards and fired twenty-one guns. These salutes were re-
sponded to by the Egyptian vessels. A guard of honor received
the General at the palace, and the reception was after the man-
ner of the Orientals. We enter a spacious chamber and are
seated on a cushioned seat or divan, accordine to rank. The
pacha — who has a Greek face, and I presume is a Greek — offers
the company cigarettes. Then compliments are exchanged, the
pacha saying how proud Egypt is to see the illustrious stranger,
and the General answering that he anticipates great pleasure
in visiting Egypt. The pacha gives a signal, and servants enter
bearing little porcelain cups about as large as an egg, in filagree
cases. This is the beverage — coffee — or, as was the case with
this special pacha, a hot drink spiced with cinnamon. Then the
conversation continues with judicious pauses, the Orientals being
slow in speech and our General not apt to diffuse his opinions.
In about five minutes we arise and file down stairs in slow, solemn
fashion, servants and guards saluting, and the visit is over.
The General and Mrs. Grant went to dine, and in the even-
ing we had a ball and a dinner at the house of our Vice Consul,
Mr. Salvage This was an exceedingly brilliant entertainment,
and interesting in one respect especially, because it was here that
the General met my renowned friend and colleague, Henry M.
Stanley, just fresh from the African wilderness. The General
had heard of Stanley being in town, and had charged me to seek
him out and ask him to come on board and dine. My letter
missed Stanley and we met at the consul's. Stanley sat on the
right of the General, and they had a long conversation upon
African matters and the practical results of the work done by
our intrepid friend. The consul general proposed the health
232
EGYPT AND THE NILE.
of General Grant, and Judge Barringer proposed that of Mrs.
Grant, who, by the way, was prevented by fatigue from coming.
Then a toast was proposed in honor of Stanley, who made a
grateful response, saying it was one of the proudest moments
in his life to find himself seated by our guest. Stanley looks
quite gray and somewhat thinner than when I saw him in New
York, just before his departure, three years ago. I gave him
all the news I could remem-
ber about friends in New
York and elsewhere. Next
morning Mr. Farman, our
Consul General, and myself
saw him on board the Brin-
disi steamer, which was to
carry him to Europe — to new
honors and the enjoyment of
a well-earned and enviable
renown. The entertainment
at Mr. Salvago's at an end,
we returned on board. The
next day was Sunday. The
General, accompanied by the
writer, landed, meaning to
stroll about the town. Walk-
ing is one of the General's
favorite occupations, and he never sees a town until he has
gone ashore and lost himself. His eye for topography is re-
markable ; but that is a military quality after all, and in Alex-
andria, one of the most huddled-up and bewildering towns, he
had a fine opportunity for the exercise of his skill. Then there
was an informal luncheon, as became the Sabbath, with Mr.
Gibbs, the director of the telegraph ; Commander Robeson and
Lieutenant-Commander Caldwell forming the other members
of the party. The event of Monday, January 7th, was that we
formed a group on the quarterdeck and had our photographs
taken, the General and family in the center, and around them
the wardroom, steerage, and warrant officers of the " Vandalia."
..^Lr^i
CAIRO. 2 ,.,
This event closed our life on the " Vandalia" for a month at
least. It was only au revoir and not good-by, but there was
just enough of the feeling of parting to give a tinge of sadness
to the mass of trunks and bundles which the sailors, under
the orders of the Marquis, were arranging on deck. We were
to do Cairo and the Nile, we were to be gone three weeks,
and we were to return. But the only one of the party who
really wanted to leave was our noble friend, the Marquis, whose
spirits have been steadily rising since he came to land and heard
the rumor of the Khedive's hospitality. As he takes command
of the baggage and directs the sailors in their handling- of it,
you see in his eye the enthusiasm of one born to command when
in his own element. When he pushes off in the tug, trailing the
luggage in a boat behind him, there is a disposition to fire a
salute, but the regulations are not elastic, and the Marquis with
his important command has only a silent adieu. We are not
long in following him. We have a special train at our com-
mand, and the captain and a group of the officers are going up
to attend the presentation to the Khedive. The governor of
the province, with his retinue, met the General, and at eleven
the train, a special one, started. Judge Barringer and wife
were of the company, and the run to Cairo was made in four
hours. The General studied the scenery closely, and noted the
resemblance in some portions to prairie land in Illinois. Mrs.
Grant was more impressed with the poetry of the scene — with
the biblical associations that cluster about this strange land.
The officers formed a merry company in their compartments,
while the Marquis was in an advanced section, holding guard
over a lunch basket. The Marquis is a great admirer of the
Khedive, and expresses himself earnestly in favor of a govern-
ment which welcomes its guests to a palace. He takes no in-
terest in the ruins, believing Cairo to be more interesting be-
cause of the cafes, which remind him of Paris, than the Pyramids,
which he regards as entirely useless. At three o'clock we come
to Cairo. There is a guard, a carpet way, and a group of of-
ficers and civilians. The General, looking at the group, recog-
nizes old friends. "Why," he says, "there's Loring, whom I
234
EGYPT A.XD THE NILE.
have not seen for thirty years ; " and " There's Stone, who must
have been dyeing his hair to make it so white." The cars stop
and General Stone enters, presenting the representative of the
Khedive. This officer extends the welcome of his highness,
which General Grant accepts with thanks. General Loring
comes in, and receives a hearty greeting from his old friend in
early days and his enemy during the war. General Stone and
General Grant were at West Point, and are old friends, and
their meeting is quite enthusiastic. The General asks General
Loring to ride with him, while General Stone accompanies
Mrs. Grant, and so we drive off to the Palace of Kassr-el-
Noussa — the palace placed at General Grant's disposal by
the Khedive. Commander Robeson and Lieutenant Rush ac-
cept the General's invitation to reside in the palace while they
are in Cairo, and the remainder of the party find homes in the
hotel.
The General dined quietly with his family, and next day
called on the Khedive. The hour fixed for the reception was
THE KHEDIVE.
'■35
eleven, and a few minutes before that hour the state carriages
called at the palace. The General wore plain evening dress,
and was accompanied by the following officers : Commander
H. B. Robeson, commanding the " Vandalia ; " Joseph Trilley,
chief engineer ; George H. Cooke, surgeon; Lieutenant E. T.
Strong, Lieutenant J. W. Miller, Paymaster J. P. Loomis ; G.
\Y. Baird, engineer ; H. L. Hoskinson, ensign ; B. F. Walling
and E. S. Hotchkin, midshipmen ; E. R. Ereeman, engineer.
Jesse R. Grant and Consul-General Farman accompanied the
General. We reached the palace shortly after eleven. There
was a guard of honor, and
the officers of the house-
hold were ranged on the
stairs. The General en-
tered and was met by his
highness the Khedive at
the foot of the stairs. The
General, his son, and Mr.
Farman went into an in-
ner room, where the cere-
monies of the formal pre-
sentation took place. The
officers then entered and
were received by his
highness, who expressed
his gratification at seeing
so many representatives
of the navy. This recep-
tion lasted about half an
hour, the Khedive show-
ing the General the pic-
tures on his walls painted
in commemoration of the opening of the Suez Canal. We then
returned to the palace. We had scarcely entered when the car-
riage of the Khedive was announced. The General received
the Khedive, who was accompanied by his secretary for foreign
affairs, and welcomed him in the grand saloon, where General
STREET IN CAIRO.
2 .j 5 EGYPT AND THE NILE.
Grant also received his highness. The officers of the " Vanda-
lia" were present, and their striking uniforms, the picturesque
costume of the Khedive and his attendants, and the splen-
did, stately decorations of the room in which they assembled
made the group imposing. In the course of this conversation
General Grant spoke of General Stone, now chief of staff to the
Khedive. He said he had known General Stone from boyhood,
and did not think he had his superior in our army ; that he was
a loyal and able man, and he was pleased to see him holding so
important a command. The Khedive said he was very much
pleased with General Stone, that he found him a most useful as
well as a most able man, especially fitted to organize troops,
and had made him a member of his privy council. At the
close of the interview General Grant escorted the Khedive to
his carriage. Official calls were then made upon the two sons
of the Khedive, who at once returned the calls, and so ended
our official duties.
Judge Batcheller, the American member of the International
Tribunal, gave General and Mrs. Grant a reception and a
dance, which was a most attractive affair. The Khedive in-
tended to give the General a dinner and reception, but the death
of the King of Italy threw his court into mourning, and this din-
ner will take place after our return from the Nile. The Consul
General, E. E. Farman, gave a dinner at the New Hotel. The
guests were General Grant, Mrs. Grant, Jesse R. Grant, Judge
and Mrs. Barringer, Judge and Mrs. Batcheller, M. Comanos
and Mme. Comanos, General Charles P. Stone, Mrs. Stone and
Miss Stone, General Loring, Colonel Dye, Mme. Colestone,
Colonel Graves, Colonel Mitchell, Rev. Dr. Lansing and Mrs.
Lansing, M. and Mme. de Ortega Morejon, Judge and Mme.
Hagens, Mr. Tower, Admiral Steadman, Mr. Van Dyck and Dr.
George H. Cooke of the "Vandalia." The members of the
Khedive's household and family who were invited could not
come because of the mourning for the King of Italy. The din-
ner was worthy of the best kitchens in Paris, and gave the
guests a good idea of the culinary resources of Egypt. At its
close toasts were drunk to the Khedive and President. Mr.
THE EMBARKATION.
237
Farman then proposed the health of General Grant in a felici-
tous speech. He said we had with us a distinguished citizen of
the United States, and made a graceful reference to the services
of the General. During the darkest hours of our national life
our guest had by his own merits risen from the modest posi-
tion of colonel to command a million of men. After the war,
which, under the leadership of this illustrious chieftain, had been
brought to a successful close, a grateful people elected General
Grant to the Presidency. They believed that a man who had
done so much in war would be the
proper ruler in peace. "They
were not deceived," continued Mr.
Farman, amid hearty cheering.
" He administered the govern-
ment so wisely that he was re-
elected by an increased majority.
He declined a third nomination,
and comes to Europe, and now
to Egypt, for rest and recreation.
Coming as he does from one of
the youngest of nations to a land
abounding in monuments of anti-
quity, we can assure him of a
hearty welcome." General Grant
said in response that nothing in
his trip thus far pleased him so
much as his visit to Egypt, and he
anticipated even more pleasure as he progressed in his journey.
Speeches were made by General Stone and Judge Batcheller.
Judge Hagens, in French, asked us to do honor to Mrs. Grant.
This honor was paid most loyally. Dr. Lansing would not
speak because he had to preach next day. After an hour or
two of chat we went home, feeling that our entertainment by
Mr. Farman had been of the most felicitous and successful
character — feeling also, as General Grant remarked to the
writer, that America had in Mr". Farman a most excellent repre-
sentative, who could not but do honor to our consular service.
THE KHEDIVES CARRIAGE RUNNER.
23$
EG i FT AND THE NILE.
On Wednesday, the 16th of January, we embarked on the
Nile. As the hour of noon passed the drawbridge opened,
farewells were said to the many kind friends who had gathered
on the banks, and we shot away from our moorings, and out
into the dark waters of the mighty and mysterious stream.
One cannot resist the temptation of writing about the Nile, yet
what can a writer say in telling the old, old story of a journey
through, these lands of romance and fable ! The Khedive has
placed at the disposal of the General one of his steam vessels,
and she swings out into the stream with the American flag at
the fore. We have all been in a bustle and a hurry to get away.
There was the leaving the palace, the massing of bundles, the com-
mand of the impedimenta. We
were alert for the trip, and we
had been feeding our imaginations
with visions of Eastern life, with
visions of the faded but glorious
remnants of the ancient civiliza-
tion. Cairo was French. The
infidel had gilded and wall-pa-
pered the city of the faithful, and
it was hard to realize that you
were in an Oriental land where
everybody spoke Italian a n d
French, and Vienna beer was
among the principal articles of merchandise. But now we were
really to throw behind us the tawdry French manners and cus-
toms which invaded us even in our palace, and to go for days
and days upon the waters of the Nile. We read about it in
guide-books, all except the writer of these lines, who resolved
that whatever his impressions might be he would print them
without incurring the mortification of seeing how well the work
had been done before him. We bought each a Turkish fez,
and some of us ventured upon the luxury of an Indian hat.
Others went into colored spectacles, and the Marquis, a far-
seeing man, who had been on the Nile and who was not in the
best of spirits at leaving a palace to float for weeks between
Fr.YPTUN LADY.
THE PARTY. 239
Arab villages, appeared with an astonishing umbrella. We
had many friends to see us off — General Stone, Judge Batch-
eller, and Judge Barringer, with their wives, General Loring,
and others. There were radiant mounds of flowers as remem-
brances to Mrs. Grant, and as much leave-taking as though we
were bound from New York to Liverpool. Some one makes
this suggestion, when the observation is made that we are about
to undertake a journey as long as from New York to Liverpool
and return. The General sits in a corner with Stone and Lor-
ing, talking about old days in the army, and making comments
upon famed and illustrious names that the historian would wel-
come if I could only dare to gather up the crumbs of this in-
teresting conversation. At noon the signal for our journey is
given and farewells are spoken, and we head under full steam
for the Equator.
Our party is thus composed: We have the General, his
wife, and his youngest son, Jesse. About Jesse there has been
so much said in a satirical way, in some of the journals, that I
am almost tempted to do him justice by telling you how manly,
original, and clever he is. But the young man is only a boy
after all, and I hope he has many years in which to learn that
praise or dispraise are to be heeded as the idle wind. The
Khedive has assigned us an officer of his household, Sami Bey,
a Circassian gentleman educated in England. Sami Bey is one
of the heroes of our trip, and we soon came to like him, Moslem
as he is, for his quaint, cordial, kindly ways. I suppose we should
call Sami Bey the executive officer of the expedition, as to him
all responsibility is given. We have also with us, thanks to the
kindness of the Khedive, Emile Brugsch, one of the directors ol
the Egyptian Museum. Mr. Brugsch is a German, brother to
the chief director, who has made the antiquities of Egypt a
study. Mr. Brugsch knows every tomb and column in the land.
He has lived for weeks in the temples and ruins, superintending
excavations, copying inscriptions, deciphering hieroglyphics,
and his presence with us is an advantage that cannot be over-
estimated, for it is given to him to point with his cane and un-
ravel mystery after mystery of the marvels engraved on the
240
EGYPT AND THE NILE.
stones and rocks, while we stand by in humble and listening
wonder. "What a blank our trip would be without Brugsch ! "
said the General, one day as we were coming back irom a ruin —
a ruin as absolute and meaningless as the Aztec mounds in New
Mexico, but which our fine young friend had made as luminous as
a page in Herodotus. The Consul General, E. E. Farman, for-
merly editor of The Western New- Yorker, is also of our party,
and I have already spoken of the pleasant impression he made
HAVE A DONKEV.
upon General Grant in Cairo. The General had so agreeable
a time with the good boys of the "Vandalia" that he asked
Commander Robeson to come and bring with him as many of
his officers as could be spared. He was anxious to have Robe-
son, and all kinds of schemes and persuasions were invented to
secure him. When the gracious commands of the lady of our
expedition were put upon him the commander paused, and I
think for one whole evening he had resolved to go up the Nile.
But the morning came, and it brought the cold fact that the
commander had a ship to command, and that it was his duty to
command it, and the Nile was in no sense a navigable water.
HASSAN.
HI
So Robeson gave up the Nile, and sent three of his officers to
accept the General's invitation — the Chief Surgeon, George H.
Cooke, Lieutenant W. A. Hadden, and Ensign F. A. Wilner —
who, with the writer (in all ten), form the party who make this
Nile excursion. That is to say, we form that fragment of the
party who live in the main cabin. The consul general is ac-
companied by a kind of Arabian Sancho Panza named Hassan.
I am afraid it is because the consul general is tall and thin, and
Hassan is short and brown
and stout, that we call
the latter Sancho Panza.
However, the comparison
comes from illustrious lips,
and was made one eve-
ning when our consul
general and Hassan were
coming over the plains of
Dendoreh, mounted on
donkeys. Hassan has
been eighteen years in the
legation. He speaks a
ready, expressive, but
limited English ; wears an
Arabian costume, includ-
ing a cimeter, and is proud
of two things — first, that
he wears a gold American
eagle mounted on a pin,
with which he was decorated by Consul-General Butler; and
second, that he captured John H. Surratt. Hassan is a Mos-
lem, the husband of two wives, and believes in Dr. Lansing,
the missionary, who educates, his children. No one ever heard
Hassan speak ill of a consul general. For eighteen years he
has seen dynasties rise and fall, from De Leon to Hale, from
Butler to Farman, and he has only good words for them all, living
and dead. Hassan is proud of his mission as a member of the
General's party, and walks the deck sabered and turbaned like
16
bTREET IN CAIRO.
2 a 2 EGYPT AND THE NILE.
Othello. The Marquis makes no secret of the fact that his heart
is in our palace of Kassr-el-Noussa. He would gladly have
waited there until our return, but I suppose it never occurred to
die General, and so he paces the deck with colored glasses, and
an umbrella under his arm, wondering how people can go for
weeks on a boat, and ride donkeys, and wander among dust-
heaped ruins, when a palace is in readiness and you have only
to clap your hands for slaves to answer your call.
Our boat is called Zinet-el-Bohren, or as my omniscient
friend translates it, the Light of Two Rivers. It is a long, nar-
row steamer, with two cabins, drawing only a few feet of water,
with a flat-bottomed keel. The Nile is a river of sand and mud,
and as the bottom is always changing, you must expect to run
aground every little while and to run off again. This in fact
we do, and the announcement that we are aground makes about
as much impression upon us as if a passenger in a Broadway
omnibus heard the wheel of his coach interlocking with another.
The Nile boats seem arranged to meet any emergency in the
way of land — for this river is sprawling, eccentric, comprehen-
sive, without any special channel — running one way to-day,
another next day. To know the river, therefore, must be some-
thing like knowing the temper of a whimsical woman — you must
court and woo her and wait upon her humors. Navigation is a
constant seeking after knowledge. We have a captain in a
comely uniform, with a clear-cut Arab face, who stands in the
middle of the boat and shouts. We have two men with poles,
who lean over the prow and sink their poles in the water, and
shout. Then at the wheel we have one, or perhaps two steers-
men, generally fine, grave, swarthy fellows, who do not shout
much, but knowing the river's coquettish ways, do as they
please, unmindful of the shouting. For an hour, for two or
three hours, we hum along with an easy, trembling motion, the
smooth, shining river lapping our sides, and the low, green
banks falling behind us. Then we have a tremor, a sidling to
one side, and the engines stop. This was so serious a business,
especially to our seafaring friends, that for the first or second
time they regarded it as a call to quarters or a fire alarm, but
BEDOUIXS. _.,
we soon became used to it, and running aground hardly inter-
rupted the idlest conversation. When evening comes our cap-
tain picks out the best point that can be found after sunset and
runs up to the land. The crew are sent ashore with torches and
hammers, posts are driven into the soft clay, and we are tied to
the shore. There, as if out of the earth they come, we have a
group of Bedouins in their turbans, who gather on the river
bank and make a bonfire of dried sugarcane or cornstalks, and
keep watch over us during the night. The first night we tied
BEDOl'INS OVBE
('.ARCANE FIRE.
up, Mr. Grant the younger and the writer went ashore, seeking
out Hassan to keep us company. There was our group of
crouching Arabs over the fire, their dark features lighting up
into a strange but not unimpressive kind of beauty. We had
been told — I believe all the books written by our English friends
tell us — that the only way to extract courtesy from an Oriental
is to beat him, trample him, or at least show him the hilt of
your dagger or the muzzle of a pistol. The only daggers our
party possess are the honest table-knives, which some one of
244
EGYPT AND THE NILE.
the many Mohammed Alis in attendance on our party is at this
moment most likely scouring. The only pistols I can trace are
General Grant's and my own. The General, however, left his
weapon in the bottom of one of his trunks in London, and mine
is looked upon as a kind of infernal machine, dangerous to no
one but the owner. However, we treat our Arabs with civility,
and Hassan supplies them with cigarettes. They wish to stand
in our honor, but we insist on their taking all the comfort pos-
sible out of their modest, crackling fire. They tell us their
names, Mohammed one thing and Mohammed another. They
have only one wife each, and live in the neighboring village.
They have a sheik, and he sent them hither to watch over the
hadji. Times are hard with them. The Nile has been bad,
and when the Nile is bad calamity comes and the people go
away to other villages. We did not like to talk politics with
them because we feared that Hassan, who is an admirer and
friend of the Khedive, might limit the tendencies of our inqui-
ries and give only barren answers. They said, however, they
would sit over us all night and keep us from harm. I have no
doubt they were sound asleep, burrowed near the cinders, long
before any one of our party had retired, except perhaps the
Doctor, whose habits are exemplary, and who sets us an exam-
ple of early hours.
There can be no more interesting, and, I am afraid, perilous
experiment than to put ten human beings on a boat for three
weeks and bid them enjoy themselves. I looked around the
boat with a little curiosity as we came in and began to adjust
ourselves to the conditions of our trip. There are two things
that try friendship — getting married and traveling together.
You have to dovetail, to make and receive compromises.
Questions of coffee and tea and chocolate, of breakfast and
luncheon, of amusement and conversation, enter into travel.
There is the passenger who is never quite well, the passen-
ger whose health is a reflection upon others, the passenger
who worries about the engines and the mails, the passenger
who cannot stand the sea cooking, and compares every dish
with a famous dinner he once enjoyed at Delmonico's. Then
LIFE ON THE NILE.
2 45
there is the exasperating passenger, who contradicts everybody
and is ready to wager. Our little party developed none of
these eccentricities. So far as the daily and hourly rubbing
together was concerned nothing came to mar our harmony.
We adjusted ourselves to the General's modes of life; and as
these were of the simplest and most considerate character, it in-
volved no sacri-
fice. We live in
acluster of small
rooms around
the cabin. My
own little room
has a window
within a few
inches of the
water. I have
only to put out
my hand to feel
thecoolingsense
of the stream. It
is a wonder how
much you can
do with a room
not much larger
than an ordi-
nary sideboard.
Clothing and
books find rest
in odd kinds of
places. You
sleep with your
brushes and combs. In one corner is a little crate of Egyp-
tian crockery which the Marquis induced me to purchase at Siout,
and when I awake at night I wonder how I am ever to carry
[it over the seas. I do not think that the purchase was a
useful one, but it did not cost much, and as everybody seems to
be going mad on crockery, I may make a reputation as aconnois-
246
EGYPT AND THE NILE.
seur of Egyptian art at a small expense if only the crockery
stands the seas. We breakfast whenever we please — in the
French fashion. The General is an early or late riser, accord-
ing as we have an engraorement for the dav- If there are ruins
to be seen in the morning he is generally first on the deck with
his Indian helmet swathed in silk, and as he never waits we are
off on military time. If there are no sights to be seen the
morning hours drift away. We lounge on the deck. We go
amone the Arabs and see them cooking-. We lean over the
prow and watch the sailors poke the Nile with long poles and
call out the message from its bed. Sometimes a murderous
feeling steals over some of the younger people, and they begin to
shoot at a stray crane or pelican. I am afraid these shots do not
diminish the resources of the Nile, and the General suggests
that the sportsmen go ashore and fire at the poor, patient,
drudging camel, who pulls his heavy-laden hump along the
bank. There are long pauses of silence, in which the Gene-
ral maintains his long-conceded supremacy. Then come little
ripples of real, useful conversation, when the General strikes
some theme connected with the war or his administration.
Then one wishes that he might gather up and bind these
sheaves of history. Or perhaps our friend Brugsch opens
upon some theme connected with Egypt. And we sit in grate-
ful silence while he tells us of the giants who reigned in the
old dynasties, of the gods they honored, of the tombs and
temples, of their glory and their fall. I think that we will all
say that the red-letter hours of our Nile journey were when
General Grant told us how he met Lee at Appomattox, or how
Sherman fought at Shiloh, or when Brugsch, in a burst, of fine
enthusiasm, tells us of the glories of the eighteenth dynasty, or
what Karnak must have been in the days of its splendors and
its pride. But you must not suppose that we have nothing but
serious talk in those idle hours on the Nile. Hadden sometimes
insists that Sami Bey shall become a Christian, and offers to
have subscriptions raised in the churches at home for his con-
version, and this generally superinduces a half serious, half
lauehine conversation, in which our Moslem friend shows how
NEWS FROM HOME. 2 . _
firmly he believes in the Prophet, and how it is that an accom-
plished and widely traveled man of the world may see all the
virtues of faith in the faith of Islam.
Sometimes a dahabeeah sweeps in sight, and we rush for the
glasses. The dahabeeah is an institution on the Nile, a cum-
brous, quaint sailing machine, with a single bending spar like
the longest side of a right-angled triangle. The dahabeeah,
although a boat with sailing qualities, might really be called a
suit of floating apartments. You take your dahabeeah for two
or three months. You supply yourself with the luxuries of
Cairo. You hire a dragoman, a crew of Arabs. If you like
books you have your small library. If you like sport you have
your guns. You steal off in the morning and shoot the wild
duck. You lounge and read. If you have no wind you lie in
the river and watch the idle flapping of the sail and the crowd
of black and brown fellahs howling for baksheesh. You enjoy
your life, or you fancy you enjoy it, which is the same thing.
We met several friends on the way. The first we overhauled
was Mr. Drexel, and he came on board as brown as Sitting
Bull, having a glorious time, but not above hearing about home.
Then we boarded another, under the impression that it was an
American, and found that we had fallen upon a hospitable Eng-
lish cousin, who had been dawdling about waiting: for the wind.
His first question was as to the health of the Pope, which was
answered by telling of Victor Emmanuel's death. Then we
came across Mr. and Mrs. Howland, enjoying their honeymoon
on the Nile, but anxious for news from home. Home ! Yes,
that is the blessed magic word which all the glory of the Orient
cannot obscure. This witching life only heightens the dear
memories of far America. I wonder if the third month, or let
us even say the second month, does not hang wearily upon our
friends in the dahabeeah. You see we are coming by steam,
swift from the living world, laden with news ; and when our
friends ask with almost the eagerness of thirst for some drop
of news from the world behind, you wonder how time must
hang upon active minds the third month on the Nile. One
gallant friend whom we met near Keneh informed us that the
24S
EGYPT AND THE NILE.
principal amusement was betting, not on cards, but on every-
thing — whether there would be wind or not, I suppose ; whether
the esfcrs would come on the table hard boiled or soft boiled ;
whether the oranges would be sweet or sour. You see how
betting may become an endless amusement like arithmetical
progression, and have some idea of the resources of the third
month on the Nile. But we had no complaints — not one.
All the stories that came
to us were that our friends
were having the best time,
the very best time, never
such a glorious time.
Only that anxious thirst-
ing question about news
from home !
I suppose you will think
that we are above any
anxieties about home, that
we are an idle, cynical
party, steaming against
wind and tide, steaming
on toward the Equator.
Why should not a very
tired Ex-President, upon
whose shoulders have de-
volved vast burdens, crave
the Lotus Land, if only for
a season, a brief season ? Well, I think we are enjoying all the
rest a winter season on the Nile implies, but I find even now, when
we are only a few days on our journey, that whenever the dusky
face of a consular agent comes over the side to salute the Gene-
ral, there is, with some of the party at least, that thirsty question
about news — not that any news is to be had in these deserts,
none later than the French invasion of Bonaparte, at least,
but the instinct is alive. And when one of us the other even-
ing in an encouraging mood ventured to dwell upon the calm,
the peace, the delight of this drifting, colorless, undisturbed ex-
STREET IN CAIRO.
■J
<
X
W
X
h
NEWS FROM HOME.
249
istence, there was just the faintest remonstrance, just the faint-
est moan about news from home and " letters " that told how a
mother's heart was over the seas. So it only remained to point
to the telegraph poles staring at us out of the sand, and preach
a little about the influences of civilization and the electric cur-
rent that binds even deserts and continents, and so on. I am
afraid the preaching was like most performances of that kind —
based on nothing; for I tried at the town of Esneh to send a dis-
patch to The New York Herald announcing our visit to Thebes.
There was not much in the dispatch, but I was anxious to have
the Herald print next morning what I had written amid the
ruins of Karnak. I thought there would be sentiment enough
in it for a good Sunday-morning leader, and that some of my
old comrades in the council room who were beating the universe
for themes would thank me for the hint. But the telegraph was
useless except for Government messages. " The only thing you
can do," says Sami Bey, "is to send your message by mail to
Cairo, and it will go from there." But as the mail generally
2 r EGYPT AND THE NILE.
goes on donkeys and we are going by steam, and as we should
probably reach Cairo a week or two in advance, I concluded to
carry my dispatch back with me.
When the sun throws his shadow over the desert, and the
white desert sands assume a browner hue, and the plodding
camels pass like shadows over the horizon and pant with the
long day's burden, our sailors begin to look out for the shore.
The Arab mariner loves the shore and has no fancy for the
night. It may be the evil eye, which has a singular influence
in all Eastern deliberations. It may be that we are not in much
of a hurry, and the river is not to be depended upon. By the
time the twilight comes we have reached a convenient place,
and our boat hugs up snugly beside the shore. Stakes are
driven into the soft clay banks, rude steps are cut in the side if
it is precipitous, and very soon we have the gray-headed sheik,
with his followers, coming to watch over us. Then comes the
clatter of cooking and supper, the crew sitting around a large
dish and helping themselves with their fingers. We have
two or three devout Moslems among our crew, who go ashore
to pray. The steersman, who wears a turban and a white flow-
ing robe, is the pattern of piety. He takes his woolen mantle
about him. He steps down to the brink and washes his feet,
his hands, and his forehead. Then he lays his mantle upon the
ground and looks toward Mecca. He stands, and holding his
hands in front, with the finger tips touching, makes a low bow,
a stately, slow bow, his body bending almost into a right angle.
He rises again, standing erect, murmuring his prayer — that
there is no God but God, and Mohammed is his prophet. He
prostrates himself on the earth, kisses it, and rising stands erect
again. The prostration takes place two or three times; the
prayer is over; the faithful Moslem gathers his garment over his
shoulders and comes back to the boat and supper. When our
dinner is over we have coffee on the deck, where we sit and talk.
If we are near a village some of the younger ones go ashore. In
a few minutes we know by the barking of the dogs that they have
invaded the quiet homes of an Egyptian community. Hassan
generally goes along on these expeditions ; but the precaution
ARAB MUSIC. 2 - ,
has not been of any value thus far. The villages are sleepy
enough and the villagers are quiet as possible. The children
peer at you through the straw, the elder ones come clamoring
for baksheesh, and there is sure to be a blind old soul to crave
charity in the house of the most merciful God. You pass along
through streets not more than a few feet wide, with dogs in the
front and rear, and dogs barking from the roofs of the low mud
huts thatched with straw. One or two of these expeditions
generally satisfies even the most enterprising of our party ; for
Egyptian villages are, as far as I have seen, about the same.
While some of us are ashore seeking adventure, and the others
are clustered on the deck, chatting about friends and home and
the incidents of the day, our sailors gather in a circle and we
have Arab music. I cannot claim any knowledge of music,
although many of my most pleasant memories are associated
with its influence. This music of the Arabs is a school of its
own, which I would defy even the genius of Wagner to embody.
I have often thought that the spirit of a people is expressed in
its music as much as in its literature and laws. The music of
our Northern nations always seemed to ring with the sense of
strength and victory. I remember how the music of the South-
ern slaves was a strange contrast to the fiery strains of their
masters. There was a low, plaintive key in it that spoke of
sadness, despair, degradation ; that was more a moan and cry
than a harmony. I fancied I heard the same plaintive cry in
the music of the Arabs.
There is one thing whose enjoyment never ceases, at least
with the writer — the beauty of the atmosphere and the sky.
Sleep with me is so coy a dame, not always to be won by the
most gentle and persistent wooing, that I am alive to all the in-
cidents of the vessel. Before sunrise you hear the ropes released
from the shore struggling back to the ship. You see the torches
flashing up and down the bank, noting the preparations for de-
parture. I sleep with my cheek almost against the wide win-
dow pane, almost on the level of the stream, and if I am weary
of dreaming or of seeking for dreams, I have only to open my
eyes to see the heavens in all their glory, the stars and constel-
252
EGYPT AND THE NILE.
lations — to see them again, as it were, embossed on the dark-
brown river. You hear the cries of the sailors at their posts,
and answering cries from the shore, and the boat pulls herself
together like a strong man gathering for a race, and we are
away. You throw open your
window and put your hand in
the water, and feel the current
play with your fingers with
almost the old delight of child-
hood. The morning comes
over the sands, and you watch
the deep blue of the night
melt into primrose and pearl.
, The brown sands of the desert
It become pale again, and the
groves of date palms become
palms in truth, and not the
fancies that almost startle you
during the night. In the early
morning it is cool, and it is
noon before the sun asserts
his power, and even then it is not a harsh dominion, for we have
known no hour as yet when we could not walk up and down the
deck in our fall garments without discomfort. Throughout the
day there is that same open sky, the same clear atmosphere
which makes far-distant objects as near as you find them in
Colorado. Sometimes you see with wonder in the very heart
of the desert grateful streams of water, skirted with palm and
sheltered by hills. This is the mirage — one of the most frequent
phenomena on the Nile. Sometimes a battalion of clouds
will come from the east and marshal themselves from horizon
to horizon, and the sight is rare, indeed, and you cannot know,
you who live in the land of clouds and storm, what beauty
they conceal. I am thinking of one sunset which I saw. The
clouds had been following us all the afternoon, throwing their
fleecy canopy over the plains of Thebes. Not ominous, black
clouds, big with rain and thunder and bringing awe, but litrht,
■w*
JESSE GRANT.
SUNSET. 253
trailing clouds, hanging over the heavens like gossamer.
There was the desert, coming almost down to the river —
grudging the Nile even the strip of green which marked the line
of the telegraph. There was the desert — vast, wide, barren —
with no vestige of life beyond a belated peasant driving his camel,
or a flock of birds hurrying as we came. So the clouds were a
comfort, and we watched them at their play, grateful for anything
that took our thoughts from the scene of endless and irretriev-
able desolation. Then as the sun went down there came the
struggle between coming night and the stern, burning majesty
of the eternal monarch of nature. The pearls and grays became
crimson and saffron. The sun shot forth his power in a sun-
burst of light. There were ridges of crimson and gold, lumi-
nous and flashing that it might almost seem to burn and hiss
like flames in the forge. Then came the tranquil blue — blue of
every shade — every conceivable tint of blue — from that which
Murillo threw into the eyes of the wonder-stricken Madonna in
the supreme moment of her joy, to the deep violet blue which
tells of the passion, the patriotism, and the revenge of Judith.
The struggle still went on, but the victory was not with the sun,
and it only remained for him to die as became a great king.
The palm grew dim in the shadows. The flaming tints of crim-
son and scarlet and gold became brown and black. The desert
flushed with purple — with the purple of wine — and it seemed
as if old Egypt's kings spoke from the desert that was once
their throne, proclaiming their sovereignty. All that was left
was the line of green that had become black, and the desert
that had become black, and the glorious sky above, with the
glory of conquering night; and about us this land of eternal
summer, beautiful even in death — beautiful with the beauty of
death.
CHAPTER IX.
THE NILE.
N the morning of the 19th of January, that being the
third day of our journey, we came to the town of
Siout, or Assiout, as some call it. We have a vice
consul here, and tokens of our coming had been
sent, as could be seen by the flags which decorated the bank
and the crowd on the shore. Siout is the capital of Upper
Egypt, and is a city of 25,000 inhabitants. The city is some
distance back from the river, and grew into importance as the
depot of much of the caravan trade from Darfour. Upon ar-
riving the vice consul and his son came on board and were
presented to the General. Congratulations were exchanged,
and we offered our friends coffee and cigars in the true Oriental
style. The name of our consul here is Wasif el Hayat. He
254
SIOUT. 255
is a Syrian and a landed proprietor. He is a grave elderly
person, who speaks only Arabic, but his son had been educated
in Beyrout, at the mission schools, and knew English. We all
drove to the town. It was over parched fields, through a
country that in more favorable years would bloom like a gar-
den. But the Nile is bad this year, and a bad Nile is a calamity
second only to a famine in Egypt. We rode into the town
and through the bazaars. All the town seemed to know of our
coming, for wherever we went crowds swarmed around us, and
we had to force our donkeys through masses of Arabs and
Egyptians of all ages and conditions, some almost naked —
crowds crying for baksheesh or pressing articles of merchandise
upon us. The bazaars are narrow covered ways, covered with
matting or loose boards, enough to break the force of the sun.
The stores are little cubbyholes of rooms, in front of which the
trader sits and calls upon you to buy. As these avenues are
not more than six feet wide at best, you can imagine what a
time we had in making our progress. The town had some fine
houses and mosques, but in the main it was like all towns in
Upper Egypt, a collection of mud hovels. We rode beyond
the town to the tombs built in the sand, and climbed the lime-
stone rock on our donkeys. This was our first evidence of the
manner of sepulture in the olden time. These desert rocks of
limestone were tunneled and made into rooms, and here the
mummied dead found rest. The chambers appointed for them
were large and spacious, according to the means of the deceased.
In some that we entered there was a chamber, an antecham-
ber, and sometimes connecting chambers. There were inscrip-
tions on the walls, but they had been defaced. The early
Christians had deemed it their duty to obey the first command-
ment by removing the representatives of the gods that came in
their way. The ceilings of the tombs had been once decorated,
but modern Christians have deemed it their duty to deface
them by firing pistol shots. When you visit a tomb and
note the blue stars and astronomical forms that the ancients
painted with so much care, it is so cunning to try the echo by
firing your pistol. Consequently the roofs are spotted with
256
THE NILE.
bullet marks. Here also came the wanderers for shelter, and
you see what the fires have done. What the tombs may have
been in the past, when they came fresh from pious, loving
hands, you can imagine. But what with ancient Christian
iconoclasts, modern Christian wanderers, Bedouins, Arabs,
selling the graves for ornaments, nothing remains but empty
limestone rooms filling with sand and a few hieroglyphic me-
morials on the walls.
«K*f
We were bidden to an en-
tertainment at the home of
Wasif el Hayat, and, seven
being the hour, we set forth.
We were all anxious about
our first Arab entertainment,
and after some deliberation
our naval men concluded to wear their uniforms. The Doctor
rode ahead in the carriage with General and Mrs. Grant and
the consul general. As the Doctor wore his uniform and
the others were in plain dress, he was welcomed by the awe-
stricken Moslems as the Kins? of America. Hadden and
the rest of us rode behind on our trusty and well-beloved
donkeys, Hadden in uniform, followed by wondering- crowds.
I suppose he was taken for a minor potentate, as in the Ori-
ental eyes all that lace and gold could not be wasted on any-
thing less than princely rank. But we all had more or less
attention, although we could feel that the uniforms were the
center of glory, and that we shone with borrowed splendor. As
we came to the house of Wasif el Hayat we found a real trans-
formation scene. Lanterns lined the street, servants stood on the
road holding blazing torches, a transparency was over the gate
with the words, " Welcome General Grant." The " n" was
turned upside down, but that made no difference, for the wel-
come here in far Africa made the heart throb quicker. As we
rode up torches blazed, rockets went up into the air, various
colored lights were burned, and we passed into the court-yard
glowing with light and color, passing into the house over carpets
and rugs of heavy texture and gorgeous pattern. Our host met
us at the gates of his house, and welcomed us in the stately Ori-
ental way, kissing the General's hand as he clasped it in his
two hands, and then touching his own heart, lips, and brow.
Here we met the governor, and, more welcome still, the Rev.
I. R. Alexander and his wife. Mr. Alexander is one of the
professors in the missionary college, and is under the direction
of the United Presbyterian Church. The dinner came, and it
was regal in its profusion and splendor. I should say there
were at least twenty courses, all well served. When it was
concluded the son of the host arose, and in remarkably clear
and correct English proposed the General's health. You will
allow me, I am sure, to give you a fragment of this speech.
" Long have we heard and wondered," said the speaker, " at
the strange progress which America has made during this past
century, by which she has taken the first position among the
most widely civilized nations. She has so quickly improved in
sciences, morals, and arts, that the world stands amazed at this
extraordinary progress which surpasses the swiftness of light-
ning. It is to the hard work of her great and wise men that
all this advance is imputed, those who have shown to the world
17
258
THE NILE.
what wise, courageous, patriotic men can do. Let all the world
look to America and follow her example — that nation which has
taken as the basis of her laws and the object of her undertak-
ings to maintain freedom and equality among her own people
and secure them for others, avoiding all ambitious schemes
which would draw her into bloody ancLdisastrous wars, and try-
ing by all means to maintain peace internally and externally.
The only two great wars upon which she has engaged were en-
tered upon for pure and just purposes — the first for releasing
herself from the English yoke and erecting her independence,
and the other for stopping slavery and strengthening the union
of the States ; and well we know that it was mainly under God
due to the talent, courage, and wisdom of his excellency Gene-
ral Grant that the latter of the two enterprises was brought to
a successful issue." The speech closed by a tribute to the
General and the Khedive. General Grant said in response
that nothing in his whole trip had so impressed him as this un-
expected, this generous welcome in the heart of Egypt. He
had anticipated great pleasure in his visit to Egypt, and the
anticipation h a d
been more than re-
alized. He thanked
his host, and espe-
cially the young
m a n w ho had
spoken of him with
so high praise, for
their reception.
The dinner dis-
solved into coffee,
conversation a n d
cigars. Mrs.
Grant had a long
talk with Mrs. Alexander about home — Mrs. Alexander being
a fair young bride who had come out from America to cast her
lot with her husband in the unpromising vineyard of Siout.
And when the evening grew on we rode back to our boat,
DK1VE IN SIOUT.
GIRGEL. ,-„
through the night and over the plain. Torch-bearers accompa-
nied us through the town. Donkey-boys and townspeople fol-
lowed us to the river bank. The moon was shining, and as we
rode home — you see we already call the boat our home — we
talked over the pleasant surprise we had found in Siout and
of its many strange phases of Oriental life.
On the 21st of January we hauled up to the bank in the
town of Girgel. We found Admiral Steadman and Mr. Davis,
of Boston, moored in their dahabeeah, and they repeated the
same story that we heard all along the Nile, that they had had
a good time, a splendid time, could not have had a better time.
It seems that their dahabeeah had run aground, and the admiral
came out in fine old quarterdeck form and gave all the orders
necessary to save the vessel. But after he had given the orders
as became a veteran sailor who had battled with tempests in
every part of the world, it was discovered that the crew were
Arabs, and did not understand a word of English, and probably
thought that the admiral's vigorous forms of speech were a kind
of devotion — a manner of worshiping common only to the infidel.
So the admiral's vessel had to save itself, and we had our own
fun out of the narrative as we sat on the deck over our coffee,
and watched the Arabs crouching over the fire. The admiral
and Mr. Davis spent a part of the evening with us ; but just as
the talk was in full tide the dragoman came on board with word
that there was a rising wind. Those who sail in the daha-
beeah must take the wind when it comes, and so our welcome
guests hurried away, and in a few minutes were speeding up the
stream.
It was rather a long distance from our landing place to
Abydos, and Sami Bey had given orders that we should be
ready at eight for our journey. I am afraid it was quite an
effort for some of the party, whose names shall be withheld, to
heed this command. But the General was first on deck, and
very soon came Mrs. Grant eager and smiling. And as the
General waits for no one, those who were late had to hurry their
breakfasts, and some of them were skurrying up the side of the
bank with a half-eaten biscuit. There were our Arabs and
2 6o THE XILE.
donkeys all waiting, and the moment our company began to
muster there was a chorus of screams — " Good donkey," " Good
morning," " Baksheesh," and other limited forms of speech.
The donkeys charged upon us in a mass, each owner screaming
out the merits of his animal. It was tmly by vigorous efforts
on the part of Hassan that we could see and select our animals.
Hassan had given me a private bit of information as to which
donkey I should select, and I found myself the master of a little
mite of a creature, scarcely high enough to keep my feet from
the ground, but vigorous and strong, and disposed to stop and
bray for the amusement of the company. Hadden's experience
with donkeys had made him circumspect, and the General ad-
vised him to select as small an animal as possible, or, as a pre-
cautionary measure, to the end that a valuable life should be
saved to the navy, that he should tie himself on its back. The
General himself had a horse placed at his disposal by the pacha
who rules the district, but he rode the animal with a protest, as
it had a shambling gait, and wished that courtesy to his host
did not prevent his taking a donkey. The Marquis had some
difficulty in pleasing himself, and when at last he set out with
an umbrella under his arm and his eyes shaded with somber
spectacles, the suggestion was made that he was a Methodist
colporteur on a journey of preaching. But there was a gleam of
satisfaction in his noble face as he informed us that a couple of
camels had gone up from the town laden with refreshments,
and that we should have breakfast in the temple. As I have
already hinted, the Marquis has no enthusiasm for ruins, es-
pecially Egyptian ruins, while he has positive and valuable
views about breakfast. So in time we were off over the coun-
try for Abydos. The fields were cracked, and the ditches,
which in good times would carry irrigating streams, were dry.
Each of us had two Arabs for an escort, and the duty of
these attendants seemed to be to encourage the beast by a
sound something between a whisper and a hiss, or shouting
or beatino- him. I rather think the beating did not amount to
much, for these people love their animals and live with them,
and make them companions and friends. But the lady of our
.11: YD OS.
261
expedition would not endure the stick, and we were halted, and
Hassan was summoned and told to say to the attendants that
they must not beat the donkeys or they would have no bak-
sheesh, not a farthing. There could be no more fearful punish-
ment than this, and there was no more beating. But the Arabs
had their satisfaction in kneeling and running at your side and
seeking a conversation. Their observations became monoto-
nous. " Good donkey,"
"My name Mohammed,"
"My name Ali," "Good
donkey," "Yankee Doo-
dle," "Good morning,"
"Good donkey." Others
came with bits of scarabei
and bits of ancient pot-
tery, fragments of mummy
lids and shreds of mummy
cloth, to drive a trade. I
was on the point of mak-
ing a moral observation
upon the character of a
people who would rifle
the tombs of their ances-
tors and make merchan-
dise of their bones and
grave - ornaments, when
it occurred to me that
these were Arabs, and de-
scended, not from the
Egyptians, but from the
men who conquered the
Egyptians and occupied their land. I hope it is not against
the laws of war for a conquering race to sell the bones of
those they have defeated, for our Arabs were so poor and
wretched that no one could grudge them any means of
earning a piaster. This running trade continues all the way,
and in time you become used to it. You become used to the
MAP OF EGYPT AND THE HOLY LAND.
262 THE NILE.
noises, the conversation, the entreaties to buy, and ride on un-
conscious, or, if anything, amused with your Arab, who is gene-
rally an amusing, good-natured scamp, of wonderful endurance,
and anxious to please. I became quite friendly with my Mo-
hammed Ali, who had two English phrases with which he con-
stantly plied me — "I am serene," and " Yankee Doodle." The
latter phrase was the name of his donkey, and I was about to
thank him for this kind recognition of my country when Hassan,
from whom I draw great stores of information, told me that they
had a variety of names — English, French, German, Italian —
which they used according to the nationality of their riders. I
had no doubt that my present plodding Yankee Doodle had
done duty as Bismarck, MacMahon, and the Prince of Wales.
Our journey was through a country that in a better time
must have been a garden ; but the Nile not having risen this
year all is parched and barren. Abydos was built on the edge
of the Libyan Desert, and the road to the great oasis leads to
it over the mountains. The old Egyptians were practical in
this respect, that not having land to spare they built their tombs
and temples in the sand, and kept their narrow, fertile lands for
corn. They could worship their gods in the sand, they could
sleep in the sand ; but corn and onions needed all the parsimo-
nious Nile would give. We kept on over a series of irrigating
ditches, over sandhills, over roads that had not been mended
within the memory of man. My first impression was to hold
my animal well in hand and guide him, keep from going over
his head into a ditch, and show him the safest paths. But I
soon learned the elementary lesson in donkey riding — namely,
that your animal knows more about the subject than you can
teach him, and that you had better discharge your mind from
all care and allow him to go in his own way wherever Mo-
hammed Ali will lead him. Then if you can make up your
mind to disengage your feet from the stirrups and let them
swing, just as when a boy you used to swing over a gate, you
will find it easier in the long run. I noticed that those of our
party who had the most experience of Egypt rode in this
fashion, and so, while some of our ambitious members who had
ABYDOS.
20:
learned horsemanship in the best schools and loved to brace
themselves in the saddle were anxious about stirrups, I allowed
myself to dangle. There is another reason for this, as I learned
from practical experience one clay at Assouan. The donkey is
apt to fall, for the land is full of holes and traps. To fall with
your feet in the stirrups might be a serious matter. But when
Yankee Doodle took it into his head to throw his head upon
the around and his heels into
the air, it only remained for
me to walk from him, as
though I had risen from a
chair, and wait until he came
to a better frame of mind.
But it is not the donkey that
troubles you, for the beast is
as good as a patient, willing
wife, but the sun that blazes
overhead. This, you must
remember, is the land of the
Sun, where his majesty never
abdicates. It may be cool in
the evening and in the morn-
ing, and you will find heavy
coats a comfort. But with the
noon he comes in his power, and you ride over the desert with
his full force upon your brow. In the matter of head-dress we
had various plans. The Doctor kept his stiff wide-awake. Jesse
Grant wore a light peaked straw hat, swathed in silk. The
others of us wore white pointed helmets made of pith or cork,
coming over the eyes and over the neck. My helmet was a
burden to me when first I wore it, and I took a hint from Sami
Bey, remembering that was his land and he knew how to battle
with the sun. By the aid of the Marquis I obtained a coiffe de
chapeau of heavy silk, orange and green, about a yard or more
square. This I bound over my Turkish fez so that it would
drape my face and fall over the shoulders. So when the sun
came I had only to draw the web over my brow and throw the
EGYPTIAN BOY.
264
THE NILE.
of the sun was set at naught.
folds over my shoulders and ride on. Although much heavier
than any ordinary hat, and apparently oppressive from its texture
and the lapping folds, there was no discomfort. The power
Whatever breeze might be stir-
ring was sure to creep into the
folds and toy with my cheeks.
Then there was an artistic
sense to satisfy. It lit up
the landscape. You could be
seen from afar, and as the
dress was that of a high Be-
douin chief — of an Arab of-
ficer of rank — you knew that
you were more than a pilgrim ;
that you were the symbol of
authority to wandering desert
eyes far away, who saw your
flaming head-dress streaming
over the sand and honored
you as a great pacha.
" Here," said Brugsch, as
we dismounted from our donkeys and followed him into the
ruins of the temple, " here we should all take off our hats, for
here is the cradle, the fountain head of all the civilization of
the world." This was a startling statement, but Brugsch is a
serious gentleman and does not make extravagant speeches.
Then he told us about Abydos, which lay around us in ruins.
This was the oldest city in Egypt. It went back to Menes,
the first of the Egyptian kings, who, according to Brugsch,
reigned 4,500 years before Christ — centuries before Abraham
came to Egypt. It is hard to dispute a fact like this, and
one of the party ventured to ask whether the civilization of
China and India did not antedate, or claim to antedate,
even Abydos. To be sure it did, but in China and India
you have traditions ; here are monuments. Here, under the
sands that we are crunching with our feet, here first flowed
forth that civilization which has streamed over the world. He-
A B YD OS.
265
brew, Indian, Etruscan, Persian, Roman, Greek, Christian-
whatever form you give it, whatever shape it takes — this is the
fountain of it all. Stanley had been telling me a few days ago,
as we sat at breakfast at Alexandria, of the emotions he felt
when he came to the sources of the Nile, where a trickling of
water that you might arrest and imprison within the goblet's
brim, set out on its mighty journey to the sea. I recalled the
enthusiasm of my illustrious and intrepid friend as I thought that
here was the source of another Nile that had been flowing for
ages, that had enriched the world even as the river enriches these
plains with all the arts and civilization and religion known to
man, and that it was flowing and still flowing with growing
volume and riches. You see I am a believer. I came to these
lands with reverence and have faith in these stones. I shall
never know much about Egypt ; I am afraid I shall never care
enough for it to enter into the controversies about time and
men that adorn Egyptian literature. I believe in the stones,
and here are the stones on which are written the names of the
kings from Menes to Sethi I. Sethi built this temple some-
where about fourteen hundred years before Christ, and like a
dutiful king he wrote the names of his predecessors, seventy-
six in all, beginning with Menes. Here is the stone which
Brugsch reads as though it were the morning lesson, reading as
one who believes. Here is the very stone, beautifully en-
graved, and, thanks to the sand, kept all these centuries as
fresh as when the sculptor laid down his chisel. It was only
found in 1865, and is perhaps the most valuable of the monu-
ments, because it knits up the unraveled threads of Egyptian
history and gives you a continuous link from this day to a day
beyond that of Moses. You pass your fingers over the stone
and note how beautiful and clear are the lines. And as you
see it, you see the manifest honesty of the men who did the
work, of the king who told all he knew, and of the truth of
what was written. I believe in the stone and feel, as I said a
moment ago, a little of the enthusiasm of Stanley when he
stood at the trickling source of the Nile.
So we follow Bruesch out of the chamber and from ruined
266
THE NILE.
wall to wall. The ruins are on a grand scale. Abydos is a
temple which the Khedive is rescuing from the sand. The
city was in its time of considerable importance, but this was
ages ago, ages and ages ; so that its glory was dead even before
Thebes began to reign. Thebes is an old city, and yet I sup-
pose, compared with Thebes, Abydos is as much older as one
of the buried Aztec towns in Central America is older than
New York. When the temple is all dug out we shall find it to
have been a stupendous affair ; but there are other temples to
be seen in better condition, and what interests us at Abydos
is the city. Here, according to tradition — a tradition which
Plutarch partly confirms — was buried the god Osiris. The
discovery of that tomb
will be an event as im-
portant in Egyptology as
even the discovery of
America by Columbus in
his day. In the earliest
times it was believed
Osiris was buried here.
To the ancient Egyptians
the burial place of that
god was as sacred as
Mecca is to the Moslems
or the Holy Sepulcher to
the mediaeval Christians.
The Government has
therefore been digging in
all directions, and we
started after Brugsch to
see the work. Mrs.
Grant rode along on her
donkey, and the rest of
us went in different direc-
tions on foot. There had been troubles in the neighborhood
—riots arising out of the bad Nile and taxes. So we had a
truard who hovered around us — one soldier whom we called,
THE GL'AKL) UVEK GENERAL GRANT.
A B YD OS.
267
in obedience to the law of physical coincidences, Boss Tweed
— keeping watch over the General. He was a fat and ragged
fellow, with a jolly face. It was quite a walk to the ruins, and
the walk was over hills and ridges of burning sand. So the
Marquis went to the village to see if the camels had come
bearing the luncheon — a subject that was of more value to his
practical mind than the tomb of a dethroned deity. It was an
interesting walk, to us especially, as it was our first real glimpse
of the desert and of an ancient city. The General and the
writer found themselves together climbing the highest of the
mounds. It was rather an effort to keep our footing on the
slippery sand. Beneath us was one excavation forty or fifty
feet deep. You could see the remnants of an old house or old
tomb ; millions of fragments of broken pottery all around.
You could see the strata that age after age had heaped upon
the buried city. The desert had slowly been creeping over it,
and in some of the strata were marks of the Nile. For
years, for thousands of years, this mass, which the workmen
had torn with their spades, had been gathering. The city was
really a city of tombs. In the ancient days the devout Egyp-
tian craved burial near the tomb of Osiris, and so for centuries
I suppose their remains were brought to Abydos from all parts
of Egypt. This fact gives special value to the excavations,
as it gave a special solemnity to our view. As we stood
on the elevation, talking about Egypt and the impressions
made upon us by our journey, the scene was very striking.
There was the ruined temple ; here were the gaping excava-
tions filled with bricks and pottery. Here were our party,
some gathering beads and skulls and stones ; others having a
lark with Sami Bey ; others following Mrs. Grant as a body
guard as her donkey padded his way along the slopes. Be-
yond, just beyond, were rolling plains of shining sand — shining,
burning sand — and as the shrinking eye followed the plain and
searched the hills there was no sign of life ; nothing except
perhaps some careering hawk hurrying to the river. I have
seen no scene in Egypt more striking than this view from the
mounds of Abydos.
268
THE NILE.
The sun was beating with continued fierceness, and we kept
our way to the cluster of trees and the village. The Marquis
with illuminated eyes informed us that the camels had come
and the luncheon was ready. We sat around our modest table
and feasted — feasted in the temple sacred to the memory of
Osiris, and built by the pious munificence of Sethi, the king
who rests with God. The walk had given us an appetite and
put us all in high spirits, and we lunched in merry mood.
DAHABEliAH.
There were toasts to the Khedive, to Sami Bey, to the Gene-
ral, and the invariable toast which comes from gracious womanly
lips — to friends and dear ones at home. Then Brugsch told us
of Salib, an Arabian, who had been for twenty years working
at the excavations. He worked with so much diligence that he
had become entirely blind, and it was now his only comfort to
wander about the ruins, direct the workmen, and perhaps trace
with his finger many a loved inscription that his zeal had
broueht to light. Salib lived near the ruin on a pension al-
lowed by the Khedive, and after luncheon we called on him
SPECULATIONS. 2 g
and took our coffee in his house. The coffee was served on
the roof, while some of us, weary with the sun, lay under the
shadow of the wall and the date trees, and others sat about the
court-yard smoking-, and Brugsch, who never misses his chance,
improved the shining hour to copy a hieroglyphic inscription.
After an hour's rest we went back again very much as we came.
But the journey was long, the road was dusty, and when we
saw the flag flying from our boat we were, some of us at least,
a weary, very weary party. We had ridden fifteen miles on
donkeys and walked two or three on the sand, and the shelter
and repose of the cabin was grateful when at last it came.
Something might be written of the religion, the manners and
the customs of the wonderful people who once reigned here,
and whose glory you tread under foot in the yielding sand.
But has it not all been written by a dynasty of authors from
Herodotus to Brugsch Bey? There is nothing here but the
dead world — the world which knows no change. In Pompeii
it was easy enough to summon up the very form and image of
the world which Vesuvius buried in ashes and fire. There was
the town before us, almost as it was when Pliny saw the awful
token of its fate — the ruts in the street, the bread in the oven,
the priest at the altar, the mother with her child. But I see in
Egypt nothing but tombs, temples, and the shining sand. You
see these temples in their glory, you marvel at their glory,
you think that the men who did these things must have been
giants in their clay, you cannot understand what mechanical
force known to the Egyptians could have transported the
Memnon colossus from its granite bed at Assouan. But this is
all. Every other form of ancient life has vanished. There is
only one suit of chambers at Luxor where it is believed a king
lived, and even that is a speculation. Aside from that the anti-
quarians have not found a palace or a home. What we know
of the Egyptians we know from the inscriptions on the monu-
ments. We know that they must have been a brave, domestic,
patriotic people, with a religion and symbols of religion strik-
ingly like Islam and Christianity — enough like it at least to fur-
nish Mr. Darwin with a new chapter in his theories of evolution.
'."JO
THE NILE.
It was a religion based upon one God, a god who was an idea,
or a sentiment, and who was worshiped in silence ; such a god
as commentators might find implied in what Plato teaches and
even in St. John's Gospel when he says : " In the beginning was
the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God."
This god was worshiped, as I said, in silence ; but in time his vari-
ous attributes became forms, and the worship of these forms be-
came idolatry — that idolatry which the commandments especially
condemned. You will remember that those commandments be-
gin with the declaration : " I am the Lord, thy God, which brought
thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage."
You will remember that the commandments open with a denun-
ciation of idolatry — a denunciation far more severe than that
visited upon the sins of murder, theft, and perjury. "Thou
shalt have none other gods before me. Thou shalt not make
thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in
heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the
waters under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to
them, nor serve them."
ANCIENT FAITH. -,-,
This is the commandment, but the fear of the example of the
idol worship of the Egyptians was evidently so strong that it is
coupled with a special and terrible penalty, one of the most se-
vere in the Bible. " For I, the Lord, thy God, am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children, unto the
third and fourth generations of them that hate me." The Egyp-
tians besjan their faith with the recognition of one God. He
created the earth. He was the embodiment of goodness, mercy,
power, and wisdom — he was almighty and everlasting, like our
own Jehovah. Each of these attributes became a separate being,
and in time a distinct god, until the mythology of the Egyp-
tians had almost as variegated a heaven as the Greeks or the
Hindoos. One of these gods was called Amun, who represented
the divine attribute of reason. Another god was Num, whose
attribute is the same as that ascribed to the Spirit of God, which
moved upon the face of the waters. Another god was Pthak, or
the creator, who, among other things, especially created truth.
Another god was called Khem, or the creator of man. His
companion god was Maut, the mother, and each of these gods
proceeded from themselves, something like Adam and Eve.
These attributes of divinity all in time became tangible gods,
and each had his share of worship. They became gods of
the first, second, and third degrees, something like Christian
archangels, angels, and saints. In the beginning I can well see
how this Egyptian worship was the worship of one God, and
that the development of the idolatry system came from care-
lessness on the part of priests, evil teaching, ignorance, or per-
haps from the innate tendency of our human nature to venerate
some one object, and to refer to it as far as we can the hopes
and dreams of our lives.
A soldier feverish for victory, a husbandman mourning over
his barren fields, a mother despairing over her firstborn, a wife
yearning for children, will, if piously inclined, turn to the Al-
mighty and the All-seeing for help. They will each seek out
that special attribute in Divinity most suited to their wants and
invoke it. You have a form of this in modern Christianity in
patron saints. If the Egyptians had recognized the principle
2 - 2 THE NILE.
of saintship,and had kept that vast distinction which Christians
recognize between Peter and Paul and our Saviour, I can under-
stand how it might have become a faith as lasting as that which
came from the burning mountain. Its principle was a panthe-
ism, not a polytheism. But in time the idolatrous principle
prevailed until it corrupted and destroyed the ancient faith.
They came to worship the sun and moon, and to have a special
recording angel deity, the Ibis-headed Thoth, who recorded the
actions of every man against the last day. These gods also
assumed a variety of names — like what we see now when we
read about Our Lady of Lourdes and Our Lady of Maria Zell.
I sis became the goddess of ten thousand names, although each
name meant no more than the Greeks meant when they gave
geographical attributes to Minerva or Venus — nor what the
Catholics mean when they discover shrines of the Virgin in
various parts of Christendom and give each shrine a name.
The god Osiris, whose form we see so frequently on these
temple walls, was the principle of good, the god Typho the
principle of evil. These gods were brothers, one murdering tin:
other, even as Cain murdered Abel.
There was another named Apophis, who was the same as
our own Apollyon ; a great serpent also, enemy of gods and
men, and in the Egyptian mythology pierced by the spear of
the o-ood eod Horus ; even as in our own we have the great
dragon, the common enemy of mankind, pierced by the spear of
enterprising and valiant archangels. This resemblance between
Apophis and Apollyon is not more marked than certain traits
in the character of the god Osiris. This god came into the
world to aid mankind. He was the symbol of goodness and
truth. He was put to death and buried. He rose again, and
was appointed to judge the world. His name is the symbol of
the resurrection and eternal salvation. He became the supreme
god of the Egyptians. On the breast of the dead a token
was placed carved in the form of the beetle called a scarabeus.
You will find thousands of them to-day dug from the ancient
tombs. Why this insect was selected is a puzzle, but Brugsch
says it was because the beetle was supposed to reproduce itself
SA CRED SENTIMENT.
■/J
without natural agency, and in that way became the type of
resurrection. These scarabei, which every greasy Arab carries
in his clothes and forces upon you for sale, were mounted like
beads. In many cases they were made of precious stones —
cornelian, agate, lapis-lazuli, emerald, and amethyst. I have
seen some in gold. The poorer classes made them of lime-
stone, or of clay like that used in pottery. On them was en-
graved a tribute to the
god Osiris and a recog-
nition of the thrilling
mystery of eternal life.
There were forms of
gods expressing the holi-
est offices of nature; and
according as these offices
were regarded do we find
the purity and impurity
of the old religion. We
have the idea of paternity
as the life-giving genera-
tive principle ; we have
the idea of maternity as
the principle of creation,
and each has its god.
The god I sis holds her
child Horus, and this be-
came as much a manifes-
tation of the most sacred
form of humanity to the Egyptians as the Madonna and Child
are to devout Catholics to-day. I was struck with this sacred
sentiment pervading the inscriptions on the tombs and temples,
and, more than all, I was impressed with the peculiar form of
the emblem by which the devout Egyptian expressed his confi-
dence in a future life. You see it in ten thousand places, every-
where recurring, everywhere expressing the faith of heathens
in eternity. This emblem is a longitudinal line, the top formed
into an elliptical loop, crossed by another line about one third
MOONLIGHT O.N THE NILE
74
THE NILE.
from the top. You had only to press the loop together to re-
duce it into a single line to have the cross — the very cross upon
which our Saviour suffered, and which is to-day the emblem of
Christian faith throughout the world.
One visit worth noting was made to the town of Keneh.
We tied the steamer up to the bank in our summary way, just
as the wayfaring horseman dismounts and ties his horse to a
tree. There is no question of wharves, or quays, or permission.
When we tied we all went ashore and picked out our donkeys.
The boys had seen our smoke far down the river and were there
to meet us. The town was a mile or so off, and we rode over
the plain. It was a sad sight, and Sami Bey told us what a
calamity this bad Nile meant to Egypt. When the Nile rises
in its season and floods the fields, only departing when it leaves
the richness that it brought all the way from Central Africa,
then Egypt is rich. The ground teems with fatness, and I
could well believe Sami Bey when he told us how he had rid-
den from the river bank to the town through fields of corn and
sugarcane, through fields of waving, living, joyous green. To-
day the fields are parched, and brown, and cracked. The irri-
gating ditches are dry. You see the stumps of the last season's
crop. But with the exception of a few clusters of the castor
bean and some weary, drooping date palms, the earth gives
forth no fruit. A gust of sand blows over the plain and adds
to the somberness of the scene. Here are hundreds of thou-
sands of acres which, in a good year, would give generous crops.
Now they give nothing, and the people who till them must be
fed. A bad Nile, therefore, means bad times for the people
and bad times for the government. For when there are no
crops there are no taxes, and even an Egyptian taskmaster could
not force barren fields to pay revenue to the Khedive's trea-
sury. It is safe to say that a bad Nile costs Egypt millions ol
dollars. The people must live on last year's gain, and instead
of helping the government must be helped by the government.
When you remember that the Khedive is under many burdens
— the burden of an enormous debt, the interest of which is in
default ; a burden of a contingent in the; Turkish army which
KEXEH.
275
he must support, the burden of the annual tribute to the Sultan,
over $3,500,000 a year, you can understand the calamity of a
bad Nile, and why it is that most of the civil and military officers
are in arrears for their salary — some of them for a year. Hap-
pily such a calamity as a bad Nile does not often occur. If it
happened for two or three continuous years a famine would be
the result. If the Nile ceased its office Egypt would have to be
abandoned and these fertile plains given over to the desert. In
fact Egypt is only an annual struggle between the river and the
desert. If ever the river surrenders, Egypt will become a bar-
ren, treeless plain of rocks and sand.
The sand was blowing heavily as we entered Keneh. We
had not been expected, so there were no ceremonies, and we
could wander as we pleased. We dismounted under a grove of
trees and went on foot into the town, our donkeys and donkey-
boys following after. We strolled through the bazaars, which
meant that we crowded our way through narrow, dusty passages
where the tradesman sold his wares. The assortment was not
2 j6 THE XI LE.
varied — beads, grain, cloths, dates, pipes, and trinkets. We went
into one house, where the potter was busy over his wheel. In
Keneh pottery is an industry. The clay makes a fragile, porous
vessel, through which the water evaporates in summer, acting
as a filter and a water-cooler. These vessels are grateful in the
summer days, and there is quite a trade in them between Keneh
and Lower Egypt. We had observed coming up rafts of stone
jars, bound together with boughs, floating down the stream,
very much as the old flatboats used to float down the Missis-
sippi to New Orleans, laden with Western produce. The jars
kept their own buoyancy, and one raft would require not more
than three or four men to ply it. The potter was very skillful.
His child moistened the clay, and with deft fingers he fashioned
it into form — into graceful lines and curving shapes, showing
artistic sense. The cheapness of the work when done was
amazing. The retail price was about eighty cents a hundred
for small jars useful for the table. We went into a mill where
the corn was grinding. It was the same process that we read
about in the Bible — the horse going round and round, the grain
crushing between an upper and nether stone and running into
a pail. We went into one of the houses of the common peo-
ple. Hassan led the way, and there was evidently no intrusion.
A morsel of baksheesh would atone for any invasion of do-
mestic privacy.
The house was a collection of rooms ; the walls made of
dried mud and bricks. It was one story high, thatched with
straw. The floor was the ground. The walls were clay. In
one room was the donkey, in another the cow — a queer kind of
buffalo cow, that looked up at us as we went in. In another
room slept the members of the family. There was neither bed
nor chair nor table. They slept on the ground or on palm
leaves, like the donkey. They sat on the ground for meals and
ate out of the same dish. The woman was sitting over a fire
on which she was roasting some kind of grain. The children
were sprawling about her. The woman was a Copt and not
doomed to Moslem seclusion. The father stood at the door
grinning and waiting for baksheesh. The welcome was as
ASSOUAN.
277
cordial as possible, but I suppose there were not a thousand
slaves in the South who were not better housed than these free
Egyptian citizens. Their life was virtually that of a savage,
but they all seemed happy and cheerful enough. In this land
nature is the friend of the poor. You can sleep on the ground
nearly every night of the year secure from rain. You can array
yourself in the scantiest raiment. You can live on dates and
sugarcane, and, as far as the mere ailments that come from
want and misery are concerned, they are not known in Egypt.
The people are well made, well formed, with unusual powers of
endurance, and naturally bright. I would like to see any of our
laboring men at home runup and down the Pyramid of Cheops
in eight minutes, as I saw an Arab do for a franc. And we
have no damsels among our own
dear, tender, lovely maidens at
home who could run at your don-
key's side for miles and miles, bal-
ancing a pitcher of water on their
heads and showing no signs of
fatigue.
We thought we had the town
to ourselves to stroll and wander
where we listed, when there came
one to us in haste to say that the
pacha who governed this province
had heard of our coming and
would like to see us at the palace.
And the General, who is as patient
under the burdens of these ever-
coming ceremonies as one of the
laden camels we are constantly
passing, said he would call on the pacha. We threaded our
way to the palace, which was a low brick building, like a bar-
racks. The messenger evidently did not expect so prompt an
answer to his summons, as we saw him running ahead to tell his
lord that we were coming — coming almost on his heels. We
passed under a grateful row of trees, through an open space
EGYPTIAN MAIDEN.
2 7 8
THE NILE.
where soldiers were lounging about, and into the cool, open
rooms of the palace. We were shown into the reception
chamber and ranged on the divan. There was a long pause.
The governor was no doubt enjoying a siesta, and had to rub
the sleep out of his eyes or don his uniform. In time he came,
a stout, pleasant-looking, gray-mustached soldier, in his full
uniform as general. We had surprised him, of course, and he
had to dress. He received the General with grave courtesy,
and there was the usual exchange of compliments and talk
about the weather. The General varied the conversation by
expressing his regret that the bad Nile was on the people, and
hoping for a good Nile. When this was translated, as the
pacha only spoke Arabic, he threw up his eyes with a gesture
of devotion, saying, " If God wills it, and may He will it."
Then came the coffee and the pipes, and we set forth. The
governor said he would accompany us in our walk, which he
did. He directed that the state donkeys should be saddled,
and they came after us. We then called upon the German
consul, who waylaid us and begged that we should honor his
house. This officer lived in a style approaching splendor, and
when we were served with pipes and coffee we noticed that
the pipe stems were of amber, garnished with diamonds, and
the coffee cups were of the finest porcelain, in cases of silver
and gold. These ceremonies over, we came back to the boat
through a gust of sand.
Id
X
H
Z
C
THE NILE.
CHAPTER X.
the nile (continued).
UR imaginations had been dwelling all these days on
Thebes. We read it up and talked about it, and
said, " When we see Thebes we shall see one of the
wonders of the world." We learned that Thebes
was once a city that covered both banks of the Nile ; that it
was known to Homer as the City of the Hundred Gates ; that
it must have had three hundred thousand inhabitants, and that
it sent out twenty thousand armed chariots. It was famed for
its riches and splendor until it was besieged. There was the
temple of Memnon and the colossal statue which used to sing
its oracles when the sun rose. Here was to be found the palace
temple of the great Rameses, the only ruin in Egypt known to
have been the home of a king. Here we would see the columns
of Luxor, the twin obelisk to the one now in Paris, the stupen-
dous ruins of Karnak and the tombs of the kings. Thebes
alone would repay us for our long journeyings ; and we talked
about Sesostris and the Pharaohs in a familiar manner, as
though they knew we were coming and would be at home.
-79
280
THE XILE.
And when we became a little hazy on our history and could
not get our kings exactly straight, and were not sure whether
Sesostris was in the nineteenth or the twenty- ninth dynasty,
we always fell back on Brugsch, who knew all the dynasties
and was an ever-running spring of information, and always as
gentle and willing as he was learned. I am afraid we bothered
Brugsch a good deal about Pharaoh, and where Joseph lived,
and where Moses was found in the bulrushes, and whether there
IRRIGATING MACHINE
were any still growing, and at what point of the Red Sea Pha-
raoh's host was drowned, with other questions about the plague
and the destroying angel. You see, these are the questions
which the American mind with Sunday-school ideas about the
past will ask about Egypt ; and it is some time before the truth
begins to dawn upon you that you are walking among the ruins
of a civilization which filled the world centuries before Moses
was born, and that the rude stone beetle which the Arab insists
upon selling you was reverently placed upon the bosom of a
king who reigned before Joseph. It is some time before you
see the horizon beyond the shorter-catechism history, and so,
LUX OK. 2 gj
I am afraid we bothered Brugsch with our Sunday-school ques-
tions. By the time we approached Thebes we were well out
of that stage and were well up in our Rameses, and knew all
about Thebes, the mighty, the magnificent Thebes, the city of
a world's renown, of which we had been reading and dreaming
all these years. And as Brugsch, leaning over the rail, talked
about Thebes, we listened and watched through the clear air
for the first siyn of its grlory. There were the mountains be-
yond, the very mountains of which we had read, and there was
the plain. But where was Thebes ? We looked through our
glasses, and saw at first only the brown caverned hills, the
parched fields and the shining sand. We looked again, and
there sure enough were the colossal statues of Memnon, two
broken pillars, so they seemed, with a clump of trees near them.
Only the fields, the sand and the hills beyond ; only the same
cluster of hovels on the shore and the two distant columns.
This was all that remained of the glory of the city that was the
glory of the ancient world.
There was one at least in that small company whose imagi-
nation fell, and who could scarcely believe that so much splen-
dor could only be this barren plain. But this is no time for
moral reflections, as we are coming into the town of Luxor, one
fragment of the old city, and on the shore opposite to Memnon.
We are coming to the shore, and we see that we have been
expected. The population of Luxor is on the river bank ; all
the consulates have their flags flying, and the dahabeeahs, of
which there are five or six, have their flags up. Right at the
landing place is a neat three-storied stone building, painted
white, with the American and Brazilian flags on the roof. The
house is all hung with boughs of the date palm and deco-
rated with lanterns. Over the door there are two American
flags, and two soldiers are on guard. Evidently Luxor is in
great excitement, for as we come to the wharf two soldiers on
the roof fire six or seven shots from their muskets. This is our
salute, and as soon as the plank is run ashore the vice consul
comes on board with the governor and welcomes the General.
Then we go ashore, and call on the vice consul. We enter
282
THE NILE.
the house and pass over stone floors strewn with Turkish and
Persian rugs of great value. We pass into the best chamber
of the house, and we hear another series of musket shots. In
this best chamber the host points out a picture of the General,
which he says in Arabic is one of his household gods, and that
the day which brought the General under his roof will ever be
a blessed day to him. We noticed also a picture of President
Hayes. We sat on the divan,
and the coffee was brought,
and after the coffee long pipes.
Then, at the request of our
host, we all went up to the
BSpi roof of his house, where we
™ had a fine view of the country,
the country which once shone with the magnificence of Thebes,
but which is now only a valley between two ranges of hills — a
valley of sand and parched fields, here and there a cluster of
hovels called a village, here and there a ruin almost hidden
from view by the shadows of the descending sun.
After we had finished our hospitalities we wrote our names
LUXOR,
28 3
in the vice consul's book. We noted the names of Dom Pedro
of Brazil, and famous Americans like Mr. Washburne and Mr.
Boker. Then we sauntered around the town. There were
four or five average houses from which flags were flying-. These
were the houses of the consular agents. There was one house
in a grove surrounded by trees which we did not visit. Brugsch
told us that this house had been occupied by an American who
lived in Luxor fifteen years, but had now gone away. Not-
ing the eagerness of travelers for antiquities he entered into
their manufacture, and would make mummy lids, scarabei, hie-
roglyphic inscriptions and idols. We were sorry to learn that
a fellow countryman had practiced wooden-nutmeg games in
Egypt as an industry ; but it was some comfort to know that
his imitations were so well done that only an expert could de-
tect them. If an American has no character, let us be grate-
ful that he has skill. This American had skill enough to make
money and go home, and Luxor knows him no more. I sup-
pose he is a reformer by this time — a candidate for Congress
and opposed to corruption. Brugsch grew eloquent in his
denunciation of the fabricator of antiquities, and his revelations
quite dampened any ambition I may have had to become a col-
lector of Egyptian relics.
The town of Luxor as it is called is really a collection of
houses that have fastened upon the ruins of the old temple.
This temple is near the river, and has a fine facade. It was
built by Amunoph III. and Rameses II., who reigned between
thirteen and fifteen hundred years before Christ. I am not very
particular about the dates, because I have learned that a cen-
tury or two does not make much difference in writing about the
Egyptian dynasties. In fact the scholars themselves have not
agreed upon their chronology. The only scholar in whom we
have any faith is Brugsch, and when he tells us that this temple
is much more than three thousand years old, we believe him. It
is not a very old temple as temples go, and Brugsch shows it to
us in a matter-of-fact way, saying, " Wait until you see Karnak."
There is a fine obelisk here, the companion of the one now
standing in the Place de Concorde. There is a statue of Rameses,
2 3 4 THE NILE.
of colossal size, now broken and partly buried in the sand. The
walls are covered with inscriptions of the usual character — the
o-lory of the king, his victories, his majesty, his devotion to the
gods, and the decree of the gods that his name will live for mil-
lions of years. I have no doubt much more could be seen and
known of this Luxor temple but for modern vandalism. The
town is simply a collection of fungi fastened on the temple. The
French took one
wing of pillars and
put up a house when
they were here in
1 799. The English
consulate is within
the temple walls, de-
facing the finest part
of the facade. It
is a shame that a
nation like
should
allow her flag to
float over a house
whose presence is a
desecration, a rob-
bery, a violation of
international cour-
tesy. There could
be no more shame-
less vandalism ; and
when one of our
party asked Brugsch
why the Khedive did not take the house down and allow the
owner to take his flag elsewhere, like other consuls, the answer
was that he did not wish to offend England. This is one of the
many instances, I am sorry to say, where English influence in
the East is only another name for English tyranny. The Eng-
lishman, so jealous of his own rights at home, so eloquent in de-
fense of British honor, sincerity and fair play, is the least con-
great
England
i'ALM GROVE.
RIDE TO MEMNON.
285
siderate of the rights of others in a land like Egypt. He looks
upon these people as his hewers of wood and drawers of water,
whose duty is to work and to thank the Lord when they are
not flogged. They only regard these monuments as reservoirs
from which they can supply their own museums, and tor that
purpose they have plundered Egypt, just as Lord Elgin plun-
dered Greece. The Khedive has been trying to put a stop to
the business, and with some success. But means are found to
evade his commands. It is really an act of fraud to take a
monument or an antiquity out of Egypt. Yet Brugsch says
with natural emotion that whenever any especially rare dis-
covery is made during the excavations, the most valuable relic
of all is pretty certain to be found shortly after in one of the
European museums.
In the morning we made ready for our trip to Memnon, and
the temple home of Rameses. We set out early in the morn-
ing — early at least for a party of idle voyagers who do not
crave a reputation for early rising. We had to cross the river,
our boatmen sing-in °r their Arab music. And when we landed on
the other shore we had, thanks to the forethought of our consul
at Thebes, a collection of stable donkeys, with a well-mounted
horse for the General. We were a little time getting under way.
There was the escort of servingmen with the luncheons on
camels, who pushed ahead. Then came the General and his
party. The party was composed of fifteen, as we had with us
the consul, the governor of the province, the Marquis and Has-
san. But as every donkey had two donkey-boys, with a couple
of girls carrying water on their heads running at your side — as
there was a sheik, in stately turban, and five or six soldiers on
guard — and a crowd crying for baksheesh and offering antiqui-
ties for sale, our tourists' group grew to be quite an army, and
as we trailed over the plain we looked like a caravan. The
antiquity dealers and water-girls swarmed around us so that it
was difficult to ride with comfort, and Hassan, who has practi-
cal ways of settling problems, went among them with a stick.
Hassan's energy, however, brought his good name into peril,
for the idea of beating the nimble, ragged maidens who flocked
286
THE NILE.
about us and filled the air with dust, was revolting to the lady
of the expedition, who summoned Hassan before her and for-
bade him to beat the children. Hassan, who is as kindly a be-
ing as ever carried a cimeter, explained that he only wanted to
frighten them and did not beat anybody. I quite believed him,
for in a race the water-girls, who were as nimble as a razelle,
STATUES OF MEMhyN.
would leave Hassan, who is stout and slow, far behind in no time.
So, as a preventive measure, Hassan was instructed to make pub-
lic announcement that unless the water-girls and donkey-boys
and antiquity peddlers remained far behind, where they would
not raise the dust, they should have no baksheesh. Hassan
made this terrible proclamation from his donkey with many ges-
ticulations and shakings of his stick ; and so we kept on with
moderate comfort and peace. But every now and then some
one of the children would steal up to your side under pretense
ST. I TUBS OF M EMM ON.
287
of offering you water, and coax you for a copper coin with their
large, black, wondering eyes, so that resistance was impossible,
and in this way we came to Memnon.
All that is left of Memnonism are the two colossal statues,
the one to the north being the statue that, according to the his-
torians and priests, used to utter a sound every morning when
the sun rose. The statue is silent enough now, and is a mono-
lith about fifty feet high. A good part of the base is buried in
the earth, but they loom up over the plain, and may be seen — as
in fact we did see them — miles and miles away. You may have
an idea of the size when you know that the statue measures
eighteen feet three inches across the shoulders, sixteen feet six
inches from the top of the shoulder to the elbow, and the other
portions of the body in due proportion. No trace can be found
of the cause of the vocal sunrise phenomenon. One theory is
that the priests used to climb into a recess in the body of the
statue and perform a juggler's trick. I do not think so badly of
the Egyptian priests, who, I suppose, were good men in their
way, and not charlatans. You might find one priest in a multi-
tude capable of climbing into a recess and calling upon the peo-
ple to pay pew rent, or tithes, or something of the kind. But
this sound continued for generations, and I do not believe you
could find generations of priests carrying on the deception for
years and years; so I dismiss that theory and take another which
Brugsch explains to us. The statue would be moist with dew
at sunrise, and the sun's rays acting upon the dew would cause
it to emit a sound like an interrupted chord of music ; just such
a sound as you hear from a sea-shell if you hold it to your ear.
As the sun is sure to shine every morning on these plains you
could be certain that such a phenomenon would recur daily. I
can well imagine how a freak of nature might be taken as the
voice of the gods, and how humble priests would bow down to
it and not enter into scientific speculations. After the statue
had been tossed by an earthquake and riven, the music ceased,
which only confirms me in doing justice to the poor priests.
After we had ridden around the Memnon statue and its com-
panion — around and around them, so as to see them from all
2 S8 THE NILE.
sides and have a full sense of their immensity — after we had
rested a half hour in the grateful shade of the column, for the
day was warm and severe, we made our way to the neighbor-
ing temple of Medeenet Aboo. Our ride to this temple was
over a mass of sand and rubbish. But near it was a sheltering
grove of date palms, and the Marquis, whose practical mind is
never disturbed by any ruins, however ancient, quietly informed
us, as an encouragement under the beating sun, that we were
to have luncheon.
Medeenet Aboo was one of the great temples of Thebes, and
it deserves special mention here as the only one where you can
find traces of the home life of an Egyptian king. I had been
asking Brugsch on many occasions where we could see some
trace of how king and people lived in the early days. One
grew tired — let me say it if I dare without irreverence — one
grew tired of temples and tombs and these endless tributes to
the valor of kings and the virtues of the gods. So when we
came to Medeenet Aboo we were shown the rooms where the
great Rameses lived. This was the third Rameses, who lived
twelve, or perhaps thirteen centuries before Christ — who is
supposed by some to have succeeded the Pharaoh who brought
the plagues upon Egypt. To enter the private apartments of
a great monarch is undoubtedly a privilege, and I was prepared
for some ceremony in making our call. But the apartment was
in the second story, and the ceremonies were something like
those which a schoolboy adopts in climbing a neighbor's cherry
tree. You climbed a stone, and then a wall, and up the wall
over stones which time and sight-seers had worn smooth, anil
into a window from a precarious ledge. I suppose the great
king entered into the bosom of his family by some less compli-
cated method; and as I saw Hadden and Wilner climb the rock
nimbly enough I remembered that they were sailors, and could
run up rigging, and that I would wait and take their word for
it when they came down. But when I saw the conqueror of
Lee deliberately follow, and scale the imperial chamber with all
the activity of a young lieutenant, a sense of reproach came
over me, and I was bound to follow. The room in which his
MEDEENET A BOO.
?8o
majesty lived, and which one reached somewhat out of breath
and a good deal covered with dust, was not an imposing apart-
ment. It evidently feels the absence of the master's eye, for
the bats have taken possession and the roof is gone. The walls
are covered with inscriptions. But you see gentler themes than
those we have been studying these many, many days. Here
the king lived with the ladies of his harem. You see him at-
tended by them. They are giving him lotus flowers ; they
wave fans before him. In one picture he sits with a favorite at
a eame of draughts. His arm
is extended, holding a piece
in the act of moving. I am
afraid he had little trouble in
winning that frame, as his fair
opponent, instead of watching
the moves, is nursing his senses
by holding a perfumed flower
to his nose. This glimpse of
the natural domestic life of the
old days was refreshing after
the battles and prayers that
had followed us all the way
from Abydos. It is the only
fact I care to note about this
temple, especially as we are to-
morrow to visit Karnak, and
in the presence of that stupen-
dous ruin why waste space on Medeenet Aboo ? So we go
down into the sanctuary and take our luncheon, the Marquis,
who did not climb the ruin, welcoming us with beaming eyes.
We gather about the rude table, and we drink the health of
the Khedive, and home again. We have the same proces-
sion, donkey-boys and water-maidens and sellers of relics.
When we come to the river bank Mrs. Grant summons all
the maidens to her and distributes baksheesh. The attempt
to preserve order is vain. The water-maidens rushed and
screamed, and rushed at the purse, and when paid at one end
19
BY THE WAYSIDE.
2go THE NILE.
of the line ran down to the other and cried because they had
received nothing. Finally, after liberal disbursements and in
sheer despair at doing justice to all, and not without a mur-
mur at the savagery and selfishness of the ones she meant
to aid, our gracious lady turned the business over to Hassan.
As we pushed off in our boats we saw Hassan making his small
payments to a quite orderly and decorous crowd. But Hassan
had a stick, and, alas ! that one must write it of so glorious a
land, the stick has become an essential element in the manners
and customs of the people.
We had seen Thebes, we had even begun to grow weary of
Thebes. There was a dinner in state which had to be eaten.
The General was tired and concluded he would not go. He
had been riding all day to Memnon, the temple, and back again,
and we were all dusty and tired. But when the General's re-
o-ret was sent our Arab host was so sad about it, and so ap-
prehensive lest his fellow consuls, who knew the General had
dined with other vice consuls on the way, might misconstrue
his absence. So the General went in state or in as much state
as we can assume in this region, our naval friends in full uniform.
I believe in the uniform hereafter as an element of civilization,
especially when I saw the awe which the epaulets and cocked
hat of Hadden inspired among the masses. There was a ten-
dency on the part of populations where we visited to take the
Doctor in his uniform for General Grant, and Hadden in his uni-
form for the son. When the traditions of this age are told by
venerable sheiks to listening children, I am afraid it will be said
that when the great king of the Americans came to Egypt and
made his entry his dress blazed with gold, with gold hanging
from his shoulders and fine gold seaming his limbs ; that he was
a tall, comely man, with a flowing beard — a beard like that of the
prophet, whose name is blessed and will live forever; that when
he mounted his donkey — his white donkey with trappings of gold
— the splendor of his form and his raiment was so dazzling that
the people bowed their heads and shaded their eyes, so great
was the glory thereof. You see this is the way history is made
by a credulous, imaginative people. But the uniforms lit up the
DINNER AT THEBES.
291
landscape and glowed under the candles. When we went to
our Theban dinner the Doctor was ill, and the honor fell upon
Hadden, who blazed in gold, and whom the waiters were with
the utmost difficulty prevented from helping as the honored
guest. Our dinner was served in the upper chamber of the
house, and the host sat on one side of the table eatiny nothing,
in a state of constant alarm, that made us sympathize with him.
He was an Egyptian, with a
keen, kind, swarthy face, with
a slight gray beard, who had
never been north of Thebes in
his life and had never drank any-
thing but Nile water. I suppose the honor of entertaining the
Chief Magistrate of the United States and the fear lest he
might not do us all the honor he wished oppressed him, and he
sat in deep oppression, his eye wandering from the General to
the waiters, who also seemed to share his alarm. The dinner
was a stupendous affair, course after course in Oriental profu-
sion, until we could not even pay the dishes the compliment of
2 Q2 THE NILE.
tasting them. Then came the coffee and the pipes. During
the dinner, which was composed of the host and our own party,
we had music. A group of Arab minstrels came in and squatted
on the floor. The leader of the band — I should say about half-
a-dozen — was blind, but his skill in handling his instrument was
notable. It was a rude instrument, of the violin class, the body
of it a cocoanut shell. He held it on the ground and played
with a bow, very much as one would play a violoncello. He
played love songs and narratives, and under the promptings of
Sami Bey went through all the grades of his art. But whether
the theme was love or war there came that sad refrain, that
motive of despair, that seemed to speak from the soul and to
tell of the unending misery of their race. Mr. Jesse Grant, who
has a taste for music, was quite interested in the performance,
and sought to teach the minstrels some of our European and
American airs. One of them was the " Marseillaise." The
Arab listened to it and tried again and again to follow the
notes. He would follow for a few bars and break down, break
into the same mournful cadence which had been the burden of
his melody. It seemed strange, this burdened and beaten slave
trying to grasp that wild, brave, bold anthem which spoke the
resolve of a nation to be free. It was beyond and above him.
The music of the "Marseillaise" was never intended for the
Libyan desert. If these people, oppressed and driven as they
are, should ever come to know it, there will be hope for this
land of promise, which has so long been the land of sorrow and
servitude.
We were to see the wonder of the world in Karnak. Kar-
nak is only about forty minutes from Luxor, and does not
involve crossing the river. I was grateful to the vice consul
for sending us the same group of donkeys who had borne us to
Memnon. And when I ascended the hill there was my friend
Mohammed Ali jumping and calling and pushing his donkey
toward me. A good donkey has much to do with the pleasure
of your journey, and Mohammed Ali's was a patient, sure-footed
little thing that it made me almost ashamed to ride. We set
out early, because it was commanded by Sami Bey that we
KARNAK.
-'93
should return to the boat and breakfast, and while at breakfast
steam up the river.
I cannot tell you when the Temple of Karnak was built.
You see, in this matter of chronology, authorities as high as
Wilkinson, Bun-
sen, and Mari-
etta differ some-
times as much as
a thousand years
in a single date.
But m y o w n
opinion is that
Brugsch knows
all about it, and
he places the
first building
three thousand
years b e fo r e
Christ. This
seems to be a
long time, but I
wonder if we
think how lone
ago it really
was ? You will
remember read-
ing how Abra-
ham went down
T-" . 1 KARNAK.
to h. g y p t be-
cause of the famine in the land, taking with him Sarah, his wife,
who was fair, and whom he passed off as his sister. And Abra-
ham, rich in cattle and silver and gold, went back from Egypt
to become the founder and father of his race? When we recall
the story of Abraham's visit to Egypt it seems as if we were
going back to the beginning of things, for we go back to the
time of Lot, Melchisedec, Sodom and Gomorrah. Well, if
Abraham on that visit had visited Thebes — and it is quite pos-
2QA THE NILE.
sible he did, especially after he became rich — he would have
seen a part of this very temple of Karnak, and he could have
read on its walls the very inscription which Brugsch translates
to-day, and which would have told him, as it tells us, of the
glory of a king who had reigned before him. It is, to the
writer at least, this comparative chronology, this blending of
the history you see on every temple and tomb with the history
that came to us in childhood from the pious mother's knee, that
gives Egypt its never-ceasing interest. You sit in the shadow
of the column, sheltered from the imperious noonday sun — the
same shade which, perhaps, sheltered Abraham as he sat and
mused over his fortunes and yearned for his own land. The
images are here; the legends are as legible as they were in his
time. You sit in the shadow of the column, thinking about
luncheon and home and your donkey, and hear the chattering
of Arabs pressing relics upon you, or doing your part in merry,
idle talk. It is hard to realize that in the infinite and awful
past — in the days when the Lord came down to the earth and
communed with men and gave his commandments — these col-
umns and statues, these plinths and entablatures, these mighty
bending walls, upon which chaos has put its seal, were the
shrines of a nation's faith and sovereignty. Yet this is all told
in stone.
I find myself in a whirl in writing about Karnak, and the
truth is I have put off again and again writing about it in
the hope that some inspiration might come to make it all plain.
What I or any of us, any hurried traveler from another world,
may do or think, is of little value; and if I were to give you
simply our personal experiences — how we came and strolled,
how we climbed over masses of rubbish, how we clustered about
Brugsch and heard him unravel the inscriptions on the walls,
how we had our photographs taken, how we had a bit of lun-
cheon quenched in grateful waters, it would be a page out of
General Grant's experiences in Egypt, but it would tell nothing
of Karnak. What I tried to do, at least as I rode around its
walls, what in fact I have tried to do always in Egypt, is to
bring back the temples as they were and picture them in their
KARNAK.
295
splendor, and then look at them in their ruin. I fancied I did
something of this at Dendoreh and Abydos and Et Foo — that
I could really see what those temples must have been in their
day — but Karnak sweeps beyond the imagination, so vast and
solemn is the ruin.
Let me take refuge for a moment in some figures which I
condense from the books and from what Brugsch tells me in
conversation. Karnak, which was not only a temple, but one
in the series of temples which constituted Thebes, is about a
half mile from the river, a mile or two from the temple of
Luxor. The front wall or propylon is 370 feet broad, 50 feet
deep, and the standing tower 140 feet high. Leading up to
this main entrance is an
avenue lined with statues
and sphinxes, 200 feet
long. When you enter
this gate you enter an open
court-yard, 275 feet by 329.
There is a corridor or
cloister on either side ; in
the middle a double line of
columns, of which one only
remains. You now come
to another wall, or pro-
pylon, as large as the
entrance, and enter the
the most mag-
ruin in Egypt.
The steps of the door are
40 feet by 10. The room
is 1 70 feet by 329, and the
roof was supported by 134 columns. These columns are all or
nearly all standing, but the roof has o-one. Twelve are 62 feet
high without the plinth, and 1 1 feet 6 inches in diameter. One
hundred and twenty-two are 42 feet 5 inches in height and 28
feet in circumference. They were all brilliantly colored, and
some of them retain the colors still ; and you can well imagine
great hall
nificent
296 THE NILE.
what must have been the blaze of lieht and color when the kines
and priests passed through in solemn procession. We pass
through another gate into an open court. Here is an obelisk
in granite seventy-five feet high, and the fragments of an-
other, its companion. The inscriptions on them are as clear as
though they had been cut yesterday, so gentle is this climate in
its dealings with Time. They celebrate the victories and virtues
of the kings who reigned seventeen hundred years before Christ,
and promise the kings in the name of the immortal gods that
their glory shall live for ages. We pass into another chamber
very much in ruins and see another obelisk ninety-two feet high
and eight square — the largest in the world. This monument
commemorates the virtues of the king's daughter, womanly and
queenly virtues, which met their reward, let us hope, thirty-five
centuries ago. You may form some idea of what the Egyptians
could do in the way of mechanics and engineering when you
know that this obelisk is a single block of granite, that it was
brought from the quarry miles and miles away, erected and
inscribed in seven months. The next room was the sanctuary,
the holy of holies, and is now a mass of rubbish requiring nim-
ble feet to climb. You scramble over stones and sand until
you come to what was the room where King Thothmes III.,
who lived sixteen centuries before Christ, was represented as
giving offerings to fifty-six of his royal predecessors. The hall
is a ruin, and some French vandals carried off the tablet — one
of the most valuable in Egypt — to Paris. Altogether the build-
ing alone was 1,108 feet long and about 300 wide, the circuit
around the outside, according to a Roman historian who saw it
in its glory, being about a mile and a half.
This is the temple, but the temple was only a part. There
were three avenues leading from it to the other temples. These
avenues were lined with statues, large and small, generally of
the sphinx. I saw numbers of them sitting in their ancient
places slowly crumbling to ruin. There were two colossal
statues at the door, now lying on the earth an uncouth mass of
granite. One of them was almost buried in the sand, the ear
being exposed. You can fancy how large it must have been
KARNAK. tq7
when you know this ear was a foot long at least. Near the
obelisk, some distance from the temple, is a pool of water, on
the banks of which black children are scampering and shouting
"Baksheesh, howadji." This was the Sacred Lake. This lake
had an important office in the religion of the old Egyptians.
When an Egyptian died and was embalmed his body was
brought to the lake. The procession was a solemn one —
mourners throwing dust on their heads, a priest sprinkling water
from a brush dipped in a vase, very much as Catholic priests
sprinkle holy water ; attendants throwing palms on the ground,
others carrying fruits and meats, incense and ostrich feathers.
The coffin was borne on a sledge until it came to this lake.
Here were forty- two judges, men who had known the deceased.
Here was the boat, the sacred boat that was to carry the body
to the other shore. If it could be shown to these judges that
the deceased had been an ungodly man, that his life had been a
scandal, then he was denied sepulture. If it was shown that he
had lived worthily and the judges so decided, then all weeping
ceased, eulogies were pronounced upon his memory, the body
was carried to the other shore, and from thence removed to the
catacombs to rest in honor and peace — in peace, at least, until
Arab peasants rummaged their graves and made merchandise
of their coffins and grave-clothes, their ornaments and tokens,
their very bones, just as these greasy Arabs who swarm about
our donkeys are doing at this very hour.
Wherever we find walls we have inscriptions. The inscrip-
tions are in hieroglyphic language — a language as clear to
scholars now as the Latin or the Sanskrit. Brugsch reads them
off to us as glibly as though he were reading signs from a
Broadway store. The stories will hardly bear repetition, for
they are the same that we saw at Dendoreh, at Abydos, all
through Egypt. They tell of battles and the glory of the king
Rameses, who is supposed to be the Sesostris of the Greeks.
We have him leading his men to attack a fortified place. Again
we see him leading foot soldiers and putting an enemy to the
sword. We have him leading his captives as an offering to the
gods — and offering not only prisoners, but booty. The groups
.'98
THE NILE.
of prisoners are rudely done, but you see the type of race. We
know the Hebrew by the unmistakable cast of features — as
marked as the face of Lord Beaconsfield. We trace the Phoe-
nician, the Etruscan, as well as the negro types from Ethiopia,
and thus learn of the warlike achievements of this monarch,
whose fame is carved all over Egypt, and about whose name
there is an interesting; debate. Ag-ain and again these war
themes are repeated, one king after another reciting his con-
quests and his virtues, wars and treaties of peace. It seemed
in the building of these temples that the intention was to make
the walls monumental records of the achievements of various
reigns. Thus five centuries are covered by the reigns of Sethi
and Sheshonk, and yet each king tells his own story side by
side. When the walls were covered, or a king wished to be
especially gracious to the priests, or, as is more probable, de-
sired to employ his soldiers, he would build a new wing or ad-
dition to the temple already existing, striving if possible to
make his own addition more magnificent than those of his pre-
decessors. In this way came the Great Hall of Karnak, and in
every temple we have visited this has been noticed. As a con-
sequence these stupendous, inconceivable ruins were not the
work of one prince and one generation, but of many princes and
many generations. And, as there was always something to acid
and always a new ambition coming into play, we find these
temples, tombs, pyramids, obelisks, all piled one upon the other,
all inspired by the one sentiment and all telling the same story.
It was because that Thebes was the center of a rich and fertile
province, sheltered from an enemy by the river and the moun-
tains, that she was allowed to grow from century to century in
uninterrupted splendor. What that splendor must have been
we cannot imagine. Here are the records and here are the
ruins. If the records read like a tale of enchantment, these
ruins look the work of gods. The world does not show, except
where we have evidences of the convulsions of nature, a ruin as
vast as that of Karnak. Imagine a city covering two banks of
the Hudson, running as far as from the Battery to Yonkers, and
back five, six, or seven miles, all densely built, and you have an
KARNAK.
299
idea of the extent of Thebes. But this will only give you an
idea of size. The buildings were not Broadways and Fifth
Avenues, but temples, and colossal monuments, and tombs, the
greatness of which and the skill and patience necessary to build
them exciting our wonder to-day — yes, to-day, rich as we are
with the achievements and
possibilities of the nine-
teenth century. Thebes in
its day must have been a
wonder of the world, even
of the ancient world which
knew Nineveh and Baby-
lon. To-day all that re-
mains are a few villages
of mud huts, a few houses
in stone flying consular
flags, a plain here and
there strewed with ruins,
and under the sands ruins
even more stupendous than
those we now see, which
have not yet become mani-
fest.
We were told that we
should see Karnak by moon-
light, that the effect would
be worth the journey, and
there would be the chance
of shooting a hyena. But
the moon was not in sea-
son, and the only two of
the party who cared about
hyenas, Mr. Grant and Mr. Wilner, were saving themselves for
the crocodiles, who were said to be in great force up the river wait-
ing to be shot. What a comment upon the vanity of human
wishes to see the sanctuary of Sesostris gravely pointed out to
sportsmen as the lair of the wild beast! But Egypt is full of these
EGYPTIAN WELL
300 THE NILE.
suggestions. I should like to have seen Karnak by moonlight,
but as this was not to be, we made the most of our mornine visit.
We followed Brugsch over the whole ruin and listened to his
story. We traced with him the inscriptions on the walls. We
gathered under the shade of a column, and, having carpeted a
broken column for Mrs. Grant, we sat around her and refreshed
ourselves out of a basket whose contents the Marquis dispensed
with his accustomed urbanity and grace. We lounged around
and about for an hour or so, smoking; chatting- wondering-
whether there was any news from the war ; whether there were
letters at Luxor ; whether the Pope was dead ; whether Con-
kling and Blaine had really made it all up ; whether Hadden
would be thrown from his donkey on his way back. We
formed a group and had a photograph taken, all of us there, on
the skirts of the great hall, surrounding the General and Mrs.
Grant. I suppose you can buy the picture if you come to
Thebes. The General wears his pith helmet, swathed in silk,
and you just catch a glimpse of the eyes and all the force of his
brave, kind, strong face. Mrs. Grant sits near him, shrinking
from the sun. Jesse Grant holds an Arab child close to him.
The child had been cling-ing; to him, following; him all the morn-
ing, holding the hem of his coat, following him with the wistful
eyes of a pet animal. Jesse had quite won the child by some
attention in the way of an orange or an apple, and it came with
him on his donkey to the boat, and only left after it had been
endowed beyond any Arab child in Luxor that day. Crouching
close to the ground is the face of our ever-kindly leader, that
good Moslem Sami Bey, his head enveloped in a silk cloth of
orang-eand ereen, that was brought to him from Mecca. There
is Brugsch, with the cane in his hand, anil if I only knew one
thousandth part of what he knows I would make these letters
an addition to our literature. Brugsch looks a little severe, but
he has been talking about the vandals who destroy monuments
and rob Egypt of her treasures, and wishing he had certain per-
sons in his power for a half hour, that he might inflict with his own
hands the severest punishment known to the laws. The bearded
face is that of Dr. Cooke, who would give all the ruins of Karnak
POWELL TUCKER. . QI
if he were sure of a mail when he returned to the boat. Hadden
sits in the corner with his legs crossed, and in a few minutes
he will be singing through the ruins the camp-meeting refrain,
" Let my people go." The consul general looks like a clergy-
man about to open service, and the young, mustached face near
him is that of Ensign Wilner, who hopes to be an admiral before
he dies. On the extreme left is Hassan, with his saber, who
has carried that weapon for eighteen years as the defender of
the American eagle. Next to Hassan is the Marquis — but it
does not do justice to my noble friend, whose face is blurred
and fails to disclose the philosophical lines of his countenance.
Mrs. Grant's maid Bella, who looks at all these ruins with the
eye of a devout Scottish Presbyterian, and sees in them only
the fulfillment of stern Hebrew prophecies, completes all the
essential elements in a group, which I am glad to have as a
memento of one day at Karnak.
It was here we came across the tracks of the name-writing
donkey. There are traces of this animal in other parts of the
world, but in Egypt they reach the highest form of develop-
ment. The stone is soft, and travelers who come here have
time to spend, and it is only an hour or two to cut your name
deep in the stone which for thirty centuries has borne the story
of a nation's power. You look at a fine range of carving and
follow the story of the legend, and suddenly you are arrested
by some name hacked in the walls — Brown, or Smith, or
Thompson. These inscriptions go back, some of them, a long
time. There are Greek names that belong to the days of the
Lower Empire. I saw many French names, belonging to the
expedition of Bonaparte in 1799, twenty at least, especially
on the top of the pylon at Et Foo. One name, "John Gordon,
1804," i s frequently repeated. I suppose John Gordon has an-
swered for his sins by this time, and let us hope that the record-
ing angel reminded him of the way he hacked the walls at
Luxor and Dendereh. But the greatest donkey of the tribe —
the monumental donkey of the age — is "Powell Tucker" of
New York. If Powell Tucker reads these lines he will learn
that his name is the theme of repeated execrations throughout
THE MILE.
Egypt. Powell, as the story goes, did not content himself with
carving his name on the walls — that, perhaps, would have been
too much trouble. So he carried a sailor with him, and this
sailor had a pot of black paint and a brush. Whenever Powell
came to a monument the sailor painted in large black letters,
"Powell Tucker, New York, 1870." Sometimes it is only " P.
T.," but the tracks are here and there all over Egypt. The
authorities in charge of the antiquities have tried to rub out
this and other marks of vandalism. But Powell's sailor painted
deep, and we voted unanimously that America was again in the
ascendant ; that whatever the American did he excelled the
world, and that
in a country
where you see
the name-writ-
ing donkey of
all species —
Greek, Arab,
French, Italian,
British — the
m o n u m ental
name - writing
donkey of the
age is Powell Tucker of New York. I hope Powell is alive, that
he may enjoy this well-earned fame. I would like to see him — to
look at him — to see with my own eyes a gentleman who could
wander through this land of beauty, fable, and historic renown —
this land of temples and tombs — and here, where generations of
a forgotten age had in patient faith and humility carved the
legends of their faith and their history — there, in the sanctuary
where the gods were worshiped, to have a sailor, with a pot of
black paint, to smear his name ! Let us all be proud of Tucker.
In his own department of usefulness as a name-writing donkey
he has given America a conceded although scarcely an enviable
renown.
Assouan was to be the end of our journey, the turning point
of our Nile trip. Assouan is the frontier station of Old Egypt,
ON THE NILE.
ASSOUA.X. , ,
on the boundary of Nubia. All these days we had been press-
ing toward the equator, and we began to see the change.
Assouan is a pretty town — to my mind prettier than any I had
seen on the Nile. It is difficult to make any standard of com-
parison among towns which are nearly all hovels, and, so far as
scenery is concerned, Nature in Egypt is in so grand a phase
that she is always winning. But there was something about
Assouan that attracted me. It may have been the grateful
trees that hung over the governor's palace — you see I call
every governor's house a palace — or it may have been the gover-
nor himself. This gentleman was a Nubian — seacoal black —
a tall, well-formed, handsome man, in the latest Parisian dress.
Our eyes had been feasting for so long upon man in various de-
grees of nakedness and rags that this presence — this real pre-
sence of embodied clothes, kid gloves, cashmere and cloth, with
the fez just tipping the left ear — was a sensation. It was like
a breath from the boulevards, although our governor seemed
uneasy in his clothes, and evidently feared they would be
soiled. These two early impressions — the trees and the gar-
ments — threw a glamour over Assouan, and now in writing, with
the memories of the trip floating before me, I find myself dwell-
ing with comfort upon this pleasant frontier Nubian town.
Of Assouan in the way of useful information it is sufficient
to say that it is a town of 4,000 inhabitants, 580 miles south of
Cairo, 730 south of the Mediterranean. It used to be supposed
that the town lay directly under the equator. In the ancient
days Assouan was a quarry, and here were found the stones
which became obelisks, temples, and tombs. Assouan's history
is associated more with Arabian than Egyptian history. When
Islam was marching to conquer the world the Saracens made a
town here and an outpost. When this glory departed Assouan
became, like most frontier towns in the wild days of men, the
scene of constant strifes and schisms between the Nubian and
Egyptian. There is a place called the Place of Martyrs, Mos-
lem martyrs, and a mosque eight hundred years old, and many
Turkish inscriptions: " I bear witness that there is no God but
God; that he has no rival, and that Mohammed is the prophet
3°4
THE NILE.
of God." We did not visit these places, and were I am
afraid more interested in knowing that it was at Assouan that
Juvenal lived in banishment. There was no house pointed out
as Juvenal's house, and no tree as Juvenal's tree. All of which
showed two things — lamentable lack of enterprise on the part
of Assouan, and that the priests took no interest in Juvenal's
character or deeds.
In these days
Assouan flour-
ishes as one of
the depots of
the desert trade.
Here the cara-
ASSOUAN.
vans come from
Ethiopia, and you find traces of desert merchandise among the
bazaars. We visited the bazaars, Mrs. Grant and the writer do-
ing some shopping, and Hassan going ahead with his stick, com-
manding all loyal subjects of the Khedive to fall back and make
way for the pilgrims. There were no bones and no antiquities
ASSOUAN BAZAARS. , Q1 -'
for sale at Assouan, a fact that I note with gratitude. But there
was honest merchandise of a humble sort — ostrich feathers, ivory,
gum arabic, skins, ebony clubs, silver rings, lances, and crockery.
It was the rumor of ostrich feathers that carried us to the
bazaars, and soon we were surrounded by a crowd waving the
plumes in our faces. The Marquis, in his quiet, circumspect
way, had purchased for me some Egyptian earthenware, with
which I intend to make a reputation as a connoisseur in the arts
when I return to America, if it is not broken. " This," said the
Marquis, as he turned the vases around and around that I might
admire them, " this is the best thing for presents to your friends.
You see, it don't cost too much, and people will say they have
what no one else has, and that is the way." The Marquis is
my friend and a prudent, man, and does not like to see me
spend money, and in his special acquirement, namely the study
of human nature, knows a million times more than I do. But
I told the Marquis that all my friends were pious people
who feared the Lord, and that I would take them home cru-
cifixes and rosaries. I had calculated that I could buy rosaries
and crosses in Jerusalem, made out of the sacred olive tree,
for about a franc apiece — that I could have them blessed by the
Pope when I came to Rome, and that my friends would esteem
them more than anything else, and that by an expenditure of
about twenty dollars I could win a great fame in New York, and
perhaps become a candidate for Congress in the lower district.
The Marquis is disposed to think that people at home would like
something useful, and as to beads and crosses he has philosophi-
cal views, which I will not repeat lest I might make a scandal.
The Marquis thought they must be queer people in America.
I told him we were a queer people, and well worth visiting.
What carried us to the bazaars was the ostrich feather.
This consummate plume of our modern civilization is brought
here in caravans from the desert. The best feathers are those
which come from wild birds — those trained and tamed, as in
Southern Africa, giving out a flimsier and coarser-fibered fea-
ther. I never knew there was so much in an ostrich feather
until 1 found myself the silent partner of Mrs. Grant in the
;o6
THE NILE.
markets of Assouan. I had seen a good deal of the feathers,
especially in London, on the signs of gentlemen appointed to
sell needles and soap and tripe to the Prince of Wales, and
had a vague impression that the principal demand for ostrich
feathers was to make plumes for his royal highness. But I soon
learned that there are qualities in the ostrich feather which a mere
matter- of- fact
writer of letters
and leading
articles had
never dreamed
of. It must be
so long or so
short. It must
dangle grace-
fully. It must
catch the sun-
light and throw
out its crloss.
There should
always be two
feathers, one a
little longer
than the other.
A white feather
— pure white —
spotless like the
snow, is a prize.
Black feathers
are common ;
and one value
of white and
gray feathers is that you can dye them. These are some of
the facts I learned as a result of my business experiences in
Assouan. I also learned some valuable hints as to the way of
doing business. In our prosy country you walk into a store,
you pay your money, you pick up your handkerchief or New
BUYING USTH1CH FEATHERS.
AT THE BAZAAR. - n ,
Testament, or whatever it may be, and walk away. You ask
no questions, and it is very probable if you did you would have
no answers. The Arab merchant sits in his cubbyhole smok-
ing his pipe. His cubbyhole is about six feet square and two feet
from the ground. He sits with his legs crossed, and sometimes
he is reading the Koran. Here he sits for hours and hours, un-
conscious of the world, perhaps sustained by that fine Moslem
precept which I submit to friends at home as a panacea for
bankruptcy, that whatever is is the will of God, and if it is His
holy will that no one comes and buys, then blessed be God, the
only God, and Mohammed the prophet of God.
You come to the bazaar and turn over his goods. The
merchant studies you over and over. He calculates your power
of resistance as though you were a mechanical force. If you
are alone you become an easy prey. The lady of our expe-
dition was always an easy prey. These people were all so
poor, so ragged, so naked, and what they asked was after all
so small, that she was always disposed to pay more than was
asked. But in our bargains here we are thrown back upon
Hassan's Arabic. You turn over your feathers and hold them
to the light and turn them over and over again. Finally you
select a bunch and bid Hassan buy them. Hassan picks them
up, lays them down and picks them up again, as though there
might be worse feathers, but he had never seen them ; that he
was selecting a feather museum and wanted a few specimens of
the worst in the world. The dealer calmly looks on at this
pantomime. Hassan asks in a contemptuous tone the price.
He murmurs the price — five or six napoleons, let us say.
"Five or six napoleons !" cries Hassan, throwing up his hands
and eyes, tossing the feathers at the feet of the cross-legged
Moslem and turning toward us with an expression of rage and
wonder at the exorbitance of the price, and calling upon all
around to witness, that he was beingr swindled. " Well, but
Hassan," says our lady, as she takes up the rejected feathers,
New York price lists running in her mind, " I don't think five
or six napoleons such an exorbitant price, for the feathers are
good feathers." You see the poor merchant does look so poor,
*oS
THE NILE.
and he cannot sell many feathers in Assouan, and of course he
has children, and so — and so.
But this is the way trade is ruined, Hassan evidently thinks,
but is too dutiful to say. So he explains that they always
ask two prices, sometimes three or four, and that if we would
all o-row angry and throw down the feathers and walk away after
him, the merchant would follow us even to the boat, and ask us
to name our price. Well,
we appreciate Hassan's
motives, but we want to
buy the feathers and not
perform a comedy, and
the trade goes on, Hassan
laboring under the disad-
vantage of our not hav-
ing acted as a proper
chorus. I have no doubt
that this lack of proper
support cost us in the
end, for our Moslem
tradesman evidently saw
that it was God's will that
we should buy the feath-
ers. The trade proceeds.
Hassan talks louder and
louder, and appeals to the
crowd. As he talks in
Arabic we only under-
stand him as we would a
pantomime. Finally the
son of Islam asks what would the gracious lady give ? " Well,"
says Mrs. Grant, "I want to give what is right." We name
a price, say four napoleons. Then the merchant breaks into
a pantomime. He takes the feathers angrily out of our hands.
He, too, addresses the audience— and by this time there is an
audience— upon the feathers. He holds them up and droops
them into a waving dainty plume. " Look at them ! See how
BUYING OSTRICH FEATHERS. -, nr .
they shine ! Look at their tints — white and gray and black !
Such feathers were never seen in Assouan ; they came from the
far desert ; they would be cheap at a hundred napoleons." We
suggest to Hassan after this address that we might as well go
elsewhere; that a faith so firmly fixed would not move. "Wait
a little," Hassan says, " he will take the four napoleons, and
would take three if we had offered them." So the debate eoes
on in fury, the anger increasing, until Hassan says four napo-
leons will buy the feathers. We pay the money and go to the
boat with our plumes. When we thank Hassan for his services
he intimates that if we had let him alone he would have boueht
them for two napoleons.
But you must not suppose that we came to Assouan to buy
ostrich feathers. I have told this story because it illustrates
the manner in which all the Egyptian trade is conducted, and
we have had many experiences like this at Assouan. We note
that the aspect of the tour changes. We see the Nubian type,
the predominance of the negro. The people seem happy
enough. They are sparing of clothes, live on sugarcane and
lie in the sun, a happy, laughing, idle, dirty, good-humored race.
By this time the want of clothes has become familiar, and we
understand why cotton industry does not flourish in Ecrypt.
The people have no use for cotton. The morning comes, and
we are to go to Philse — " beautiful Philae," as Brugsch calls it,
and the first cataract.
It was very warm when we gathered under the trees to make
ready for our journey. Sami Bey had hurried us, and the Gene-
ral was, as he always is, the first at the post. The governor
was there, and there was a suspicion, his clothes looked so neat
and without wrinkles, that he had sat up all night to keep them
nice. He brought the General a dispatch from Gordon Pacha,
the famous English officer who has been made Governor Gene-
ral of the Provinces of the Equator by the Khedive, and who
is now at Khartoun. But we are just within his provinces, and
he sends his message of welcome, one great soldier greeting
another. The General returns his thanks and we mount. The
General is in luck this morning. The governor has provided
, IO THE NILE.
him with an Arabian steed — one of the animals about which
poets write. This horse was worthy of a poem, and the Gene-
ral expresses his admiration at its lines and paces, saying he
had never seen a better horse. Its trappings are regal, and a
smile of satisfaction breaks over the General's face as he gathers
the reins in his hand and feels the throbbing of his animal's
flanks. Sami Bey suggests that perhaps the General should
pace the horse up and down, with an attendant to hold him, to
see if he is perfectly safe and comfortable.
Now, Sami Bey is as good a soul as ever lived, and always
trying to make everything pleasant, and while he is sure about
donkeys, has doubts about this splendid prancing steed. But
our General is famous as a horseman in a land famous for
horsemanship, and smilingly says: " If I can mount a horse I
can ride him, and all the attendants can do is to keep away."
We set out in procession, our little trailing army in its usual
order of march. The General ahead, Mrs. Grant at his side or
near him, securely mounted on her donkey, the Marquis and
Hassan near her, should evil fall. We come after, taking the
pace our donkey gives us, having learned how wise it is to have
no controversy with that useful and wise being, especially upon
a theme he knows so well, the holes, and ditches, and yielding
sands of Egypt. " Now you will see," says Brugsch, " how
beautiful the island of Philoe is ; how it nestles in the trees, and
how the temple stands out amid the crags and hills, as though
nature had been the architect, not man." Then he told us that
Philae was quite a modern place — that the ruins were not more
than two thousand years old, and that much of the sculpture was
the work of the later Roman emperors, when those slovenly
princes were the masters of Egypt. This was all the history
connected with Philae, although no doubt a temple had been
built in the early days and destroyed, and the one we were to
visit was on its site. As Philae was on the borders of Ethiopia,
and in the vicinity of the granite quarries which supplied the
old monarchs with all the stone for their monuments, it must
have always been an important point. It was the pass through
which the old invading armies of the kings passed when they
PHILAE.
1 I
invaded Ethiopia and brought home the prisoners whose negro
lineaments we have seen traced on the monuments elsewhere.
But very soon Brugsch came to us in sorrow, and said that
we were not to see Philae among the trees, nestling in the crags
— to see it from afar, and journey toward it as a temple of
beauty. The governor had gone on, and taken another road
among the abandoned quarries and tombs, and we saw nothing
but rocks and hills, gigantic masses of granite heaped on the
plain in the volcanic time. Well, we had been seeing so much
sand, and clay, and limestone rock, we had become so weary —
no, I will not say weary, but
so accustomed to the low, slop-
ing river, that it was like a
glimpse of home to have the
granite bowlders throwing:
their shadows over your path
and sometimes losing it, so
that you had to keep a wary
eye to prevent your limbs
being bruised by the jagged
stones. It looked like a bit
of New England tossed into
this Nile plain. The sun was
beating with his flaming fury,
and all that was left to the
jaded traveler was to draw the folds of
the silk over his brow and face, and jog
on. It was the warmest day we had
known, in a land where we have known
only summer days. To my mind the granite plain
as we advanced to Philae was full of interest. I thought of
the ancient civilization of Egypt in its most repellent and
selfish form. It was here that the Egyptians were dragged,
generation after generation, to dig out monstrous stones and
move them down the river to do honor to the kings. For cen-
turies the work continued — the most selfish work, I take it, ever
ordained by a king. For centuries it went on — Cheops this
IN THE REEDS
312
THE NILE.
age, Abydos the age after ; Karnak requiring twenty centuries
alone. Here was the scene of their toil. Here the taskmaster
carried out the orders of the king and forced the uncomplaining
slave. I can well understand the horror with which the Israelites
regarded Egyptian bondage if they ever came to Assouan to
dig stones for a kingly tomb. I have no doubt they did their
share of the work, and that over this sandy, rocky plain they
trudged their weary road from year to year, their hearts fixed
on the Holy Land, waiting for the hour when God would put
it into Pharaoh's heart to send them out of the house of bond-
age. The glory of that dead civilization quite faded away, and
I thought only of its selfishness, of its barrenness, and it seemed
only a fit retribution that the monuments which were to com-
memorate for ages the ever-increasing glory of the kings should
be given over to the Arabs and the bats, should teach no lesson
so plainly as the utter vanity of human pride and power.
But no — we are not iconoclasts — and let us not in one im-
patient moment, one moment of sympathy for the beaten races,
throw aside the magnificence of the old civilization. It was
something after all to have made a poem. This we say, for we
have passed the granite gorge, and, throwing the silk over the
brow, we note that we are on the river bank, and that here at
last is nestling, beautiful Philse, beautiful as a poem. And
Brugsch is looking on with beaming eyes, for he loves Philce
with a scholar's love, and has written a book about it, and the
other evening, when talk ran dry and we were each saying what
we would do if we had the possessions of the late Mr. Vander-
bilt, he said he would buy Philae and repair the temple and
plant the island with trees, and there live the remainder of his
days. Well, if I had the possessions of the departed railway
king, there are two things I would not do. I would not write
for newspapers, except to enunciate great principles in the crisis
of the nation's fate, and I would not buy Philse. But I like
enthusiasm wherever I find it of the genuine quality, for it is
the Alpine air of this misty, foggy work-a-day world, and,
as I said, Egypt has been worshiped by our friend with a
scholar's love. So we rode aloncr the bank and dismounted,
&
PHIL/E.
O l 5
and embarked on a dahabeeah, which was to ferry us over. This
dahabeeah is under the control of a sheik, whose duty is to carry
vessels up and down the cataracts. For seventy years, man and
boy, he has done this work, and as he stood by the rail looking
on, his turbaned head, his swarthy face tinged with gray, and
his flowing robes, he looked handsome and venerable. He had
twenty-five of a crew, including the children. There was a
minor character in baggy clothes who
gave orders, but the old man was a
moral influence, and he watched every
->--T»F
phase and ripple of the stream.
I should like to have interviewed
the sheik. A man who has spent
seventy years in these Nubian
solitudes, striving with a mad, ec-
centric river, must have thoueht
well on many grave problems,
tongues do not include Arabic
we are now moving along the stream, and wayward currents en-
compass us, and the\ sheik is no longer a mere moral influence,
but an active power. He shouts and gesticulates, and the crew
all shout in a chorus, ending with an odd refrain, something
like a prolonged moan. It is quite stirring, this strife with the
currents; and, although the sun beats with all of his power
But my resources in strange
and so I am debarred. But
2 T , THE NILE.
upon us, we stand upon the deck and watch. The General
expresses his admiration of the seamanship of the Arabs — an
admiration which is justified by the manner in which, surging
through the perils of the stream, we nestle under the temple
walls of Philae.
We land, not without an effort, and climb into the ruin.
Philae is not specially interesting as a temple after you have
seen Thebes and Abydos. I can think of nothing useful to say
about it except that as a ruin it is picturesque. Nature comes as
an aid. The temples we have been visiting have been mainly
in the sand, on the desert. But here we are in volcanic regions.
Around us are piles of granite rock. The island is green and
the date palms salute us as we pass. There are flowers, and,
instead of bulging and sliding through sand, we step trippingly
over stones and turf. In the sanctuary we note three young
Germans eating lunch. We pass to the other bank to see the
cataract. This is one of the features of the Nile. The river
here spreads into various channels and runs over rocks. One
channel is used for vessels ascending the stream, the other for
vessels descending the stream. The one before us is not
more than a quarter of a mile long. The river is narrow,
the banks are steep, and the stream rolls and dashes like a sea,
the waves lashine the banks and roaring. I should call the
cataract simply a narrow, heavy sea. The danger in navigating
is from the rocks and being dashed against the banks. It is a
relief, fresh from five hundred miles of easy, placid sailing, the
river as smooth as a pond, to see it in this angry mood. While
we are here we note men swimming toward us, each man on a
log with a garment tied to the head. They are natives who
propose to run the rapids for our amusement. They swim, or
rather hold on to a log and propel themselves into the current.
It is hazardous enough, for the current sweeps like a torrent,
and the least want of nerve would dash the swimmer against
the rocks. But they go through bravely enough and come out
into the smooth water below. Each swimmer, carrying his log
on his shoulder and drawing his single garment around his
shivering loins, comes for baksheesh. Hassan makes the pay-
MEMPHIS. , T c
ments, but the crowd becomes clamorous and aggressive, and
would probably carry off Hassan, bag and all, but for the
governor, who restores order with his stick. We return to our
donkeys, having had an interesting but rather wearying day.
And in the morning, before we are up, our boat has turned its
prow and we are going home.
On our way home we stopped long enough to allow all of
the party but Sami Bey and the writer to visit the tombs
of the kings. I had letters to write, and we were running
swiftly toward mails and mailing distance from New York.
We stopped over night at Keneh, and saw our old friend the
governor, who came down on his donkey and drank a cup of
coffee. We stopped an hour at Siout, and two of our mission-
ary friends came on board and told us the news from the war
and from home. We gathered around them in anxious wonder,
hearing how Adrianople had fallen, how Derby had resigned,
and how England was to go armed into the European confer-
ence. " I begin to think now," said the General, "for the first
time, that England may go in." Some one proposes laughingly
that the General, who is on his way to Turkey, should offer the
Sultan his services. " No," he said, " I have done all the fight-
ing I care to do, and the only country I ever shall fight for is
the United States." On the 3d of February we reached Mem-
phis. The minarets of Cairo were in sight, and we found
General Stone waiting for us with a relay of attendants and
donkey-boys from Cairo. We were all glad to see our amiable
and accomplished friends, and we had another shower of news,
which came, to use a figure that is not quite original, like rain
upon the sandy soil. We mounted for our last sight-seeing
ride on the Nile, to visit the ruins of Memphis and the tomb of
the sacred bulls.
It was believed in the Egyptian mythology that the god
Osiris came to earth and allowed himself to be put to death in
order that the souls of the people might be saved. After his
death there was a resurrection, and the immortal part of him
passed into a bull — called Apis. The bull could only be known
by certain signs written in the sacred books and kept by tra-
,j6 THE NILE.
dition. These signs were known to the priests. When they
found the calf bearing- these marks he was fed for four months
on milk in a house facing the rising sun. He was then brought
to Memphis and lodged in a palace, and worshiped with divine
honors. The people came to him as an oracle. When he
passed through the town he was escorted with pomp, children
singing hymns in his honor. The greatest care was taken of
his life. At the end of twenty-five years, unless natural causes
intervened, the reign of Apis came to an end. Another calf
was found bearing- the sacred signs. The bull was marched to
the fountain of the priests and drowned with ceremony. He
was embalmed and buried in the tombs which we visited at
Memphis. Our ride to Memphis was a pleasant one, a part of
it being through the desert. We passed close to the pyramid
of Memphis, which is only an irregular, zigzag mass of stones.
Brugsch tells us it is very old, but with no especial historical
value. The ruins of Memphis are two or three tombs, and the
serapeum or mausoleum of the sacred bulls. One of the tombs
was opened, and we went through it, noting, as we had so often
before, the minuteness and care of the decoration. There were
other tombs, but to prevent the modern travelers from breaking
them to pieces they were covered with sand. What a comment
upon our civilization that Egypt can only preserve her tombs
and monuments from Christian vandals by burying them !
We then made our way to the serapeum. While on our
journey we heard the story of the discovery of this remarkable
monument. Mariette Bey, who still serves the Khedive, was
directing excavations, and especially at Memphis. He had
long believed that the tomb of the bulls could be found. So
here he came and lived, working in the sand for two or three
years, with a blind faith in his theory. You cannot imagine
anything more unsatisfactory or discouraging than this dig-
ging in the sand. In an hour or a day a wind may come up
and undo the work of months. Mariette Bey had his own
discouragements, but he kept courageously on, and was re-
warded by the discovery of the most important of the Egyptian
monuments. We heard this story as we groped our way down
THE SERAPEUM. , , -
to the tombs. We entered a long arched passage with parallel
passages. Candles had been placed at various points. On
each side of this passage were the tombs. Each tomb was in
its alcove. The bull was placed in a huge granite sarcopha-
gus, the surface finely polished and covered with inscriptions.
These coffins were stupendous, and it is a marvel how such a
mass of granite could have been moved through this narrow
channel and into these arches. We lit a magnesium wire and
THE 5ERAPEI M.
examined one or two very carefully. The tombs had all been
violated by the early conquerors, Persians and Arabs, to find
gold and silver. In most cases the cover had been shoved
aside enough to allow a man to enter. In others the sides
had been broken in. The inside was so large that four of
our party climbed up a ladder and descended. There was
room for three or four more. There were tombs enough
to show that the bull had been worshiped for centuries.
When we finished this study we rode back to our boat. The
sun was going down as we set out on our return, and as we
;i8
THE NILE.
were passing through a fertile bit of Egypt — a part not affected
by the bad Nile — the journey was unusually pleasant. After
the parched fields and sandy stretches of the Upper Nile, it
was grateful to bathe in the greenery of this Memphis plain, to
see the minarets of Cairo in the distance, to feel that we were
coming back to a new civilization. The sky lit up with the
rosiest tints, one mass of the softest rose and pink — a vast
dome glowing with color — starless, cloudless, sunless, it was that
DRIVE WITH THE KHEDIVE.
brief twilight hour, which we have seen so often on the Nile,
and the memory of which becomes a dream. I have seen no
sky so beautiful as that which came to us when we bade fare-
well to Memphis. We reached our boat and gave the night to
preparations for landing.
It is hard to do anything for the last time, and notwithstand-
ing we were all very busily engaged collecting and packing the
various articles of our wardrobe, as well as the numerous me-
mentoes of our journey, I am quite sure all felt a little sad over
the close of what had been a brief and joyous experience
through this wonderful land of the sun.
CAIRO. „ Tn
We had seen the Nile for a thousand miles from its mouth,
with no want of either comfort or luxury, and had made the
trip much more rapidly than is the custom; as Sami Bey re-
marked, it had been the most rapid trip he had ever known.
Now, when there was no help for it, we began to wish we had
seen more of Denderah, and had not been content with so
hurried a visit to Karnak — Karnak, the grandest and most im-
posing ruin in the world. But, you see, we have letters to read
from dear ones at home, and we have come to feel the world
again, and we can think with more content of our experiences,
now that our hunger for news has been appeased. So we pack
up, and in the morning we steam down to Cairo. The General
sent for the captain, and thanked him and made him a hand-
some present. He also distributed presents to all on the boat,
including the crew. About twelve we passed the bridge and
moored at the wharf. Our " Vandalia " friends hurried to
Alexandria to join their ship ; those who had homes found
them, while the General and party returned to the palace of
Kassr-el-Noussa.
Here we were again received and welcomed by the repre-
sentatives of the Khedive. We remained in Cairo for a few
days, making many interesting excursions and visits, and enjoy-
ing the continued hospitality of the Khedive.
Bidding adieu to our o-ood friends at Cairo, we started for
Port Said, and arrived on the 9th of February. Port Said
seems quite modern after our journey into Upper Egypt. It
is laid out in streets and squares, and is not unlike an American
town ; has a population of about ten thousand, among whom
are many Germans and Italians. It is quite a busy place, the
repairing of shipping and the coaling of vessels being the prin-
cipal occupations of the people. We walked through its sandy
streets, under a burning sun, on our way to the house of the
consul, where we were to dine and rest. In the afternoon we
were most heartily welcomed by our naval friends of the
" Vandalia," the good ship having come from Alexandria to
meet us. We embark, being very glad — notwithstanding the
pleasant memories of our trip up the Nile — to get back once
„ THE NILE.
more under the protecting folds of that flag which speaks of
home, and this feeling of comfort and satisfaction is heightened
by the thought that we are to start this evening for the Holy
Land, expecting to arrive, wind and wave permitting, at Jaffa
on the morrow.
CHAPTER XL
THE HOLY LAND.
rian skies.
E left Port Said as the afternoon shadows were
lengthening, and went out into the open seas with
some misgivings. The weather had been stormy, and
heavy dark clouds were banking up against the Sy-
A visit to Palestine depends altogether upon the
weather, for there are no harbors on the coast, and Jaffa, where
we were to land, is an open roadstead difficult to enter even in
the best of weather. There was some anxiety during the night
as to whether we could land at all, and unless Jaffa proved to
be in a hospitable mood, we should have to abandon the Syrian
coast and steam toward Smyrna. The idea of a visit to the
East without setting our feet on the Holy Land was not to be
endured, and when Strong, who was the officer of the ship
especially in charge of the weather, reported in his quiet sen-
21.
322
THE HOLY LAND.
tentious way, late in the evening, that the clouds were vanish-
ing, that we should see the Palestine shores shortly after dawn,
and see them in a clear sea, there was a general feeling of satis-
faction. We had been doing a good deal of Bible reading and
revision of our Testaments, to be sure of our sacred ground,
and when after breakfast we came on deck and saw the low
brown shore of Palestine, we looked upon it with reverence,
and our gratitude was abundant when we also saw that the
ocean beneath was as calm as a millpond, and knew that it was
easy to land.
FISHERMEN OF JAFFA.
We steamed slowly toward the shore, watching every line
and feature of the coast as it came into view. Jaffa welcomed
us from her hilly seat. She seemed an overpacked town,
thrown upon the sea-shore. But even Jaffa has now a noble
place in the world's history, for her fame was green long before
Europe felt the touch of civilization. At her wharves Solomon
gathered his cedars from Lebanon. From her shores Simon
Peter embarked when he went out to preach Christ and his
crucifixion to the world. When we were told that the morn-
ing we arrived was the only morning for weeks that had known
a calm sea, there was no disposition to murmur at the rain, which
ARRIVAL AT JAFFA.
323
came in soft-flowing showers. Mr. Hardegg, our consul, came
on board. Mr. Hardegg is an American citizen of German
descent, who came to Palestine under the inspiration of a reli-
gious conviction that it was necessary for Christian people to
occupy the Holy Land. This enterprise did not flourish, and
Mr. Hardegg devoted himself to hotel keeping, and gave us
welcome to one of the most pleasant hotels in the East. About
eleven o'clock in the morning we landed. The Turkish Govern-
ment for the cost of one of the Constantinople palaces could
make a comfortable and safe harbor, but this is not Turkish
policy, and among the theories which animate this strange peo-
ple is that the surest way to protect a coast like that of Syria is
to make access dangerous. The shore is marked by a series
of jagged irregular rocks, against which the breakers dash, and
it requires all the expertness of practiced boatmen to shoot
between them. We were taken on the "Vandalia's" boat, the
crew pulling their measured stately stroke. I would much ra-
ther, in a sea, trust myself to the Arab boatmen, who wab-
ble about their huge clumsy boats with a skill which does not
belong to man-of-war discipline. But we shot through the
rocks, and came to the greasy stone steps, which were filled
with howling Arabs. There was some difficulty in making our
way through the greasy mob, and Mr. Hardegg was compelled
to address them in tones of authority and menace ; but in time
we made our entrance, and walked into Jaffa through one of
the dirtiest streets in the world.
Our home with Mr. Hardegg was in the suburbs of the town.
The rain had increased the discomforts of the street. But the
sensation of being on the holy soil of Palestine, of walking
under the walls of a town sacred to all who believe in Christian
teachings, made us think lightly of the mud through which
we trudg-ed. The consul lives in a little settlement that looks
like one of our Western railway towns. Here was the Kansas
order of architecture, which was homelike in its homeliness.
These houses are all that remain of a movement that took its
rise in New England some years ago, a movement based upon
the belief that the way to follow Christ was to come and occupy
3^4
THE HOL Y LAND.
Palestine. The Bible is sprinkled with texts that justified this
enterprise, and our New England friends came and camped in
Jaffa. They built houses, planted orange trees, and one would
suppose that upon soil so fertile and in a climate so mild there
would have been a practical success — the achievement of mate-
rial benefits something like what the Mormons achieved in Utah.
But the colony did not thrive. There is something in Turkish
rule that would stifle even New Enaland thrift, and those in
charge of the colony seem to have been dreamy and light-headed
— lacking in the strong, mighty
governing sense which enabled
Brio-ham Younaf to turn his
wilderness into a garden.
Having come all the way to
Palestine to see the second
coming of our Lord, our
feather-brained fellow country-
men thought that it would do
no harm to sit down and wait,
MiH V -III
feeling that there would be
money enough for all expenses
when the Lord did come. So
the movement went into bank-
ruptcy, poverty, want, almost
starvation ; and our Govern-
ment had to reach out its arms
and bring the wandering
saints home again. One or two of the original members of
the colony still live here. Mr. Floyd, whom we were after-
ward to know as our guide in Jerusalem, an active and in-
telligent man, keeps his house and manages tourist parties
through the Holy Land. But the movement has vanished, and
all that remain are a few wooden houses with a familiar New
England look, and some groves of orange trees, which were in
full leaf and fruit, and brightened up with an imperial coloring
the landscape under our chamber windows.
We made a pilgrimage through the mud and the narrow,
JAFFA. ,,.
dingy streets, to the house of Simon the Tanner. On our way
we noticed that Jaffa had put on a little finery in the way of
ribbons and flays and wreaths in honor of General Grant's
coming. There was an archway, and an inscription over it,
" Welcome General Grant." There was a large tent, called the
headquarters of tourist expeditions through the Holy Land.
The proprietor was at the door in a state of enthusiasm, and
gave us three cheers all by himself as we passed along, and
wanted us to come in and drink champagne. He informed us
that he was the most celebrated dragoman in the East, and that
if we did not wish to fall into the hands of Bedouins, we should
patronize him and not the concern over the way. So you see
how this commercial age has carried its spirit of emulation into
the Holy Land. We passed through narrow streets and down
slippery stone steps over a zigzag route, until we came to a low
stone house. This we were told was the house of Simon the
Tanner. You know the story of Tabitha, by interpretation
called Dorcas, the woman full of good works and alms-deeds;
how she became ill and died, and how Peter knelt down and
prayed, and turning to the body bade Tabitha to rise, and how
she rose again, and many believed in the Lord. We enter the
house and see an Arab woman grinding corn. We go up a
narrow stone stairs on the outside of the house, and come to the
roof, a walled roof paved with stone. Here Simon the Tanner
and Peter his friend would sit and take the air, and look out
upon the sea, that rolled beneath them even as we behold it
now, and talk no doubt of the many wonders that had been
seen in Jerusalem. It was on this housetop where Peter came
to pray, and where being hungry he fell into a trance, and saw
the vision recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, of the vessel
descending from the heavens with all manner of beasts and
creeping things and fowls of the air. From this house came
that fine gospel truth, the finest of all political truths, that God
is no respecter of persons. Tradition at least assigns this as
the house, and it is as well not to challenge your traditions, but
to look and believe.
When we had seen the house of Simon the Tanner we had
326
THE HOT Y LAND.
seen all that was sacred or memorable about Jaffa. We might
have hunted up the spot where Bonaparte put to death his
prisoners, but our visit to the Holy Land is not affected by
French history. We prepared for Jerusalem. The distance
is forty miles, and all that could be done for us were three
clumsy wagons without tops, with Mr. Hardegg on horseback
as an escort. Our party for Jerusalem included four of the
"Vandalia's" officers, Lieutenant-Commander A. G. Caldwell,
Lieutenant J. W. Miller, Engineer D. M. Fulmer, and Mid-
shipman W. S. Hogg. It was too early in the season to see
Palestine in its glory ; but the plain was rich and fertile,
sparkling with lilies and scarlet anemones, with groves of
orange trees bending under their golden fruitage, the almond
trees coming into bloom. We had been so many days in
Egypt with no forest companions save the drooping date-
palms that we missed the parched and barren fields. It was
grateful, then, to see Palestine in its greenness. Even the rain
was so homelike that we welcomed it and drove steadily through
it until, when the sun went down, we were in the town of
Ramleh, where we remained for the night. Our first lodging
in the Holy Land was humble enough, for by the time we
RAMLEH. -,0-7
0-/
reached Ramleh the rain was pouring. Still we were in the
most cheerful humor, ready only to see the bright side of every-
thing. Even Caldwell — who had to put on his uniform and
sword to go out into the mud, with an Arab carrying a lantern
walking ahead and two soldiers behind, and various dogs howl-
ing in escort — even Caldwell, who had to call on the governor,
seemed to think that there never was so jolly an errand. None
of us volunteered to go along. We preferred to sit on the
large benches in a room partly dining room, partly kitchen,
partly parlor — eggs frying in one corner, servants eating in
STREET IN JERUSALEM.
another, with a huge lazy dog very much at home. Caldwell
came back in a half hour dripping, and reported the governor
in a fine state of health and propriety, and we went to bed
bivouacking on beds that were regarded with natural suspicion.
Before retiring we had marching orders for six in the morning,
and although six is an early hour we were all in readiness, the
General first at his post. It was seven before we left Ramleh
and pushed on to Jerusalem.
There are no interesting facts about Ramleh, except that it
is of Saracen origin. The tradition that here lived Joseph of
Arimathea is not accepted, and the town was not deemed worthy
., , g THE HOL V LAND.
of scrutiny. We had an escort of lepers as we took our places
in our wagons, and were glad to hurry away. We kept our
journey, our eyes bent toward Jerusalem, and looking with
quickened interest as Mr. Hardegg told us that the blue moun-
tains coming in view were the mountains of Judea. Our road
is toward the southeast. The rain falls, but it is not an exact-
ing shower. The General has found a horse, and when offered
the affectation of an umbrella and urged to swathe his neck in
silk, says it is only a mist, and gallops ahead. We are passing
from the plain of Sharon into the country of Joshua and Sam-
son. The road becomes rough and stony, and we who are in
the carts go bumping, thumping along, over the very worst
road perhaps in the world. But there is no one who, in the
spare moments when he is not holding on to the sides of the
cart lest there might be too precipitate an introduction to the
Holy Land, does not feel, so strong are the memories of child-
hood, that it is one of the most agreeable and most comfortable
trips ever made. We are coming into the foot-hills. We are
passing into the country of rocks. The summits of the hills
glisten with the white, shining stone, which afar off looks like
snow. In some of the valleys we note clusters of olive trees.
The fertility of Palestine lies in the plain below. Around and
ahead is the beauty of Palestine — the beauty of nature in her
desolation — no houses, no farms, no trace of civilization but the
telegraph poles. Now and then a swinging line of camels
comes shambling along, led by a Bedouin. If we were to stop
and pause we might remember that until within a very recent
period wild men dwelt in these fastnesses, and that we might
have a visit from the Bedouins ; but I don't think it ever oc-
curred to any one. And if they came they would find no wea-
pon more dangerous than a cigar case, or a New Testament,
which some of us are reading with diligence, in order to get up
our Jerusalem and know what we are really to see when we
come within its sacred walls. The utter absence of all civiliza-
tion, of all trace of human existence, is the fact that meets and
oppresses you. The hills have been washed bare by centuries
of neglect, and terraced slopes that were once rich with all the
THE ROAD TO JERUSALEM. -, 2g
fruits of Palestine are sterile and abandoned. The valley over
which we have ridden strikes the eye of the General as one of
the richest he has ever seen, and he makes the observation that
the plain of Sharon alone, under good government, and tilled
by such labor as could be found in America, would raise wheat
enough to feed all that portion of the Mediterranean. It is an
abandoned land, with barrenness written on every hillside. For
hath it not been written : " I will surely consume them saith the
Lord: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig
WAILING F'LACE OF JEWS
tree, and the leaf shall fade: and the things that I have given
them shall pass away from them."
We pass the ruins of Gezer, which Mr. Hardegg tells us
was once a royal city of the land of Canaan — that an Egyptian
monarch captured it and gave it to Solomon, when that wise
king but widely disseminated husband married the conqueror's
daughter. There is nothing worth pausing to see, especially in
the rain, and Solomon somehow does not interest us, for our
thoughts are all on Jerusalem and one greater than Solomon.
At certain intervals we see a square stone guard-house, where
2 7n THE HOL V LAND.
soldiers once lived to watch the roads. But the houses are
abandoned and the soldiers have gone to war upon the Musco-
vite, and the road must take care of itself. We stop about
eleven at the only place of entertainment on the way, and are
shown into a gloomy, damp upper chamber. There we take
luncheon on a pine table in primitive fashion, the Marquis un-
burdening the baskets and each one helping the others. Some
of us walk over the hills for a short tramp while the horses
munch their grain, and come back bearing anemones and but-
tercups and daisies, which we lay at the feet of the lady of our
expedition as an offering from the Holy Land. We are off an
hour ahead of time, thanks to our illustrious commander. It
had been calculated by experts that we should reach Jerusalem
about sundown ; but the General had planned an earlier arrival,
and that we should enter the sacred city while the sun shone.
So we went over hills that kept growing higher and over roads
erowinof worse and worse. Some of us walked ahead and made
short cuts to avoid the sinuous paths. We pass a village some
way off, which in former years was the home of a bandit sheik.
We are told that this is the village of Kirjath Jearim. about
which you may read in the Bible, where, as Samuel informs us,
the ark remained twenty years. If we stopped long enough we
might see an interesting church, but we are just now running a
limited express to Jerusalem, and the General means not to be
behind time. We see beyond us Joshua's Valley of Ajalon,
almost hidden in the mist, and remember how the Lord an-
swered the warrior's prayer. We come to the scene of the
great battle between David and Goliah. There were stones
enough for the stripling's sling, as we can well see. The valley
is deep and the brook still runs its swift course. We could
easily imagine the armies of the Jews on one side of the valley
and the armies of the Philistines on the other. It is the last
ravine this side of the heights of Jerusalem, and one of the
strongest natural defenses of the Holy City.
We have little time to meditate on these military achieve-
ments, for a horseman comes galloping toward us and says that
at Koleniyeh — on the banks of the very brook where David
ENTRANCE INTO JERUSALEM. ,,j
found his pebbles for Goliah — a large company awaits us. In
a few moments we come in view of the group. We see a troop
of cavalry in line, representatives from all the consulates, a body
of Americans, delegations from the Jews, the Greeks, the Ar-
menians ; the representative of the pacha — in fact quite a
small army. The dragoman of our consulate carries an Ameri-
can flag. As we drive on, the consul, Mr. Wilson, and the
pacha's lieutenant, ride toward us, and there is a cordial welcome
to Jerusalem. "We had expected to enter Jerusalem in our
quiet, plain way, pilgrims really coming to see the Holy City,
awed by its renowned memories. But, lo and behold ! here is an
army with banners, and we are commanded to enter as con-
querors, in a triumphal manner ! Well, I know of one in that
company who looked with sorrow upon the pageant, and he it
was for whom it was intended. The General had just been
picturing to his companions what a pleasant thing it would be
to reach Jerusalem about five, to go to our hotel and stroll
around quietly and see the town. There would be no palaces,
or soldiers, or ceremonies, such as had honored and oppressed
us in Egypt. But the General had scarcely drawn this picture
of what his fancy hoped would await him in the Holy City,
when the horseman came galloping out of the rain and mist,
and told us we were expected.
Well, there was no help for it, for there were cavalry, and
the music, and the dragomans of all nations, in picturesque cos-
tumes, and the American flag floating, and our consul the
proudest man in Palestine. Mr. Wilson had a reverential feel-
ing for the General. He was, he told us, the first American
editor to name the General for the Presidency, and he had in-
tended that the entrance of his favorite commander into the
Holy City should not be a circus show or a one-horse affair, but
a pageant. And he surveyed his line with pride, while the
General looked on in dismay, feeling that there was no help for
him. So we assembled and greeted our friends, and made the
best appearance over it possible, and were presented to the
various military and civil dignitaries, and partook of coffee and
cigars in Turkish fashion. More than all, there were horses-—
THE HOLY LAND.
for the General, the pacha's own white Arab steed in housings
of gold. It was well that this courtesy had been prompted, for
the bridge over the brook was gone and our carts would have
made a sorry crossing. We set out, the General thinking no
doubt that his campaign to enter Jerusalem at five had been
frustrated by an enemy upon whom he had not counted. He
had considered the weather, the roads, the endurance of the
horses ; but he had not considered that the pacha meant to
honor him as though he were another Alexander coming into a
conquered town. We trailed
up the winding ways of the hill
— the hill which sheltered Jeru-
salem from the Canaanite and
Philistine. Jerusalem is two
thousand five hundred feet
above the sea, and even then it
lies beyond a hill that must be
passed. We wind around and
around, patiently straining
toward the summit. The mist
and the clouds that had been
hovering over our path finally
enveloped us, and we could
trace with difficulty the path
over which we had come. The
view on a clear day must be
wonderful for breadth and beauty, and even now, with the
gray clouds about us and the rain falling in a mist, we looked
down the mountain's dizzy side and saw hill after hill sweeping
like billows on toward the sea. As a glimpse of nature there
was beauty in the scene to be remembered in many a dream.
But we were thinking of the valley below, of events which
have stirred the souls of Christian men for centuries, as the
path of conquering armies— of Joshua and David— of Alexan-
der and Vespasian— of Godfrey and Saladin. And here we
were coming with banners and armed men, and at our head,
riding side V side with the pacha's Turkish lieutenant, one
JERUSALEM. ,,,
whose name will live with that of the greatest commander who
ever preceded him over this rocky way. The valley passes
away. We ride about a mile through a suburb, the highway
lined with people. The General passes on with bared head,
for on both sides the assembled multitude do him honor. We
see through the mist a mass of domes and towers, and the heart
beats quickly, for we know they are the domes and towers of
Jerusalem. There are ranks of soldiers drawn in line, the sol-
diers presenting arms, the band playing, the colors falling. We
pass through a narrow gate, the gate that Tancred forced
with his crusaders. We pass under the walls of the tower of
David, and the flag that floats from the pole on the consulate
tells us that our journey is at an end and that we are within
the walls of Jerusalem.
We were taken to a small hotel — the only one of any value
in the town. As I lean over the balcony I look out upon an
open street or market place where Arabs are selling fruits and
grain and heavy-laden peasants are bearing skins filled with
water and wine. The market place swarms with Jews, Arabs,
Moslems, Christians. Horsemen are prancing about, while the
comely young officer in command sits waiting, calmly smoking
his cigarette. A group of beggars with petitions in their hands
crowd the door of the hotel, waiting the coming of the man who,
having ruled forty millions of people, can, they believe, by a
wave of the hand alleviate their woes. The General is putting
on his gloves for the ride to Bethlehem, and this is the guard
that will bear him company. Mrs. Grant, by various friendly
processes, is at length secure on her donkey, and once the
General is in the saddle the rest of our party will be up and
away. The market place is under the walls of a tower — a
huge, weather-beaten mass — which overlooks on the other side
a pool. The tower is called the Tower of David, and the pool
is that in which Bathsheba bathed. It was here that the king
walked when his eyes fell upon Uriah's one ewe lamb. A step
leads to a wall and a gate. Beyond the gate a camp of Bedouins
are gathered over a fire, and you hear the sound of the forge,
for they are striving to fashion a hammer into shape. Through
334
THE HOL Y LAND.
this gate Simon Peter passed on his way to the seaside, when
he went out into the world to preach the Gospel. If I go up a
pair of narrow stone steps, as I did this morning about sunrise,
I am on the roof, a roof of stone, with a barrier around it. In
these Eastern houses the roof is the drawing-room, and I can
well fancy as I pace over the honest floor what fine company
one migdit have with the stars and the hills, and above all with
the memories that rest upon these domes and roofs, these valleys
and hills, this gray, sloping mass of houses and churches. You
BETHLEHEM.
have for company all the memories that come to you from the
pious hours of childhood ; for your roof is on the crest of
Mount Zion, and beneath you is holy Jerusalem.
Of course to feel Jerusalem one must come with faith.
And if there be heathen questionings in any of our company,
for this day at least we give ourselves up to faith. When I
was on the Nile I found how much easier it was to be in accord
with the monuments and the tombs ; to go from Memphis to
Thebes believing — humbly believing — in every stone. But
Egypt was the house of bondage after all, and when I came to
JERUSALEM. , „ -
Suez, and looked over the shallow water and the sandy stretches
to the grove of palms where Moses rested after he had crossed
the Red Sea, all my sympathies were with the Israelites who
had escaped, and not with the hosts upon whom the waters
rolled in a desolating flood. That is a question upon which one
takes sides early in life ; and although you come to see and
hear many things on the other side, and to wonder at the many
cruel necessities of the early dispensation, your feelings are set
— they are a part of your life — and no amount of reason or his-
torical research can do away with the impressions that came in
the fresh young hours of your Sunday-school existence. Egypt
was always the house of bondage, and you looked at the records
of Rameses and Sesostris with a cold, curious feeling — as you
would look at any extraordinary work of man. It was only
history after all. But you come to the Holy Land with some-
thing of the feeling that you come to your home. Somehow
you always belonged here — for every name is a memory, and
every step awakens the long-forgotten dreams and prayers of
childhood, and over all, in the very air you breathe, is that su-
preme, that gracious, that holy presence — infolding you as it
were with incense — the presence of Jesus Christ. This was the
city of great kings, of dynasties of kings, of prophets and judges
— founded by Melchizedek, governed by Solomon, conquered
by Alexander — with annals surpassing in historic renown that
of any city in the world. But all are forgotten in the presence
of that one name, which embodies the faith and the hopes of
Christendom.
There were ceremonies to be accepted and returned which
took time, but which I will sum up and dismiss as among things
that you do not care to dwell upon in holy Jerusalem. The
pacha called in state, and spoke of the honor conferred upon
him by welcoming General Grant to Palestine. The General
returned this call with all the ceremony that we could command,
which was made easy by the complaisance and good nature and
the uniforms of our naval friends. A uniform counts for a
great deal in calling upon a pacha. The consuls came with
compliments. The bishops and patriarchs all came and blessed
33 6
THE HOL Y LAND.
the General and his house. The pacha offered to send his
band of fifty pieces and a guard to be in constant attendance.
But visiting the holy places with a band of music and a military
escort was so appalling an honor that it was declined with as
much tact as possible to avoid offense. As a compromise, the
General accepted the band for the hour in the evening when
we dined. He could not avoid it, and it would be a pleasure to
the people who swarmed at our gates, and lay in wait for the
General with petitions. The pacha gave a state dinner, to
which we all went — a dinner
marked with the kindest hos-
pitality. These ceremonies
quite used up our little time.
The General intended to spend
three days only in Jerusalem,
for already his eyes turn toward
Rome, where he expects in
March to meet some of his
family, and we must in the
meantime see Smyrna, Con-
stantinople, and Athens.
Free from our ceremo-
nies, we set out to walk over
the sacred places, our first
walk being over the Via Dolo-
rosa, the street consecrated to
Christianity as the street over
which Christ carried his cross. I am living within five minutes'
walk of Calvary. I look at it in the morning from the terrace
near my chamber door — a fair rounded dome, high in the air, cov-
ering the spot upon which our Saviour suffered. I do not enter
into the question as to whether or not this was the real Calvary.
Somehow one thinks it must have been one of the hills beyond
the city, of which there are many ; that the cross would have been
more imposing on the top of the Mount of Olives, for instance,
than here within the walls near the market places, under a dome.
But executions, we must remember, are not pageants, and it
WOMEN OF HETH1.EHF.M.
THE VIA DOLOROSA. „,>,
00/
would have been a weary road over the valley and up the hill
for any careful centurion to send his soldiers. It is also known
that in the time of Christ Calvary was without the city walls,
that it was about sixty feet above the lower streets of the city,
as high as Mount Moriah and Mount Zion. So that each his-
torical condition of place and convenience is satisfied. We pass
from our hotel on Mount Zion through a narrow, dingy street,
paved with jagged cobble-stones, rendered smooth by rain
and mud. We make our way with difficulty. We stumble
and slide rather than walk. We pass beggars who cry for
alms, workmen at various industries, merchants selling their
wares, camels, and asses, and beasts of burden. We turn
into a covered way and are on the Via Dolorosa. The first
place pointed out is the Coptic Monastery. Here Christ
sank under the weight of the cross. We are going down the
hill which he ascended. We come to the ruins of the Hos-
pice of the Knights of St. John. Here is where Jesus addressed
the women who followed him. We wind around the corner and
follow the narrow, slippery way — beggars still crawling about us
for alms — Alexander, of the legation, a fair young Syrian in Ori-
ental costume, bearing a sword, leading the way. Alexander is
in something of a hurry, the Via Dolorosa being of about as much
interest to him as Broadway to a New York policeman. Here
we are at the house where Jesus fell for the second time. We
descend a slippery path, and at the corner is the house against
which Christ leaned in his agony. The next house is that
of Dives, the rich man. At this corner Simon of Cyrene took
the cross and carried it a part of the way, for which pious office
his soul found eternal bliss and his name has been made im-
mortal by a grateful, sorrowing, Christian world. In front of
the house of Dives is a stone, and over it a hovel. The hovel
was the house of the beggar, the stone is where he sat in quest
of alms ; and under this archway where we now stand and look
at the rich man's house, Jesus stood and pronounced the parable
which you will find in the sixteenth chapter of Luke. We keep
on until we come to a church, a bright new church, with an arch
overhanging the street. This is the Church of Ecce Homo. It
533
THE HOLY LAND.
was here or hereabouts that the road to the cross began. There
is a barracks on the site of Pilate's judgment hall. We go into
the church, a sweet-faced sister of some Catholic order opening
the way. Behind the altar is an arch, and under this arch Pilate
stood when he delivered over Jesus to the Jews. Here, in an
inclosure, was the whipping, the crowning with thorns, the
decoration with the purple robes, and here also Jesus took up
the cross which he carried to Calvary. We can readily see as
we retrace our way up the Via Dolorosa that it must have been
MOUNT QUARANTAN1A.
a rough and weary road to one rent, and torn, and bleeding,
and crushed under the cruel burden of the cross. Even to us —
free as we are — wayfarers, in full possession of our faculties, it
is a tedious task to climb the hill of Calvary.
We come to the city gate. There is a large gate and a
small wicket. When the gate is closed at night belated travel-
ers are admitted, after due scrutiny, through the wicket. This
wicket is called the Needle's Eye. It is large enough for an
average-sized man to enter without stooping. This gives a
touch of realism to your scriptural readings, and makes clear
THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE.
339
one of the puzzling- Bible comparisons, that it is easier for a
camel to enter the needle's eye than for the rich man to enter
the kingdom of God. How plain the holy words become, and
how impressive the simple rhetoric of our Master. Our jour-
ney now is over the Valley of Jehoshaphat. The brook below
is the brook Kedron, of which it is written that Jesus, on the
night before his be-
trayal, "went forth
with his disciples
over the brook Ke-
dron, where there
was a oarden, into
the which he enter-
ed, and his disci-
ples." We cross the
brook hallowed by
his holy and sorrow-
ful footsteps. We
ascend the hill a short
distance and come
to a walled garden.
A monk opens the
gate. The garden ||
blooms with flowers.
The paths are neatly
swept. Around the
walls are the pic-
tures by which the
Catholic represents
the way to the
cross. Over the flower beds droop a cluster of olive trees,
ancient, gnarled, and bending. It is not difficult to believe,
knowing what we do know about trees in California, that
these are twenty centuries old. The General says he does
not doubt it, even from the random evidence of his own eyes.
Under this tree Jesus Christ knelt and prayed and made
holy forever the Garden of Gethsemane. We looked at the
NEAR NAZARETK.
, ln THE HOLY LAND.
tree called "The Tree of Agony." We pressed its knotted
bark with reverence, and, though we were an idle group, fresh
out of a busy world, there were few words spoken, and all
thoughts turned to the sacred and sorrowful scenes which
Christian men believe here took place. And if one could know
the hearts of those who were about the tree, who stood around
in silence, I have no doubt that he would know of many a
silent prayer breathed to Heaven that in the hour of extremity
the grace there implored for sinning souls might be our por-
tion.
The good monk gathered some flowers for Mrs. Grant, and
for the others twigs and leaves from the Tree of Agony. We
climbed the Mount of Olives to the summit. We entered the
chapel said to be the site of the Ascension — now a Moslem
mosque. We went to the top of one of the minarets and looked
far beyond to the land of Moab, the Valley of the Jordan, and an
edge of the Dead Sea. In the farthest distance, just touched
by the sunlight, was a mountain. We were told it was Pisgah,
from which Moses viewed the Promised Land. We went on
to the chapel which marks the spot where our Saviour taught
the Lord's Prayer. We went into the magnificent chapel which
a French princess has erected for her tomb, and around the
walls of which is the Lord's Prayer in thirty - two different
tongues. We kept on over the hill, over a fearful road, to the
village of Bethany. It was here that Jesus lived when he
preached in Jerusalem. Here was Lazarus, whom he called
from the tomb. Here lived Martha and Mary. We ride
under the overhanging ruins of the dwelling in which Jesus
found home, shelter, friendship, love ; where he came for peace
after the hard day's work in Jerusalem. We walk around
Bethany — which is only a collection of ruins and hovels — pass-
ing over the grave-yard where Lazarus was buried. We con-
tinue along the road that leads to Jerusalem again, not over
the mountain, but the one sloping near its base. It was over
this road that Jesus rode when he entered Jerusalem on an
ass. Here too it was that David passed in sorrow when pursued
by the ungrateful Absalom. We pause at the head of the hill,
JERUSALEM. 341
where Jerusalem comes in view. It was here that Jesus wept
over Jerusalem and prophesied its destruction. We can well
imagine the beauty of the fair city as it nestled on the hillside
— the temple dazzling all eyes with its glory, the battlements
and walls menacing all men with their power. Then we kept
on down the Valley of Jehoshaphat and over the brook and
around the city to another entrance called the Damascus Gate.
Thence to our hotel it was but a short distance. The walk
had been a long one, but no one felt weariness, for every
memory it awakened was a memory of the noblest moments
in our lives, and every step we had taken had been over hal-
lowed ground.
" Jerusalem," says the Psalmist, "is builded as a city that is
compact together." This is true to-day. The sight-seer might
go over the whole city in a morning. When you read in the
Psalms such a comparison as this : " As the mountains are
round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people,
from henceforth even forever," you feel that the city you look
upon must have been present to the writer. It may have been
the rain and the snow, which came, during our visit, with a
severity which had not been known for years — but Jerusalem
impressed you as a sad city. Or it may have been the remem-
brance of the unspeakable woes which the holy men in the scrip-
tural days were in the habit of threatening, and which time has
certainly fulfilled ; the remembrance, for instance, of an impre-
cation like this from Jeremiah :" All that pass by clap their
hands at thee ; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of
Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection
of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?" There must have
been some reason for the words of eulogy, but Jerusalem has
no form of beauty, except when seen from one of the hills, say
from the Mount of Olives, and then its domes and minarets,
its gray, massive walls, its compact streets, blend into an im-
posing picture. As you slip over the rough cobble-stones, and
fall into ruts, stumble in the broken roads, and go through the
noisome streets where life seems a fermentation, it is hard to
feel that even in its holiest and sunniest days Jerusalem could
342
THE HOLY LAND.
have been "the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole
earth."
In our visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, it fell to
the Greek priests to welcome General Grant. This church is
under the joint charge of the priests of the Greek and Catholic
Churches, with a Turkish guard over the saintly men to keep
them from quarreling. As the General came to the door, the
Archbishop, followed by a retinue of priests, advanced, wel-
coming and blessing us all. It was quite dark, but the eye soon
became accustomed to the imperfect light. It was a disap-
pointment to think that so many incidents in the passion of
MTE OF CAPERNAUM.
Our Lord should have happened in a space so small that one
dome should cover them all. The tomb, the spot where the
angel sat and watched, the rock rent by the earthquake, the
cavern in which the true cross was found, the stone on which
Jesus sat when he was crowned with thorns, were all within the
walls of the church. The Holy Sepulchre is in a small inclos-
ure blazing with lamps. We entered one by one, the priests
accompanying us, for the room is too small for more than two
or three. We saw the smooth white marble slab covering the
sarcophagus in which the body of Jesus was intombed, the
priest said a prayer, bestowing some incense upon us, and we
kept our way. Then passing up a stairway we came to a plat-
form. On one side was an altar. Lamps, hung around it and
JERUSALl U. 54
J
the air was heavy with incense. There were three crosses in
position. Under the center cross was a hole or socket. In this
hole stood the cross of Our Saviour when he suffered. The
other crosses marked the site of His companions in suffering.
As we stood at the foot of these decorations, the priests about
us deep in prayer, it was difficult to feel that we were on a hill,
on the Mount of Expiation, for above us was the dome of a
church, and around us the walls. What we saw was an over-
decorated chapel in the upper part of a church. Yet there is
no reason why it should not have been Calvary, for remember
that modern Jerusalem is built on the ruins of the old city, and
whatever one may question in the sacred writings, you cannot
come to Palestine and doubt the geography. Every step y >u
take convinces you of the geographical accuracy of the prophets
and apostles. Nor, it seems, could there be a question, in a
land of traditions, where even the ages do not change a nation's
habits, as to the spot so well known in all eastern cities as the
site of public executions. You may have your doubts as to the
spot where the cock crew, or the fig-tree withered, or the sol-
diers cast lots ; but Gethsemane and Mount Zion, Bethany and
Calvary, can be taken on unquestioned evidence.
There were other visits in Jerusalem, to the Mosque of
Omar, notably, where we were received by the Pasha and the
Mohammedan officials, and shown the spots sacred to the Mo-
hammedan faith. We visited the excavations, and saw a street
going back to the Roman days. From this you see that an-
cient Jerusalem was about sixty feet below the present grade,
a fact confirming your belief in the Hill of Calvary. There
was a visit to Bethlehem, which was disagreeable on account of
the rain and snow, and severely tried all the members of the
party. There was a dinner at the Pasha's palace, that official
expressing great anxiety that we should continue our journey
through Syria. But the storm which made the visit to Bethle-
hem so severe an undertaking had covered the hills with snow,
and, after some discussion, it was determined to return to Jaffa,
and, if possible, reach Beyrout and Damascus from the sea.
We came back to Jaffa, and found, the morning after our
344
THE HOL J • LAND.
arrival, the "Vandalia" waiting for us ; and in a rolling sea we
embarked and steamed along the Syrian coast. But the storm,
which had added even to the desolation of Jerusalem, continued,
and, with much reluctance, we were compelled to abandon our
visit to the Lebanon, and continue on to Asia Minor. So we
slowly steamed through the islands of the /Egean, and on the
morning of the 21st of February came to anchor in the beauti-
ful bay of Smyrna, meeting Admiral LeRoy and his flag-ship,
the " Trenton."
Pleasant was our visit to Smyrna, rambling about the hills,
L \KF OF G U.ILEB.
strolling through the bazaars, meeting our countrymen on the
men-of-war. The effects of the war raging between Russia
and Turkey were seen in the hordes of refugees, of Circas-
sians and Bashi-Bazouks, that swarmed about the highways.
Some apprehension was felt for the safety of the Europeans,
as there were constant rumors of an outbreak and a massacre,
among the Circassians especially. On the 26th of February,
accompanied by Admiral LeRoy and a number of his officers,
we visited the ancient ruins of Ephesus, taking lunch on the
site of what was said to have been the pulpit of St. Paul in the
days of his ministry. There were official visits to the admirals
SMYRNA. ...
and official dignitaries in Smyrna, the manning of yards, and
the firing of salutes ; and at three in the afternoon of the 27th
of February, we took our leave and went to sea. On the morn-
ing of the 28th we came in sight of the Russian camp at Gal-
lipoli. Early on the morning of March 1st, Lieutenant Strong
called me and I came on deck. The wind was cold and blow-
ing, but as the sun rose we saw Tenedos and the Troad, and,
high above all, the cloudy summit of Mount Ida. At San
Stefano, Consul-General Schuyler, General Chambers, and
Lieutenant Green of our army, with my dear friend Mac-
Gahan — whose death we were soon to deplore — boarded the
"Vandalia" and bade us welcome to Constantinople.
-
,.-,.„.
\ '■J-Ur^^ffff.Cfe*' "■'■*' -' ' '^Sr?' V -
CONSTANTINOPLE.
CHAPTER XII.
CONSTANTINOPLE AND ATHENS.
(If ENERAL GRANT'S arrival in Constantinople had
been fairly well timed, as it occurred but a few
days after the treaty of San Stefano. While in
Palestine, notwithstanding our American capacity
for obtaining news, we were for some time in doubt as to the
course of events. Rumor flies rapidly in the East, and it was
somewhat difficult to sift the false from the true. Of course
our chief was thoroughly informed as to the nature of events,
and we hoped that when the news of peace reached us, at least
for a while there would be cessation of strife between Mus-
covite and Moslem. The journey from Asiatic to European
Turkey was accomplished without any great fatigue by our
party, and it was on the 5th of March when the General entered
346
ARRIVAL AT STAMBOUL.
547
Stamboul. Immediately on arrival, General Grant was wel-
comed as usual by the diplomatic representatives of the United
States, and all the Americans in Constantinople were eager in
paying their respects to our distinguished chief. The usual
round of visits of ceremony to our great good fortune were
somewhat curtailed, owing possibly to the gravity of the events.
The long and hard light Turkey and the Sultan had made, per-
haps tended toward dimin-
ishing the usual pomp and
ceremony which belong to
Oriental receptions. Of
course though feeling pe-
culiarly the position of his
majesty the Sultan Abdul
Hamid, General Grant,
with his dislike of errand
reviews and military dis-
plays, was rather pleased
than otherwise that he-
escaped the usual rounds
of warlike pageants.
Among the most pleasant
of the visits made to Gen-
eral Grant, was that of Sir
Austen Henry Layard,
the British Ambassador,
and a grand soiree was
given by this distinguished
diplomatist, traveler, and archaeologist to the Ex-President,
which was attended by all the leading native and foreign offi-
cials.
I cannot say that sight-seeing in Constantinople in March
was of an agreeable character, owing to the fact that March in
this portion of Turkey is of the most disagreeable kind. Ice,
snow, and rains prevail, and the warmest and stoutest clothing-
is necessary. A cold fog blows up from the Black Sea, which
is of the most penetrating character. Some of the party felt
ARRIVAL AT STAMBOUL.
348
CONSTANTINOPLE AND ATHENS.
MAP OF TURKEY ANU ITALY.
the change from the warmer climate of Syria, but in our rapid
tour of travel no one I am happy to say had the time to be
invalided. Some cities have the great misfortune of being situ-
ated in those exact positions which seem to attract war and
strife. From the time of Philip of Macedon until almost yes-
terday, when the Emperor Alexander with his hosts threatened
its walls, Byzantium of
the past or Constanti-
nople of the present has
always courted sieges.
Here sooner or later will
swords again be crossed
and shots be fired, until the
Bosphorus be comes the
dividing line between two
races of a different creed.
But our party is so entire-
ly unmilitary, irom its
chief down, that I must dismiss all warlike souvenirs, save to
recall how in the fifteenth century Constantine XIII. reigned
here, and losing his life in battling for his throne, the Moslem
won Constantinople, and made it the great capital of the Turk.
Mingled together in its grandest mosque, St. Sophia shows
the relics of Christianity in the midst of Mohammedanism. It
is not even of ancient times this impress of European thought,
for to keep it erect it was renovated only in 1847 by Fossati.
Do what they may, save by leveling to the dust the proud dome
of St. Sophia, the followers of the Prophet never can change
the one great plan of the foundation, symbolic of Christ, which
is in the plan of a cross. I do not think that the most ardent
worshiper of that Christ ought to feel any degradation in the
fact that so memorable a building should be devoted to a reli-
gion other than his own. Europeans and Americans rarely
appreciate the devotion of a good Moslem. Traveling much in
foreign lands ought to induce liberality of thought. Though
St. Sophia from its immensity be not crowded, still it lias its
constant concourse of worshipers. Here are imaums, there
MOSQUES OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
349
sheiks reading their Koran, all imbued let us trust with pious
thoughts. There is this peculiarity in Oriental adoration that it
is indifferent as to the place or surroundings where God or the
Prophet is to be worshiped. The Christian usually seeks the
retirement of his closet to address there his Maker, while he
who turns toward Mecca prays fervently whether he be alone
or in the presence of thousands. Above the great mosque is
the somewhat flattened dome, r =~ssz -„ ^
which in Justinian's time was
all ablaze with gold and mo-
saics. St. Sophia spoke to
many of us rather of the past
than of the present. The
Turk does not care for high
MOSQUES OF ST. SOPHIA AND SULTAN ACHMED.
decorative art in his mosques, and much that was beautiful
with the miracles of Byzantine art have been covered over
— perhaps defaced. Partly church, partly mosque, it still awes
one with its grand storv. Some day, when no man can say,
those four six-winged seraphim, all in mosaic, Gabriel, Mi-
chael, Raphael, and Israel, will shine resplendent, and the
->c CONSTANTINOPLE A.XD ATHEXS.
names of Abu-beker, Omar, and Osman will certainly be trans-
lated to another sphere. But other mosques call our attention.
The one of the Sultan Achmed is of a pure Oriental type,
with its four airy domes and its six lofty minarets. The story
goes that when Achmed conceived the design of this mosque,
permission had to be asked of Mecca to build on it as many
minarets as were over the tomb of the Prophet. This request
was at last granted after innumerable delays, and not before
a seventh minaret had been added to the shrine in Arabia.
While one portion of the party visited the mosques, others, in-
tent on collecting some souvenirs of their trip, sought the ba-
zaars. Though the Russians were quite near, since peace had
been declared business seemed to be reviving. Camels or the
Turkish porters went briskly around, bent double under their
heavy burdens, but were the only lively people on the scene.
The Turkish merchant takes business in the most nonchalant
way. He never is in a hurry. Prices we found were very
exorbitant, that is if we chose to pay them. The act of chaf-
fering or haggling seems to be expected, and one's time and
patience are sorely tried. It is not because you are an infidel
or a stranger that ten times what a thing is worth is asked you.
It is simply the habit of the country. Here is a pipe shop, with
the red-clay bowls, and cherry or jasmine stems ; we buy pipes
and saffron-yellow tobacco.
Some of us venture into a cafe; we find it to be of a mixed
character. You might have all the civilization of the Boulevard
des Italiens, Parisian coffee, a French waiter, your little glass of
brandy or your Havana cigar, or you could indulge in the purest
Orientalism with a native attendant. The waiter at a word of
command will bring you an almond-stem pipe with its amber
mouth-piece, will fill the bowl with the most delicate tobacco,
and you can loll on a divan, propped up by cushions, and puff
away by the hour, drinking from time to time your small cup of
blackish, groundy coffee, in a filagree cup, or indulging in many
of the peculiar sweet concoctions the Turk delights in. Some ot
us were bold enough to investigate the mysteries of a Turkish
restaurant, one of the better kind, and found not onlv the ser-
CONSTANTINOPLE.
o3 J
vice excellent, but the dishes quite palatable. All languages
seemed to bespoken around us; one of our party, a polyglot,
made out German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Armenian, and
Greek. We had happened to enter an eating house frequented
by military men, and the
officers were apparently
discussing the condition
of affairs, which, though
unfortunate they might
have been, did not seem to
have any depressing ef-
fects upon their appetites.
Turkey, a n d especially
the Turkish service, has
been for the last forty
years the refuge of so
many foreigners, that one
need not be surprised at
the varied character of the
language spoken. With
all her seeming- exclu-
siveness, due to her re-
ligion, Turkey has been the home of many an exile, and among
her bravest defenders have been soldiers of foreign birth. As
known to be attached to General Grant, an acquaintance with
our party was soon made by a group of superior officers, and
the eulogium of our chief was pronounced. We were amazed
at the thorough acquaintance many of the gentlemen present
had with the leading events of our own civil war, and the conspi-
cuous part played by General Grant. We found, what was not
surprising, that the excellence of American arms was fully as-
serted by an ordnance officer present, and the important part
our Yankee-made rifles had borne in the fight with Russia.
They seemed grave and thoughtful men, and lauded the steady
endurance, the frugality, the obedience and courage of their
men.
Many excursions were made to the various palaces built by
STREET IN CONSTANTINOPLE.
35^
CONSTANTINOPLE AND ATHENS.
the recent predecessors of the present Sultan, who all seemed
to have had a mania for building- costly edifices, quite indifferent
as to where the money came from. Some of the party with an-
tiquarian zeal visited the Hippodrome, which once was the
rival of the Roman Coliseum. The cemeteries of Constantinople
are among the usual places which call on the attention of the
tourist, but as
the weather was
tempestuous,
such explora-
tions were not
made. One
thing peculiar
about Constan-
tinople is its
quiet after a cer-
t a i n hour a t
night. By half-
past nine there
are no moving
figures in the
streets save that
of an occasional
patrol of soldiers
going to the re-
lief of a post.
Nothing dis-
turbs the dead
silence, only the
lugubrious howl
of some of those
wretched street curs, the pariahs of their race, which eke out a
miserable existence in the public ways of Constantinople. It is
said that there is a fire every day and night in Stamboul, but if
any occurred we did not see the Turkish fire brigade in action.
There are many other sights to see. We go to the water
side and watch the Bosphorus and the caiques gliding like
I'Kl.lsii UAZAAK.
ight-
CONSTANTINOPLE.
35;
ning through the water. It is too cold yet for the boatmen to
don their finest costumes, so we are told, or, as the dragoman in-
forms us, we would see the model watermen of the world. We
watch a transport steamer coming in, and happen to meet a
regiment or so of Turkish veterans landing from a distant point.
They are fine, sturdy, military-looking men. Of Orientalism
in the street we see plenty. Women clad in a multitude of
garments waddle along, veiled to the very eyes. We venture
on long walks through Pera, the European portion of the capi-
tal, situated at the opposite side of the port. Here is a city
aside, for the Perotes consider themselves as a people apart
from the Turk, asserting their English, French, Italian, Russian,
or Greek origin. Here are many fine residences of Europeans.
Our time is very fully en-
o-ag-ed, and we make the most
of our few days in Constanti-
nople. We are told by American
friends, who have resided for
many years in Constantinople,
that the City of the Golden
Horn is not what it used to be.
That the ^loom of the terrible
struggle, which has been loom-
ing like a dark cloud over the
city, has not yet entirely dis-
appeared, and that only within
the last few days has something
like former life returned to it.
We are forced to decline many
kind invitations proposed in the
General's honor, but which can-
not take place in consequence
of the hurried visit he is making. Everywhere, notwithstand-
ing the somewhat depressing character of Turkish events which
absorb the people, the Ex - President is looked upon with
honor, and the greatest interest is manifested in regard to his
movements. Our stay though brief in Constantinople, not-
STREET IN
354
CONSTANTINOPLE AND ATHENS.
withstanding bad weather, was of the most enjoyable character.
We were due, however, in Greece, so after the usual warm
leave-takings from all the Americans at Constantinople, follow-
in"- in the lead of our chief, we made straight for Athens.
The usual good weather which follows the General's move-
ments accompanied him, and the journey to Athens was accom-
plished without fatigue. Through the Dardanelles we sailed,
in
akinsr before lornr the Gulf of Athens and tl
le por
-t of Piraeus,
! i svfcs
THE HAREM
some six miles from the chief city of old Greece. A short rail-
road trip took us to Athens.
The General is gradually getting over the idea that it is
possible for him to travel as a private citizen, for here in Athens
a most flattering reception met him. The United States minis-
ter at Athens, General John Meredith Read, with a large
number of American citizens, were present to welcome him, and
even the King and Queen vied with the citizens of Athens in
doing him honor. More imitations, dinners, and receptions
were offered than the General could have accepted in many
ATHENS.
355
months. It is out oi my purpose to describe the political feelino-
which was running- high in Athens at the time of our arrival.
The sympathy of Greece for Russia in the war against Turkey
is well known, and perhaps great expectations of extension of
territory had been hoped for by the modern Athenians. The
dream of a great country, recalling the memories of thou-
sands of years back, when Greece, with Athens as its center,
gave art, politics, and literature to a world, had been thought
once more as within their grasp. The suddenness of the
peace of San Stefano
had brought all ambi-
tious thoughts to a stand-
still. Such topics were
rife, however, and though
the excitement was im-
mense, it in no way
tended to make our visit
to Athens anything else
than a most delightful
one. A grand reception
was offered to the Gen-
eral by the King and
Queen of Greece, which
was of the most agree-
able character. This
fete was attended by all
the foreign ministers and
the notables of the coun-
try. Here we saw, in
all its elegance, the pecu-
liar graceful costumes of the country. Nothing can exceed the
distinction of the more aristocratic of the Greeks. If, however,
the peculiar people of the Greek of Praxiteles have passed away,
and another type has been presented, it is still a wonderfully
handsome one.
Athens is a mine of ancient research, and not a day passes
without some wonderful finds beine made. Excavations are.
lUKKlbH LADV
35 6
CONSTANTINOPLE AND ATHENS.
constantly being prosecuted, for not a spade is put on a foot of
ground which does not enter classic soil. Dwelling as the
Athenian does in the midst of history, he prides himself in
being familiar with its past glories. With the Acropolis ever in
view, capped by the grandest of all modern ruins, the Parthe-
non, the great deeds of his ancestors are ever present in the
Athenian mind.
We defer for a day or so the visit to the Parthenon, as it is to
be illuminated on the occasion of General Grant's visit, and as the
THE DARDANELLES.
city itself has claims on our attention. Life in Athens is mostly
out of doors, and the cafes in the street are numerous. The
•coming prosperity of Greece is evident from the bustle and
business we see. We try and study the peculiarities of the
Greek temperament, and are amazed at its activity and busi-
ness-like qualities. Proud of what their country has achieved in
so short a time — for liberty acquired at Navarino is not half a
century old — the Greeks are now the leading commercial people
in the Levant. We know in the United States how assiduous
and clever in business are the Greek merchants. Of course it
THE PARTHENON. ,-„
is not in Athens that can be seen the commerce of this country ;
but still its effects were plainly visible by the elegance of the
new structures in process of erection.
Perhaps as notable an event as can be recorded, and one
which left an indelible impress on the minds of our party, was
the illumination of the Parthenon. This is an honor only paid
to the most distinguished guests. Starting out of a pleasant
evening, attended by a numerous escort, we scaled the Acropo-
lis and were amid the noblest monuments of Hellenic art.
Though telling sadly of the ravages of time and man's vandal-
ism, this magnificent pile astounds the beholder by its grand-
ness. Up rears a host of pillars of Pentelic marble, fashioned
and conceived by the genius of a Phidias. This was the fortress,
the shrine in which the old Greek worshiped, resplendent with
statues of the gods. I am not architect enough or sufficiently
skilled to enter into all the refinements of art which were
employed to render the Parthenon the most perfect of all build-
ings. Modern scientific research of a special character has ex-
hausted itself over this ruin, and is fully satisfied that the old
Greek builder was absolutely cognizant not only of the bold
grandeur, but also of the most delicate subtleties of his art.
Human imagination will go back, no matter how prosaic a man
is, to those who worshiped in this temple two thousand years
and more ago. Such superb creations of art must have kept
alive the respect for the heathen deities; must have made the
old Greek believe that it was Minerva or great Jove himself
who inspired mortal man, and guided his hand when he built a
Parthenon. But alas ! great Pan is dead, and we a traveling
party visit these ancient shrines, and wonder whether with
modern civilization and its conventionalities we ever can pro-
duce such noble monuments. I think that all of us, even those
to whom the crowning glory of the Acropolis was familiar,
became imbued with a feeling- of awe and reverence when in its
midst.
We have not much time, however, to wander backward in
our memories, for all of a sudden the grave old ruins blaze
with a thousand Bengal fires. It is as if by enchantment.
353
CONSTANTINOPLE AND ATHENS.
Each dark crook and corner, every crevice, all the mysterious
somberness is gone, for it is now as clear as day. Floods of
light pour on columns until the flutings, the old chisel-marks are
discernible. The indistinct cornices, the peristyle, are cut with
sharpened corners. Perhaps this over-coruscation brings out
too the cracks and scars which have gashed and scarred the
face of this much-revered old shrine. Away off in the distance,
bathed in a seaot light, we catch
a view of the Erectheum with
its portico. There are merry
aughs and chatterings going on
inside as fresh fires are lit and
new effects produced.
The writer does not know whether to express pain or plea-
sure as the result of his impressions of the Parthenon when thus
illuminated. He thinks though he would rather see the Par-
thenon on one of those quiet nights when the moon just silvers
the columns with her beams. Without false sentimentality
there is a garishness about such artificiality which is just a trifle
distressing. That just appreciation which one may have fos-
A THENS.
359
tered of the impressive sublimity of Greek art tends to be dissi-
pated by the more modern lime lights.
I can safely say that many of us as we left the Acropolis
that night, and, guided by our kind friends, descended into
the city, were under the majestic spell of the Parthenon. Our
chief may have the reputation of being an imperturbable man,
but very certainly none appreciated better than General Grant
the greatness of the past. The part)- taken as a whole have
ILLUMINATION OF THE ACROt'OLl.S.
by this time developed fully the art of sight-seeing, and the
General has shown the most marked adaptiveness as a tourist.
His capabilities are wonderful, and there is no tire in him. It
is of immense advantage to us to have such a practical head.
Without any of the rigor of military rule, hours of grand de-
partures are fixed, and if there are stragglers — well, they must
shift for themselves. A journey around the world requires
exactly this kind of discipline, and the same order, system, ami
good judgment, which are General Grant's greatest traits,
stand us now in good stead. Time flies as on wings with us
in Athens. We visit the great battle scenes of Greece, and see
„ 6o CONSTANTINOPLE AND ATHENS.
the plains of Marathon. Old classical literature is rehearsed. It
is the "Odyssey" now some of us pore over, just as we relearnt
our Testament in Jerusalem. But it is the colder words we
read extolling the outward physical grace of man. In the Holy
City it was an inspired text which warmed our hearts. We are
now far into March, and as the General has engagements which
call him to Rome toward the close of the month, we leave the
classic soil of Greece, and speeding through the blue Mediter-
ranean, steer our course toward Italy.
CHAPTER XIII.
ROME, FLORENCE, VENICE, AND MILAN.
W f-aT has been said a thousand times "that all roads lead to
^l L % Rome." This is an adage as old as the world, and
has been repeated from classic periods up to to-day.
To the chief of our party, as to the rest of us, the
Imperial City was an object of the greatest interest. That
grandest of all ecclesiastical buildings, the basilica of the world,
is so stamped on every memory that long before we reached
Rome the dome of St. Peter's, looming above the Campagna,
informed us that we were nearing the city. Our visit to Rome
had been fairly well timed, for though the period between the
death of Pius IX. and his successor Leo XIII. had been but short,
the excitement over the election of a new pontiff had quite sub-
sided. Our time of arrival was indeed, in some respects, most
36:
ROME, FLORENCE, VENICE, AND MILAN.
fortunate, as the presence of his Eminence Cardinal McCloskey
would give us certain facilities in the Holy City which per-
haps would not have been otherwise possible. As the repre-
sentative prelate of the Catholics in the United States, Ids
Reverence Cardinal McCloskey immediately called on General
Grant, and under the auspices of the Cardinal and Monseigneur
Chatard, rector of the American College of the United States
in Rome, the Ex-President was received by his Holiness Leo
XIII. The interview was of a most agreeable character, and
left a very pleasant impression on the General. Of course this
reception, highly flattering as it was to the distinguished head
of our party, was not to be considered as partaking of anything
of a religious character. It was simply a visit of respectful
courtesy from one of the most distinguished of Americans to the
highest dignitary of the Catholic Church. The manners and
habits of Leo XIII. are of the simplest character, free from all
pomp and parade, and those who had the honor to be present
at the interview were struck by the quiet ease, dignity, and im-
pressiveness of his Holiness.
Such courtesies as the General received in Rome from King
Humbert it is not necessary for me to dwell upon save in the
briefest way. Almost immediately on arrival the General was
called upon at his hotel by an aide-de-camp of the King of
Italy, ami every possible facility given us to see the innume-
rable monuments and museums which abound in Rome. An
early visit was paid to the Coliseum, the grand amphitheater of
ancient Rome. What superb old shows there must have been
in those days! How our modern spectacular effects dwindle
away before even the remembrances of such immense pageants!
True that eighty years before Christ the impressario of such
a theater was an emperor himself, and his audience were peo-
ple who had to be propitiated with shows — panem et circenses.
Think of a building which would hold seventy-five thousand
persons, and which covers five acres — a structure which has
withstood the vandalism of ages — which defied Alaric and his
barbarous hordes, ami still amazes the world with its size and
massiveness ! It is impossible for any one who visits the Coli-
THE COLISEUM.
)63
seum not to recall the barbarous sports which once must have
rendered this place hideous. As we traverse the arena, we
are reminded that here where our foot is placed the tiger has
bounded and torn his victim, and here the panting gladiator
stricken to the ground has, with swimming eyes, looked around
at a sea of cold pitiless faces, and waited to receive from some
stolid emperor life or death. Here Christians suffered mar-
tyrdom.
THE COLISEUM
there
truth in the legend
and why should we not believe it ? — it
was the monk Telemachus or Al-
machus (would that his exact name
were preserved !) who in the year 404 rushed into the bloody tray
and separated the gladiators. The praetor Alybius, a Roman
of the old school whose cold blood could only be excited by
carnage, maddened by the stoppage of the brutal play, goaded
on by the howls of the multitude, bid the gladiators, whose lives
the monk was praying for, to cut the intruder down. But the
blood of Telemachus was the true seed of the martyr. That
3 6 4
ROME, FLORENCE, VENICE, AND MILAN.
one action, with the self-sacrifice, brought in time the abolition
of these gladiatorial games. It was Honorius who stopped
forever these murderous contests, for since his time the earth of
the Coliseum has drunk no human blood.
There are chapels erected here now, and prayers are said
for the souls of those who were slaughtered in those terri-
ble sports. We visited the arches of Titus and Constantine,
and thoroughly explored old Rome and its remaining monu-
ments. Since the reign of Victor Emmanuel and of his suc-
cessor, archaeological explorations of the most thorough kind
have been undertaken, and great additions are constantly be-
ing made in the way of friezes and statues. Gradually the
magnificence of old Rome
is being; better under-
stood. Should ever old
Tiber be turned from its
course — for to-day as in
the time of the Caesars,
the river is a turbulent
one, and overflows its
banks, requiring some
engineering to prevent
heavy losses to the city
— should, then, the bed of
the river ever be exposed,
what untold treasures of
art will see the light !
From ancient to mod-
ern Rome the transition
is an easy one. Near the
temples reared to the
heathen deities, tower the
churches sacred to the Son of God. St. Peter's, that marvel of
architecture, the combined thought, the inspiration of a Bra-
manti, a Michael Angelo, and a Bernini, must ever impress the
traveler with awe and reverence. Its immensity seems lost at
first, from the absolute perfection of its proportions. Here are
INTERIOR OF ST. PETER S.
THE VATICAN.
365
the tombs of innumerable popes, their monuments the clicf-
d'asuvres of the greatest of sculptors. The magnificence of the
baldichino or canopy over the high altar dazzles one with its
splendor. St. Peter's is a church of constant adoration; all day
long prayers are said there. It is the great religious center
of the Christian world, and God's grace is humbly asked there
by sinners in every known language. The Lateran basilica,
which has the proud distinction of having the popes crowned
within its walls, was also an object of interest to jis. To visit
the many churches in Rome with any kind of thoroughness
would alone occupy weeks of time. The museums of Rome
gave us the amplest opportunity for sight-seeing. There is
certainly no such collection
of sculpture as the Vatican
possesses. If sculpture does
not satisfy the sight-seer, in
the Sistine Chapel of the Vati-
can is the most impressive of
all frescoes, the terrible Last
Judgment of Michael Angelo.
Here are the divinest works
of Raphael in the adjacent
rooms with Domenichinos,
Guidos, and Correggios.
Apart from the delight of see-
ing artistic creations, which
never will be equaled, the lit-
erary portion of our party
feasted their eyes in the Vati-
can Library with the sight of the earliest copies of the Scrip-
tures.
Invitations innumerable were sent to General Grant to visit
private museums, which were accepted in many cases. It may
be said that the distinguished head of the party was a tireless
sight-seer, and in more than one case showed a power of
endurance which perhaps had been brought into existence in
his war campaigns. On the 15th of April, all the Italian minis-
RU.MAN BOY.
^66 ROME, FLORENCE, VENICE, AND MILAN.
ters were present at a state dinner given to General Grant by
King- Humbert. The banquet, a magnificent one, was a distin-
guishing honor paid to the Ex-President of the United States.
April 20th, we are in Florence, the fairest of the Italian cities,
and a favorite residence of Americans. We are surprised, in fact,
at the number of our republicans who live in Florence, all of
whom vie with one another in welcoming the General. The
climate we find delightful. It is early spring, occasionally there
is a cold day, and the Arno runs yellow and turbid from rain-
storms in the mountains ; still there are many hours of delight-
ful sun, and the flowers are beginning to bloom. Florence en-
chants us all. It has not the austerity of Rome, and perhaps
this is more satisfactory to the General ; who, beine no longer
trammeled by ceremony, is enabled to do rather more as he
likes. Stately, well-meant courtesies, accompanied by black
coats and white neckties, are the penalties of distinction, and
the Ex-President being wherever he goes considered as repre-
senting the United States, has more receptions inflicted upon
him than he perhaps wishes. Nevertheless, the General takes
it all in good part, and when a little relaxation comes, and offi-
cial visiting is dismissed for the day or the hour, he is the
life of the party.
We arrange the usual programme for sight-seeing, for if the
General is of the party there must be method about it. Our
first visit is to the Ufizzi Gallery, and we are amazed at its
magnificence and variety. We understand now how it was in
Florence that art had a new birth, that here first started the
Renaissance. To the Medicean princes, the great merchants of
the world, is due the awakening of art. If Rome treasured
ecclesiastical lore, and in a certain measure looked at the keep-
ing of men's souls, Florence was the city of pleasure, and of the
more refined arts. Its streets reflect the gayety of the people.
Italy maybe passing through the throes of travail, and Florence
may be burdened with many debts, but there is an insouciance,
a jollity about Florence, which is most pleasant to witness.
But for the Ufizzi Gallery. I suppose the best known statue
in the world is that of the Medicean Venus. It was Cosmo III.
THE ART CILLERIES.
3<>7
who found this paragon of a marble woman and set her up in
place, and mutilated as she was, it was Bernini who restored her.
For long years this Greek beauty held dainty sway — until to
the Venus of Milo, the grandest physical woman of antiquity,
was awarded the palm of beauty. In this Ufizzi Gallery are
pictures whose excellence has been extolled ever since they
left the painters' hands — as they will be in all time to come
W^m&^ffu.
Here are Raphael's
Madonna del Cordelino,
and the Fornarina, Paul
Veronese's St. John, with Titian's Venus, Carracci's Cupid,
Volterra's Massacre of the Innocents, with Guercino's Endy-
mion and Guido's Virgin. Here are a dozen pictures, which
beyond price are the grandest in the world. Would you see
antiquity once more in its most pathetic mood? Here in this
hall is Niobe and her children. We spend hours in this gallery,
and pass from wonder to wonder. The Pitti Palace and its col-
lection is on our books for that day, and the General, who has
no tire in him, pays it a long visit. The architecture is a
3 6S
ROME, FLORENCE, VENICE, AND MILAN.
masterpiece of Brunelleschi, built originally for a rival of the
Medici, and a fitting residence for the late king of Italy. The
ceilings of most of the rooms in the gallery are commemorative
of Cosimo de Medici, and on the walls hang the works of
Raphael, Tintoretto, Rubens, Del Sarto, Veronese, Carlo Dolce,
and Salvator Rosa. It was with unfeigned pleasure that we
found that Italians and especially Florentines treasured the
memory of Hiram Powers. As for Americans eng-aeed in art
studies, we hardly
ever visited a gal-
lery of any distinc-
tion without finding:
some one from the
United States busy
with brush and pal-
ette, diligently work-
ing away, and study-
ing the grand old
masters.
Florence is in-
deed sacred ground,
hallowed by the
memories of the
greatest of painters,
sculptors, and au-
thors. It was here
Dante and Boccaccio
wrote their poems,
their romances.
Dante to-day is in
the m outh of the
Florentine as Shake-
speare is with us. These names which we as Americans only
know through a transmitted influence, through translations,
take palpable form and speech in the city where they lived.
One ponders over politics, one cannot help it, when we are
forced to go back to the Medici and to a Macchiavelli. But
GIOTTO'S TOWER.
FLORENCE.
369
this is the palace a Cosmo built, and up those steps may have
tripped the most subtle thinker of his time. A traveler who is
not narrow in his judgment of men and things, who can in his
mind compare the past with the present, gradually accepts
these personages, sympathizes with their ends and aims, and
is forced to believe that human nature in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries did not differ so much from that of to-day.
There have been Guelphs and Ghibellines, who fought and
wrangled five hundred years ago, and to-day there are just such
men to be found in other countries.
There are delightful drives near Florence, and now the Ca-
cine is commencing- to bloom. It is the Bois de Boulogne of
Florence. It is yet a little too cool for open carriages, but the
equipages are very fine and in good taste. As the General
drives modestly and unostentatiously along the Cacine he is sur-
prised at the number of acquaintances he has made, as hats are
touched by gentlemen, and ladies bow, bestowing their sweet-
est smiles on the chief of our party. We get a better view of
the Arno from the Cacine. We wish it were bluer ; we are told
it is so sometimes, but that the rains have given it a golden
gleam. This " golden gleam " may be poetical, in keeping
with Italian skies, which are blue enough, but we all call the
Arno muddy. In fact, some of us long to see a decent river,
something that swells in great voluminous floods, like the Hud-
son, the Potomac, or the Mississippi. For all Italian rivers are
except in time of floods insignificant. All churches in Italy are
memorable, and none the less so is the Duomo or the cathedral
Santa Maria del Fiore. Here is the grandest cupola in the
world — even rivaling that of St. Peter's. It is another master-
piece of the great Brunelleschi. Who goes to Florence and
does not see the gates of Ghiberti on the baptismal church of
San Giovanni? These are the gates which the great Michael
Angelo declared were fitting to become the portals of Paradise.
Easter now was fast approaching, and with it the religious fes-
tivals which are so carefully kept in Italian cities. The Gene-
ral might have wished to have been present at St. Peter's
during Easter week, but the necessity of reaching Paris at a
24
!7o
ROME, FLORENCE, VENICE, AND MILAN.
fixed date prevented a long delay in Rome. He was, however,
fortunate enough to witness the commencement of the Easter
festival at the Duomo with all its grand impressiveness.
While in Florence some of the more enthusiastic of the party
made an excursion to Pisa. I do not think any town in Italy
can show more plainly than Pisa the era of modern decadence.
Could it be possible that this city was once the rival of Flor-
ence ? But so it was ; but its greatness, its majesty, and its power
have crumbled away ; it has, in fact, suffered absolute dry-rot.
Now people can understand why some of the towns in Holland
have almost passed out of existence. The reason is that the ocean
which brought them trade and commerce has absolutely receded
1 'ENICE. , - .
o/ l
from their shores, and they lie now like stranded hulks on
the sands. The decline of Pisa owes its origin to internal
strife. Florence hated Pisa, and as no love was lost, one of them
went under. It is the Leanin"- Tower, one of the wonders of ar-
chitecture, which exists for Pisa, for without it Pisa would be
shorn of all interest. It always gives a curious sensation to any
one who has mounted the Tower to look down from the receding
side and to feel that he is standing on nothing, and that the next
moment he may slide off into space. There is a campo santo here
made up of original dirt brought from Palestine, but Pisa is such
a dead place that to the vivacious Americans in the party the
campo santo had few special allurements.
Our stay at Florence, though short, was a delightful one,
rendered doubly so by the constant attention of the authorities.
Our departure from Florence took place under the most happy
auspices, all our countrymen having assembled at the depot,
and amid loud huzzas and the best of wishes the Ex-President
and the party sped on to Venice.
On the 23d of April, General Grant reached Venice by rail-
road from Florence. The route was an agreeable one, pass-
ing through the most picturesque portions of Italy. Crossing
the superb bridge which connects "the Queen of the Adriatic"
with the mainland, at the station the General was greeted by
John Harris, Esq., the United States Consul, and by a nume-
rous party of Americans. No sooner had a hearty welcome
been proffered to the General by his own countrymen, than
the officials of the city pressed forward, and the usual con-
gratulatory speeches were made. Escorted to a comfortable
hotel, our first evening was passed in needed rest, as all of us
save the General felt the fatigue of constant traveling and
sight-seeing. From the windows of the hotel, however, there
was ample opportunity for amusement. The city of canals
lay stretched before us, and on the waters were plying the
gondolas. Early next day visits were planned to the most
notable places of interest. It has been said that one of the
most lasting impressions a traveler can receive is that derived
from the first visit to the Piazza San Marco. Here it is that
ROME, FLORENCE, VENICE, AND MILAN.
stand those two famous columns, one bearing the statue of St.
Theodore, the other the famous winged lion of St. Mark. The
buildings which surround this place are of the most imposing
character. Nothing is wanting to complete the grandeur of the
picture, for as a background stands the famous church of St.
Mark's, the most perfect type of Byzantine work. Inside this
church is a mass of verd-antique, marble, jasper, and porphyry,
its gorgeousness even further
heightened by innumerable pic-
tures of the saints, executed
in mosaics. It is impossible
to spend an hour in Venice
without recalling its former
frandeur. Here was once cen-
o
tered the commerce of the world. Here was the starting place
of Marco Polo. It was the Venetian merchant who gathered
here the riches of unknown countries. It might have been
the greatest despotism that ever existed, but it was the cradle
of all that was beautiful in the arts, and to Venice was due
the awakening of literature. Its own exclusiveness destroyed
/ - EX ICE.
Venice after a time. But let us hope that under brighter
auspices its commerce may once more revive.
Some of us took to the gondolas and threaded the canals,
and were never weary of the wondrous sights which were ever
appearing. Here was an old palace, famous as the residence
of some old doge, whose name was coeval with the earliest his-
tory of the cit) — here was another that recalled honors culled at
the great naval battle of Lepanto. Some were dreary piles, some-
what crumbling and desolate, others looked fresh and inviting.
Evidently the presence of the General was known, for from many
a window appeared a fair lady, who waved her kerchief. Of
course the Rialto was visited, and the Bridge of Sisrhs. We ad-
mired the wonderful skill of the gondoliers, and the ease with
which they propelled their boats. Much of our time in Venice was
spent on the gondolas. Of course one cannot get along without
them, as they answer the purpose of cars or cabs in other cities.
It is the perfection of locomotion, and has the advantage of be-
ing noiseless. We did not fail to visit the Arsenal, one of the
relics of Venice, telling of her past grandeur. Here it was that
were equipped the armaments of the republic, those galleys
which she sent forth to fight Turk and Moor. Here, too, was
the " Bucentaur" built, which bore the doges, who, dropping a
ring into the sea, were wedded with the Adriatic. Shakespeare
has made all English-speaking nations so familiar with Venice
that when on the Campo del Carmine we passed the residence
of one Cristoforo Moro, some of us were even inclined to be-
lieve that here Othello dwelt, and that in that gloomy first
story poor Desdemona met her fate. The churches of Venice
are all famous, and most especially is the one called the Santa
Maria Gloriosa de' Frari. Here is the monument erected to
Titian, as a tribute from a king to the greatest of painters. In
fact all Venice seems to pay honor to its two greatest artists,
Titian and Tintoretto. The church of Santa Giovanni e Paolo
was also visited, famous for its tomb of one of the best of the
old doges. We were fortunate in having but a single day of bad
weather in Venice. Though she may be " Queen of the Seas,"
American residents complain of the disagreeable character of
174
ROME, FLORENCE, VENICE, AND MILAN.
the climate in winter, and if any reliance can be placed in
books of sanitary science, Venice is not the healthiest city in
the world. But now in lull spring the climate was delicious.
As to the people, they seemed to us to be the most light-
hearted we had yet met with, and a singularly handsome race,
apparently proud of their newly acquired liberty, and certainly
the
having all
possibilities of
regaining their
former high po-
sition in Europe.
Their language
even to our un-
tutored ears was
melodious to a
degree, for the
Venetians in
their common
dialect have a
way of dropping
the consonants,
a n d indulging
only the vowels,
which is strange-
ly musical.
The c o m-
merce of Venice,
though h a r dl y
as yet improv-
ing, must in time
sympathize with
its manufactures. There are certainly revivals in taste, and
the rediscovery of what are called the lost arts. Some of us
visited the glass-works of Murano. Now in times past, say
three or four centuries, it was to Italy that the world was
indebted for all the refinements of art, and when Queen
Elizabeth and her courtiers supped on common platters, and
MILAN. 375
drank from coarse cups, it was Italy which made divine majolica
and Venetian glass. The art of making this delicate glass
has been reinvented at Murano, and to-day the same delicate
conceptions, the inspirations of the glass-blower, are turned out
in Venice. Venice has always been famous for her beads, and
she produces them still in untold quantity.
It was on the 26th of April that we left Venice for Milan,
and as usual on our departure, the General was the recipient of
the well-wishes of all the Americans, who had assembled to bid
him good-by.
On the road from Venice to Milan we skirted through por-
tions of a country, where the culture of the lands was familiar
to some of the party. As April was closing, and May with full
spring was beginning, the famous rice fields of Upper Lom-
bardy were being clothed with their emerald green. We arrived
at Milan on the 27th of April, and the Ex-President was re-
ceived by the prefect, syndic, and other notabilities of the city,
who paid most flattering compliments to our chief. In fact
we find that nowhere in Europe is the distinguished part per-
formed by General Grant in the history of the United States
better known or more fully appreciated than in the kingdom
of Italy. Innumerable Italian officers and soldiers were in the
service of the United States during the civil strife, and many
claim the distinction of having been the General's comrades in
arms.
If we had been impressed with the grandeur of St. Peter's,
we were amazed with the beauty of the Duomo. Up and up
sprang the pinnacles of pure white marble, all cut and carved,
the immense structure seeming as light as a poetical conception,
surmounted by innumerable statues. To count these statues
has been the task of many a traveler, but their number is be-
wildering. Some put it at eight thousand, others at five thou-
sand ; but a happy mean may be struck somewhere between the
two. If one wonders at the lofty structure which rises in the
purity of chaste white stone to the heavens, below there is still
another church. Here are the remains of the pious St. Charles
Borromeo. The Duomo of Milan is a place of relics, for here
37<
ROME, FLORENCE, VENICE, AND MILAN.
the true believer may see nails from the cross, and a fragment
from the rod of Moses, besides many teeth which once belonged
to biblical worthies. Returning to this cathedral, he who has
not seen it can have no conception of what is Gothic tempered
by Italian feeling in its most graceful manner. At the church
of Santa Maria delle Grazie there is that object of the greatest
interest, the fresco of the " Last Supper," by Da Vinci. Alas!
this work, imbued with the truest essence of piety, is fast
vanishing through the dampness of the place. It is true the
world has made a million of copies of this work, and all know
the divine simplicity of the " Last Supper," as far as paper and
engraving will permit, but none but those who have seen with
their own eyes Leonardo da Vinci's fresco on the dingy wall,
with the fast-fleeting colors, can ever appreciate the imposing
holiness of this creation.
Milan is a bright, cheerful city, and certainly the most pros-
perous in Italy. It has a great reputation for wealth and for
the possibility of obtaining all the comforts of life. Besides
being an artistic center, as far as painting and sculpture is con-
MILAN. ,-_
o/ /
cerned, as a musical school it is very well known in the United
States. Here the incipient prima donna, who has made her
debut at some small village church choir in the far West, comes
to learn how to breathe correctly, to improve her notes, and to
turn her trills into gold.
The great temple of music in Italy, after the Fenice of
Naples, is the Teatro della Scala of Milan. It is there that all
the great singers have gained their reputations, and operas
have been first played. Some of us witnessed an operatic per-
formance at La Scala. The instrumentation was crood, but as
to the singers, why, they had flown. New York offers now
greater inducements to great vocalists, and though Italy creates
the singers, they find their plaudits and their money in the
United States.
Milan is so conveniently situated between Italy and Switzer-
land, so near to France, has so many advantages, that it is the
favorite halting-place of Americans. In Milan, the Ex-Presi-
dent had a constant round of American callers, and what
with paying and receiving visits, seeing churches and monu-
ments, the few days the General had to pass in the city sped
rapidly. But Paris was an objective point, and the Paris Exhi-
bition ; so our flying column had its instructions given it, and by
the end of the week our leader bid us on once more to the
gayest capital of all Europe.
■vr^h-.
si2iia"S.it
i»S4WH
ky^' :: IfWt^
lit* JIM..
AMSTERDAM.
CHAPTER XIV.
HOLLAND.
|ROM Italy to France our journey was both pleasant
and speedy. Everywhere along the route the usual
civilities were offered us, and we had all the advan-
tages of the best carriages on the railroads, and at the
stations the functionaries of the various companies were all
desirous of paying attention to General Grant. It was on the
7th of May that we once more arrived in Paris. On the 3d of
the month Marshal MacMahon had opened the Paris Exhibi-
tion, and Paris was now talking of nothing else than this Ex-
hibition. The American Centennial has been such a recent
event, that I need not trouble my readers with any description
of the French Exhibition. In fact, the accounts which have
been sent home have been undoubtedly ample. On arriving
in Paris, the American colony again paid their respects to the
378
THE PARIS EXHIBITION. , V o
J/9
Ex-President, and though he was desirous of repose,* still it was
impossible for him to refuse the many kind invitations offered
him. General Grant's coming to Paris had been timed so that
he might be present at about the opening of the Exposition.
On the nth of May, Mr. Richard C. McCormick, Commis-
sioner General for the United States, called on General Grant,
to fix a time to visit the Exhibition. Saturday being the day
most convenient, the General, accompanied by Mrs. Grant
and a large party of friends, visited it. At the Exhibition the
General was treated with exceeding courtesy by the directors
and officers, and in the American Department he was cor-
dially welcomed by his fellow citizens. The General is the
hardest-working man I know of. What with dinners, soirees,
marriages, and even christenings, he is a busier man than he
was at the White House. If anything, the General, though
still looking strong and healthy, is just a little thinner than
when he started on the trip to the East. Anything like
moderation in our pleasures seems impossible, for invitations
from distinguished foreign personages and from his own people
are coming in all the time. Plans for the future are made
in the kindest way by the Americans for the General. The
national festivities of the glorious Fourth of July are antici-
pated. The leading Americans in Paris met at the" Legation
on the ist of June, and after some discussion, it was decided
that a fete should be given at the Pre Catalan. The Pre
Catalan is a charming retreat in the Bois de Boulogne, and
just the place where a patriotic tendency toward fireworks
could be indulged in, but the General will not be present. We
are ever on the go. We prepare in Paris for further extended
travels. Not that in the present century even a journey to
Russia requires any peculiar preparation. What all of us
want, however, is some repose, and we try and get it. Perhaps
Paris is not a place where much rest can be taken. There is
always something to be seen, something to be done, and we
go sight-seeing, and visit the many charming environs of Paris.
The French capital is of course to be our center of operations,
the base from which our supplies are to be drawn. We say
:8o
HOLLAND.
this as if it -were a kind of necessity, and Paris a city of refuge
in fact, and we like to indulge in the idea that we will come
back to it.
The presence of the Prince of Wales and the Crown Prince
of Denmark has added singular lustre to the Exhibition.
The heir to the throne of Great Britain has gained many
friends by his admirable business methods and kindly sugges-
tions. We visit the Exposition several times, and the riches of
ON THE CANAL— HOLLAND.
the Trocadero amaze us. Still we frankly confess that the
constant strain necessary where one sees so much, ends in
fatigue ; and though Paris never can pall on one's tastes, the fact
of our being here brings with it so many visits, so much gad-
ding about, that at last, for one of the few times in his life,
our leader orders a retreat. We are to seek the needed rest in
Holland. It is among the Dutch polders that the necessary
repose is to come. I for one do not believe that it will ever
come. The Ex-President cannot assume the cognito — there
LE PAYS BAS. ^gl
would be no end of snobbishness about that ; but I know that
while in Europe the General would have given anything to
have passed himself off as a simple American, traveling for
health or pleasure. But such things cannot be helped. It is
one of the annoyances of greatness to be stared at, to be
pointed at, and to seem to be all the time utterly unconscious
of being a center of curiosity. No wonder the General is said
to be stolid, to have an impassive and undemonstrative face.
I think when a man is stared at for ten or fifteen years it be-
comes a necessary provision of nature to wear something of an
immovable mask. We really all are glad that we are going,
and at last we bid our numerous friends good-by. I think
the General is moved more than usual, as his fellow citizens
throng around him at the railroad station, all wishing him and
Mrs. Grant a pleasant journey and a speedy return.
I will not detail the route to Holland. The approach to
the kingdom of the Netherlands is, topographically at least, in-
stantly perceptible. The country is flat, flat as a pancake, and
through it run canals. We will not accept the witty French-
man's description of Le Pays Bas save in the first two words,
canaux — canards. It is true there are canals, and we see plenty
of ducks. We soon appreciate that this is a country which
struggles for absolute terrestrial existence. Some one said that
Holland was a compromise between the land and the sea. It
is the one element which is forever fighting with the other.
Such a long battle has at least shown man's superiority over
the sea. Still it is wonderful to think that we shall pass on
a railroad which is lower than the bed of an adjacent river,
and that the tides of the North Sea, which beat against the
dunes, dikes, and sandhills of Northern Holland, rise eleven feet
above Amsterdam, and that in certain winds the apparently
torpid Maas, if not kept out, would flow some ten feet deep
over all Amsterdam. To think of a great prosperous country
whose very existence depends upon the stopping up of a rat
hole ! It is certainly this watchfulness, this vigilance, which has
imparted to the Dutch character those marked qualities of in-
dustry and perseverance. It is always a land which has to be
;8 2
HOLLAMK
won. As we speed along in the comfortable railroad cars (like
all things Dutch they are broad-gauge roads), the first aspects
of Holland strike us. The season is fairly advanced, and the
grass in the fields is of the tenderest green. Great lazy cattle,
sleek and comfortable, browse in the fields. We skirt a canal.
Slowly and deliberately moves the boat. The horses tug it
along, but the man who drives, who plods beside his well-fed
beasts, has no whip. Those
horses never have felt the lash,
and never will. The canal boat
is gayly painted, and in the stern I s
is the typical Dutchman, with a \wj&jfr
pipe in his mouth.
LAKE AT THE HAGUE.
slacken up speed on the road I catch a glimpse into the interior
of the cabin of a boat, a trekschuyt. It is neatness itself. In
the window of this floating house there is a whole ledce of
blooming tulips. I cannot help thinking that the people I see
tilling the fields are the most mechanical and plodding of hu-
THE HAGUE.
383
man beings. They seem slow-gaited, but I do not recognize
the dull look. I am quite sure, however, that while that far-
mer's boy is putting his spade in the ground an American in the
same time would have dug up six square feet and loaded all the
soil in a barrow if necessary. What I do take pleasure in
asserting is the wholesome, well-fed appearance of the country-
folk. I admire, too, the costume, particularly that of the wo-
men. It is tidy to a degree. It is some holiday, or there is
a fair in the neighborhood, for all the lusty Dutch lasses wear
towering white caps, and on each side of their heads are gold
or gilt pieces of metal not much smaller than saucers. I notice,
too, no end of jewelry and embroidery. Evidently it is a dairy
country, for I see milkpans of ruddy copper, and they are scru-
pulously clean, for the metal glistens in the sun. There is no
makeshift in these people's habits. Though the land they live
on may be swept away to-morrow, the houses are built to last a
thousand years. I note, too, the thrift which is apparent. I
see no one in rags. Holland all of it is historic ground, and
we Americans are fairly familiar with its story. It was from
this country that we have received many of the best emigrants
that ever peopled America. Some of the Dutch names of the
towns are quite homelike to many of the party. If not for the
direct interest we feel in a country which once held sway over a
large part of the United States, we feel a very just pride when
we remember that it is an American who has done most to record
Holland's brilliant history, and to have told to the whole world
how she fought and struggled for independence, and at last
humbled the Spaniard. On we speed, past the green fields,
one very much like another, until almost at the beginning of
our journey we long for a single hill, be it ever so slight a
mound, in order to break up the monotony. At last, toward
midday, we reach the Hague — the s'Gravenhagen as the Dutch
call it — which is the court capital. Our arrival is expected, and
the General has every courtesy paid him. The reception at the
railroad is of the most imposing character. I cannot help but
smile when I hear that the Ex-President is to be treated to a
grand review. Evidently the General is in for it. I honestly
;8 4
HOLLAND.
confess not to have seen the review, but I suppose our chief
did. I have never received from General Grant any very par-
ticular information in regard to this military display, which I am
led to suppose was a very fine one. I think I only remember
the General's saying that the Dutchman under arms was a new
creature, and had all the necessary alacrity, though at the same
time his steadiness could always be counted upon. One most
pleasant invitation was to partake of a luncheon offered to
General Grant by
his Royal Highness
Prince Frederick, the
king's uncle. This
repast took place at
the royal country-seat
in a superb park, some
mile and a half from
the Hague. The
Huis in t'Bosch, or
house in the woods,
is a reeal villa. The
MONUMENT OF INDEPENDENCE.
luncheon was a delightful one, and was rendered very pleasant
by the amiability of the prince, who was most anxious that
the General should spend his time pleasantly in Holland.
The Huis in t'Bosch recalls the time of Henry of Orange,
EAST-INDIAN COLLECTIONS.
385
having been built by the prince's wife in memory of the Thirty
Years' War. This palace has the most famous collection of
Japanese curiosities in the world. As Holland had for many
years the monopoly of trade with Japan, Netherland inte-
riors are stocked with Japanese china and curios of the most
ancient and rare character. We are favorably impressed with
the Hague, but are told that in many respects it is unlike the
other cities of Holland. It seems pervaded with an air of
fashion and gayety, and is fairly alive all the day. There are
wide streets and avenues, and the equipages are countless. It
is like Hyde Park, save that it is so flat. There are innume-
rable open squares in the city, all as level as a billiard table.
In the Buittenhof we admire a fine statue of William II., who
bore a prominent position in many a hard-fought battle-field,
commencing with Badajos and continuing even beyond Water-
loo. There are certainly two royal fighting families in Europe,
and these are the sovereigns of Italy and Holland. Pluck
seems to run in the blood. We visit the museum, and have
here our first introduction to that immense wealth of pic-
tures which Holland possesses. Here are the great Jordaens,
and the fine Rubens, the Van Dycks and Wouvermans. We
see the first masters of the more minute Dutch art, the Teniers
and the Gerard Douws. We enchant our eyes on the great
inventor almost of landscape, Ruysdael ; but above all we
gather around the celebrated bull due to Paul Potter. It is
an inexhaustible gallery, containing the finest specimens of all
the schools. In the museum we commence to appreciate the
importance Holland assumes from her East-Indian colonies.
Here are rooms devoted to collections made in Ceylon, in Java,
and in Surinam. As usual the General is in receipt of invita-
tions to accept the hospitality of all the leading great cities of
Holland. The Dutch are said to be a most undemonstrative
people, but judging by the reception the General is receiving,
this cannot be the case. I suppose his enthusiastic welcome
is due not alone to the distinguished position the chief of
our party has held for so many years in the history of his
country, but because of the most pleasant relationships which
2 5
^56 HOLLAND.
have always existed between Holland and America. I am
sure the General is delighted with his visit to the Hague.
It is true there is much sight-seeing, but in keeping with the
Dutch character matters are not driven — or rushed — as in
France or even Italy. We feel for once more than pleased
with this most welcome Dutch slowness, and look forward to
its continuance even in Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Some
of us eo to Schevenin^en, a fashionable sea resort not far
SCHEVENINGEN.
distant from the Hague. Dare I call Scheveningen the Coney
Island of the Hague? Heaven forbid ! Scheveningen is the
most aristocratic of watering places. Here come fine ladies
and gallants from all Europe. Bath houses are plenty, and
those peculiar lumbering machines which are driven into the
sea. Promiscuous bathing is hardly a la mode in Europe, and
though the North Sea, at least off the coast of Holland, is of
the most outrageously democratic character, patrician and ple-
beian dive, dip, and duck in different waters. Scheveningen,
though the Long Branch, the Atlantic City of Holland, is a
ROTTERDAM.
387
great center of fisheries, and from this port there sail innume-
rable craft which plow up the North Sea in pursuit of her-
rings, turbots, etc. Fish is of quite as vital importance to
Holland as it is to Norway and Sweden, and the greatest atten-
tion is paid not only to ichthyology, but to all the economical
methods of preparing fish. If it is to Frenchmen that is due
the method of preparing champagne, it is a Dutchman who first
pickled and smoked a herring. Dutchmen are intrepid sailors,
for there is no coast more tempestuous than their own, and the
Zuyder-Zee, with its shallows and drifting sands, makes alone
a thorough school for seamen. It was these very fisheries
which originally gave Holland her supremacy over the waters,
and from her seamen sprang the Piet Heins, the Tromps, the
Ruyters, and the Everstens. There was for centuries no mart
in the world which was not visited by Dutch ships, and it was
these fishermen who brought back to Holland the tea, the cof-
fee, the spice, the sugar of the world. We have not yet seen
enough of Holland to compare her present condition with the
magnificence of her past. The most conservative of all coun-
tries, since Belgium was wrested from her, she has escaped all
internal strife, and has probably under good rulers made the
most of the occasion. Still as the ocean beats resistlessly
against the sands at Scheveningen we think again of the toil
and trouble which is ever going onto preserve the country from
the inroads of the water, the millions of money which must ever
be spent on this same endless task. One cannot but think that
this amount of human energy, if it might be turned to some other
end, might have rendered Holland a mighty country rivaling
England. It is true that a people who, living in a semi-tempe-
rate zone, by fighting against the inclemency of a climate, en-
gender habits of industry and thrift. Looking back to the ge-
ological conditions of Holland, and viewing this limitless sea
at Scheveningen ever thundering on, threatening to crumble
away the land piecemeal, one is led to admire more and more
the dauntless courage of these honest Dutch people which has
overcome not only man's violence, but arrested even the extra-
ordinary attacks of nature. You cannot help reverting again
3 88
HOLLAND.
and again to this fight between land and water, for from Sche-
veningen to the Hague extends a wonderful embankment, a
miracle of entrineeriny skill. We notice this work, but an
officer of engineers who is with us tells us that though, good in
its way, it is insignificant in comparison to other methods of
protection.
Our visit, the one of ceremony, having been paid to the
Hague, after a pleasant stay at the capital we take our depar-
ture for Rotterdam. We pass Delft, famous for its pottery
(of course we have a pottery and porcelain maniac collector in
the party), and soon reach Rotterdam, famous for its commerce.
And at once we commence making the rounds of the city.
We are amazed to find that there are so many Americans who
reside in Rotterdam, and who declare that it is the most plea-
sant city of Europe. We notice now the real true Dutchman ;
and certainly he is an inveterate smoker, for never by chance
does he let his pipe go out. He is busy enough, however, and
seems to have a certain amount of business hurry. We hope
to see houses which will recall to our mind the old mansions
which the Dutchmen built in New York. We do find some
resemblance as to outline with the houses which used to exist
on Manhattan Island, on the Hudson River, even on Staten
Island ; but as to color, we are quite shocked, as the Dutch have
a queer taste for painting all their old houses with the most
vivid colors. The streets are, however, quite picturesque, and
the effects are heightened by the numerous canals. In fact,
Rotterdam seems like a continuous seaport — a city with water
fronts lying on all sides of it, and in the middle of it. It is an
assemblage of houses and vessels. In Venice, the canals are
spanned by bridges, which cannot interfere with the gondolas,
but here it is a good-sized vessel, with moderately high masts,
that has to go through the town. Drawbridges are constant,
and communication for foot passengers is often cut off. But
your Dutchman is patient, and he knows how to wait. One
thing which amused many of the party was the use of dogs as
beasts of burden. I cannot help remarking that some of the
poor brutes looked very much overworked, and we wished that
ROTTERDAM. ,g g
a Dutch Bergh would arise. Rotterdam with its 122,000 in-
habitants shows on her docks and quays the commercial cha-
racter of the people, and there is no better place to judge of it
than near the Boompjes, where the steamers are massed, some
just coming in, others going out, bringing in and taking away
the products of two con-
tinents. We seek the
market house, and stand
on the bridge and find the
statue of Erasmus. It hap-
pens to be a Saturday
morning when a party of us saunter along the streets. Busy
women servants, no light ephemeral creatures, but heavy solid
girls, are cleaning the outsides of the houses. There is water
now not only in the canals, but on the sidewalks. We escape
a drenching from a bucket just in time to be bespattered by a
suction tube worked in a pail. "It is delightfully familiar,"
remarks a Philadelphian who is of the party, as he catches a
shower from a mop. Our destination is the Church of St.
,„,-. HOLLAND.
Lawrence, the Groote Kerk, and we are shown the monuments
sacred to the memories of many Dutch worthies. The Boy-
mans Museum contains a superb collection of pictures, where
we spend many hours. The visit of the General is made
agreeable in every way, and a grand dinner was given in his
honor by the burgomaster of the city, which was numerously
attended. We become more and more conscious from the
toasts given at this dinner how sincere is the relationship be-
tween America and Holland, and how the Dutchman is not
only proud of the settlements he has planted in our New World,
but believes that with the increasing commercial prosperity of
the United States even closer ties can be made.
Our journey from Rotterdam to Amsterdam is a short one,
for there are no great distances to be covered here. The
country through which we pass is very characteristic of Hol-
land, for without man's constant care and vigilance the Zuyder-
Zee would burst bounds and sweep these wonderful farms and
blooming gardens into the North Sea. As we near Amsterdam
we notice all the appearances of a great city. If the Hague
is the court capital, it is Amsterdam which is the commer-
cial center. Here are forests of masts, for this great Dutch
city rises from the bosom of the sea. Once where Amster-
dam stood there was a marsh, so that the city, like Venice,
stands on piles. This is the mart which has kept up for
a thousand years her commercial prestige. Italian cities in
whose market places were once heaped the treasures of a
world, have passed away, but despite time and circumstance
Amsterdam will ever hold her own. We at once appreciate
one of the peculiarities of the place, and that is the bad
smell. It may be fish or anything else; we are told it is the
drainage. We think that if Coleridge had ever visited Amster-
dam he would not have maligned Cologne. We visit the
various quarters of the city, and easily distinguish the great
social differences which exist. Here is a commercial quarter, a
manufacturing district, a portion thronged with ships; here the
Jews' quarter, and there the most fashionable quarter. Am-
sterdam is wonderful in its picturesqueness. There are tall,
AMSTERDAM.
391
antiquated houses, all with gables, with quaint roofs, and queer
windows. We do not see many new houses building. Per-
haps such modern edifices are constructed, but they quickly
assimilate with the couleur locale of the city. We have heard
some chimes in the other cities of Holland, we had a foretaste
of it in Belgium, but in Amsterdam it is a continuous clang.
To those unaccustomed
to it a chime in the neigh-
borhood is a nuisance,
and some of the party,
I am sorry to state, broke
out into open rebellion
about the bells. I sup-
pose Dutchmen in time
never hear them. I am
pleased with many of the
£Ood Dutch customs
brought into New York,
but am glad bell-chiming
in excess was omitted. It
is a waste of human ener-
gy or mechanical power to
set bells tolling, and the
exact distinction between
music and noise, as im-
parted by a bell, a good
many people have never
been able to determine. Our usual round of sight-seeing com-
menced, and was leisurely accomplished. The museum, with
its superb collections of Rubens and Rembrandts, delighted
us, as did the Van der Hoop and Foder collections. Churches
in Amsterdam, as in all the towns of the Netherlands, are not
remarkable for either outside architecture or inside decoration.
It is a certain simplicity which is characteristic of the Dutchman.
No matter how grand a Dutchman may be, he is never anxious
to make a display of it. A merchant in Holland by hard work
and honesty gains a fortune. He is the last person to be
CANAL, AMSTERDAM.
, n , HOLLAND.
ostentatious about it. He does not think of extending his
house, of buying a carriage, or of traveling. Perhaps, if he has
artistic tendencies, he may buy a good old picture or so. He
may slightly increase his method of living, allowing himself
or his family some few luxuries. If he does spend any mo-
ney it will be to beautify some little garden spot a mile or so
from the city. In this Eden he will grow his tulips, erect a quaint
rococo summer-house, paint it all the colors of the rainbow, and
on summer evenings will come and smoke his pipe there and
drink his coffee. This extreme simplicity of taste, and the
consequent saving of money, gave Holland supremacy for so
many years. It is moderation which brings innumerable bene-
fits. The Dutch character is grand in its simplicity. You
hear of names which in old times have been illustrious. You
go to visit the houses where a William the Silent, a John
de Witt, or an Admiral Ruyter lived, and you see a small
house. There is nothing parsimonious about the Dutchman,
he is simply thrifty It is a practical people, capable of the ut-
most devotion and heroism. An invitation is sent to visit the
palace, and we see there fragments of the old flags which Dutch-
men tore from Alva's standard bearers. Among the numerous
monuments of commerce the principal one is the great ex-
change. Here are assembled every day all the merchants who
dispose of the produce coming from all parts of the world. If
there is a certain amount of phlegm in the Hollander, it is not
appreciable when he is in the heat of trade. We have been
now long enough in Holland to understand the system of
canals. The canals cut up Amsterdam into some ninety islands,
and communication is kept up by means of two hundred and
eighty-five bridges. Of course the utmost care is taken of
these canals, and the expenditure on them daily amounts to a
large sum.
In honor of the Ex-President of the United States, a sump-
tuous banquet was given him by some fifty of the leading mer-
chants of the city. It would be difficult for me to describe the
peculiar magnificence of this dinner, which was attended by
all the dignitaries of the city. < )n the sideboards flashed a
BROEK.
393
wealth of plate, some of which, on prior occasions, have been
used to welcome the former heroes of the country. Of course,
the General had to make a speech, which I am led to believe
was fully appreciated by the Amsterdam merchants, who very
rightly consider that brevity even in an afternoon dinner
speech is the soul of wit. The General is highly esteemed by
the Dutchmen. His
peculiar quiet manner
is much liked, and as to
the constant cigar in
his mouth, smoking is
such a national Dutch
custom that it is another
bond of unio n. Nu-
merous excursions are
made to places of in-
terest near Amsterdam.
The General examines
the superb work, that
miracle of engineering
skill, which now unites
Amsterdam with the
North Sea, thus evad-
ing the
lono- circuitous
STREET, HANOVER.
route through the Zuy-
der - Zee. A superb
collation was offered to the General by one of the directors
of the canal, which was a most delightful entertainment.
An amusing trip was made to Broek, a village quite near
the city, having the celebrity or the bad fame (either the
reader pleases) of being the cleanest place in the world. This
is a village where everything is sacrificed to cleanliness. Front
doors of houses in Broek are never opened, save when an
inmate is christened or is buried. You don't put on shoes
when you go into a house. It is all excessively absurd, and is
quite as much to be condemned as too much dirt. The only
living things that can possibly enjoy themselves are the cows,
•ig^ HOLLAND.
who live rather in boudoirs than in stalls, and it is ques-
tionable whether these animals would not like to have a good
wallow in a rich mud-bottom at times. Human nature in Broek
is secondary to the manufacture of zoetemel-kskaas — a kind of
cheese, and the gods of this place are two, the broom and the
scrubbing brush. A pleasant excursion was made to Haarlem,
where in our honor the grand organ of the world, that in the
Church of St. Bavon, was played.
We had spent now almost a fortnight in Holland when a
new objective point — Berlin — directs the attention of our chief.
Perhaps the General might have hastened his departure for
the capital of Prussia, but for the miserable attempt made to
assassinate the brave old Emperor. Now that news has come
that King William is in no danger, I fancy the General would
like to be present in Berlin during the meeting of the European
Congress. It is " boot and saddle " with us then. Holland
is left behind, and we pass almost directly on to Berlin, stop-
ping by the way at Hanover. To Hanover belongs the honor
of having furnished a whole line of sovereigns to England.
We visit the royal palace, and are somewhat interested in the
stables, from whence come the famous black and cream ani-
mals, which are used even to-day on occasions of state by
Queen Victoria. Some of us make a slight excursion to
Mount Brilliant, and look at the old palace of Herrenhausen,
a monument of a king's folly — and a reminiscence of a profligate
period, which sovereigns will not now-a-days dare to imitate.
Time presses, for we learn that Mr. Bayard Taylor, our Minis-
ter in Berlin, is anxious for our arrival. We are to shake hands
with Bismarck, and to talk perhaps of war with Moltke.
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CHAPTER XV.
BERLIN.
[j| ENERAL GRANT and his party arrived in Ber-
lin on the 26th of June. Mr. Bayard Taylor, our
Minister, went down the road some sixty miles to
Stendahl to meet the Ex-President. The Gene-
ral was in the best of spirits, delighted with his journey through
Holland, and carrying with him not only lasting impressions of
the prosperity of the Dutch people, and the true freedom they
enjoyed, but grateful for the hospitality he had received. On
the evening of arrival at Berlin the General strolled along the
famous avenue Unter den Linden, and during the entire stay in
the Prussian capital a portion of every day was devoted to walk-
ing. I do not think that there was a quarter of Berlin which
he did not explore with that energy of the true sight-seer
which no amount of exertion can extinguish.
305
; 9 6
BERLIN.
The interest General Grant took in Berlin was very great.
Prussia and her capital have asserted themselves so prominently
in history for the last twenty years that they may be regarded
as the leading country and the political center of Europe.
Few people remember that in the annals of that older civiliza-
tion Prussia has arrived at her maturity in a comparatively
short period of time. That position she now enjoys in reality
only dates back from the time of Frederick the Great. After
him the star of Prussia might have been dimmed for a time
only to arise in its present glory under Frederick William and
Bismarck. It is not my purpose in this record of travels to
write history, but Prussia in herself, in her cities perpetually
recalls the methods by which her greatness was achieved. If
there have been great thrift, honesty, steadfastness displayed
by the Prussians, it is as a military power that she takes pre-
eminence. Everything is subservient to the soldier. To us
in the United States, thanks to our position, this necessity for
o-uns and swords does not exist. Frederick the Great fought
for and gained his territory inch by inch. Geographically
Prussia is situated between many diverse elements. She has
on one side France, on the other Russia, and south of her
Austria. It is needless to philosophize over the nature of
things. We have to take them as they present themselves.
There are opposing interests in nations which in time seem
absolutely to develop into instincts. With a great people
like the Prussians, the necessity of expansion, then of solidifi-
cation, became vital. It was a fight for existence. Germany
had no unity. It was an agglomeration of states, with politi-
cal aspirations, with but the feeblest political cohesion. Ger-
man interests were the same, but the petty princes acted
only as impelled by whim or caprice. It was a practical Bis-
marck who molded this all together. To do this physical
force may have been necessary, and there may have been some
loud crying on the part of those who were subjected to his
political pressure, but yield they had to, and to-day something
of a homogeneous fatherland is presented. The progress of
the world tends toward the absorbing of smaller states by one
(INTER DEN LINDEN.
597
mighty one. But then in time comes that period when, do
what statesmen may, the great mass is broken up as if by a
centrifugal action, and again from one big country lesser coun-
tries are born. Berlin partakes somewhat of the more recent
German ideas. Its position cannot be praised, for it lies on
a sandy plain, and through the city runs the Spree, a rather
insignificant torpid stream. Its progress in importance has
been a rapid one, for in 1817 Berlin had only 180,000 people,
UNTER DEN LINDEN.
whereas to-day it is the fourth city in Europe with a popu-
lation not far from 875,000. After the victory of Prussia
over France, Berlin made rapid strides, and buildings went
up on all sides, but financial matters did not go on as swim-
mingly as did the military successes, and the city is said to
be suffering; from "hard times." We cannot see it, however,
in the streets, which are very gay and cheerful. Of course
the soldier element is in great excess. There are uniforms
everywhere. It can hardly be otherwise where every man is
a soldier. At first it is monotonous to see so many in blue
39S BERLIN.
with red facings, but one gets accustomed to it in time. It
means what has been before mentioned, that Prussia must al-
ways stand on guard. She is practical about this, and rather
counts on people noticing the military status than otherwise.
The great street of Berlin is the Unter den Linden. This
is the Broadway, the Newsky Perspective, the Boulevard of
Berlin. There are long rows of fine trees which shade the
street. At one extremity is the Brandenburg Gate, a copy of
an Athenian monument. That Car of Victory perched on top
of it has its story. When Berlin fell into the hands of Napo-
leon, that chariot went to Paris, and told of French conquests,
but Blucher and Waterloo came, and the Car of Victory was
restored to the Brandenburg Gate. The element of rapine
has been eliminated from warlike successes to-day. It shows
at least that in the brutality of war, the arts exert a certain
influence. Prince Bismarck might have exacted his millions
from France in the recent war, but he would not have liked
to have touched a single picture or a statue in the Louvre.
Near this gate is the palace which Berlin gave to Blucher,
and a house also presented to the old field-marshal Wrangel.
Near by, too, is the Hotel d'Arnim, a well-known Prussian
family, who have somewhat suffered of late in political conside-
ration. That grandeur, that massiveness which one sees in
Paris, in London, is not to be found in Berlin. The Prussian
is not ostentatious, is rather indifferent to display, and Berlin
is really as things go in Europe quite a modern city, and for
some reasons is quite pleasant to Americans on this account.
There are occasional drawbacks in the streets, and these are in
the guise of very ugly gutters, which just at this time of the
year are more or less offensive. But we in the United States
cannot pride ourselves on very clean streets ; then besides,
though the Spree runs through Berlin, it gives but little oppor-
tunity for sewerage. The plan of the city is uniform, streets
running with but few exceptions in straight lines, which shows
the practical side of the newer German idea. But to return to
this principal street, " Unter den Linden." On this main thor-
oughfare are placed the majority of the hotels of the foreign
VISIT TO THE ARSENAL.
399
representatives, and as to-day Berlin is the great center of the
diplomatic congress of Europe, the various flags of well-known
countries are floating in the air. On this same street are situ-
ated the Academie, quite adjacent to it, the School of Artillery
and Engineers, and at its conclusion in the city, is the Zeug-
haus. General Grant's military reputation had preceded him,
and of course some of us were expected to visit the grand en-
trepot of arms in Berlin, which is the Arsenal. Whether the
Berliner looks on this assemblage of arms with pride I cannot
say. It may be regarded as rather a necessity. It was for the
collection of arms here that the battle of Malplaquet made the
first contribution. Here in this building are placed all the
great military souvenirs of the country. Why be sentimental
over such bits of iron, steel, or bronze ? There are few of them
which have not been won by deeds of heroism, but alas ! at the
cost of human suffering. In this Arsenal the more recent
events of the struggle with France are seen, for the tattered
banners taken at Worth attest the Prussian triumph. Berlin,
4-00 BERLIN.
as has been stated before, constantly recalls its military condi-
tion, for there in its midst are numerous schools devoted to
the higher instruction of the soldier. Here is a building not
very imposing in appearance which is worthy of looking at,
and describing somewhat in detail its purpose. It is what
might be called the School of the Staff. It is the great central
movement, which starting the vis inertia, propels at any given
moment the hundreds of thousands of armed men which Prus-
sia holds in leash. It is here that that intelligence, more pow-
erful than human strength, guides the march of countless
hordes. There is no great display here— save that the senti-
nels one always sees at all military posts in Prussia stride up
and clown. You would scarcely take the busy men inside,
though they, too, wear uniforms, to be much else than mili-
tary clerks. It is true that they are clerks, but the books they
keep contain all the military debts and credits of the world.
Let there be a change made in any army in Europe, let the
caliber of a rifle be increased or diminished, a bayonet socket
altered, any new improvement in a cannon made, and some
Prussian officer knows all about it, reports it, and clown it goes
in a book kept in this office, to be looked at if necessary at
some future time. Here every road, lane, cowpath in Europe
is traced out on maps. Every house, hut, or cabin is described,
and the capability of every city, town, or hamlet to feed troops.
The wonderful knowledge Prussia had of France during the
late war was entirely due to the labors of this office. Of course
a bureau of this kind seems strange according to our American
ideas, but that it is a necessity admits of no doubt. It is true
that something of success in war arises from the inspiration of
a general, but the Prussians have done their best, with Moltke
at their head, to bring military art into the practical detaijs of
an exact science. I think when speaking of Moltke one of the
greatest of generals, the Ex- President, whose curiosity is not
easily excited, may have felt some disappointment in not meet-
ing this Prussian officer, who unfortunately was not in Berlin
at the period of our visit. Some of us, more inquisitive than
the rest, went to the Moltke Strasse, named in honor of Prus-
THE ROYAL PALACE.
401
sia's foremost soldier, and looked at his apartments. Save in
the rooms used for parade, Moltke's chamber is of the most
Spartan-like simplicity. Moltke is a Dane, and adopted Prus-
sia as his country in 1823. The great work commenced by
Stein, and Scharnhorst after the battle of Jena, has been con-
tinued by Moltke. There are some traits about him which
are worth recalling;. He loves the country better than the city,
and is never so happy as when in his private domain, attending
to his farming in Silesia.
His devotion to a much-
beloved wife, who died
in 1868, belongs to the
more poetic side of his
nature.
The Royal Palace is
among the oldest build-
ings of celebrity in Ber-
lin. Without being
grandiose it is quite
striking on account of
its huge size. We no-
tice the throne room
with its regal chair of sil-
ver, and the neighboring
chamber, called the room
of the Black Eagle. Here
are held every year the
meetings of this order.
In 1 87 1, as victors — Ber-
lin being far distant — it was at Versailles that this festival was
held. There is a curious old story about a white figure which
haunts this palace, and that whenever a sovereign of Prussia
sees this weird person his days are numbered.
The museum of Berlin is among the most celebrated col-
lections in Europe. The figures of the Amazon on horseback
fighting with the lion, so familiar to us in America as one of
Kiss's masterpieces, is found on mounting the stairs. In deco-
26
THE OLD
\NS SOtXI.
, Q2 BERLIN.
rating this palace of art Cornelius contributed his skill. The
galleries of pictures are wonderful as to both quantity and
quality, and are carefully divided according to the various
schools. In this museum may be found, too, those great works
of modern times, the powerful productions of Kaulbach, which,
for grandeur of conception, and an encyclopedic acquaintance
with the customs and habits of men of all ages, will render this
painter forever noted. Back of the old museum, connected by
a gallery, is the new museum, in which the Egyptian collection
is displayed. Prussia has always held a leading position in
Egyptology, and it was Lipsius who did most to unravel the
mysteries of the old Nile country. We are struck as much
with some of the modern curiosities as with those of tens of
thousands of years ago. The mummy of the time of Ptolemy
interests us less than a view of the golden decorations and
diamond-studded orders which once belonged to Napoleon I.
From the sublime we come to the ridiculous, that is, his hat,
which was found in his carriage after Waterloo. Here is
something, too, which is worth a passing glance, the model of
a mill made by Peter the Great when he worked as a ship
carpenter in Holland. Strange how this apprenticeship of
Peter has been lauded as if it were one of the most extra-
ordinary of human performances ! But here is something
which really is worth looking at, for it recalls Prussia and
the greatest of her kings. Here is a semblance of Old Fritz
bedecked in the uniform he wore to the day of his death.
I believe the story told of Frederick to be perfectly true.
Once a visitor in Frederick's lifetime entreated a valet to
show them his majesty's fine clothes. "Impossible," said the
lackey, " for he wears them all on his back." The old king
dressed in the most shabby way in order to express his con-
tempt of outer show, and at the same time had rather a mania
for building palaces and laying out fine gardens in order to
show the detractors of his country and her enemies " that
Prussia had still money enough left in case she wanted to
spend it."
The University of Berlin is the most noted of European
GARDENS OF BERLIN.
403
schools, and the names of its professors are among the famous
teachers of the world. In addition to art students from the
United States we found many young Americans who lived in
Berlin in order to attend the lectures. From these we received
much instruction and information in regard to Berliner habits
and customs. Student life in the capital of Prussia may not
have the joyous freedom of the small university towns, but
yet, from the descriptions given us, it must have its charms. If
Berlin is a place where the student may trim his lamp and work
to his heart's content, there are to be found no end of amuse-
ments. In a certain way the gardens, which are to be found in
Berlin, do not differ so much from those in Paris. A mature
German may take his pleasure in a staid way, but the old maxim
holds good here that " all the world is one country." There
are many places where beer can be had in Berlin, and the bier-
stuben collect drinkers of various sorts and grades. Some of
our American friends who have been prosecuting their studies
for a number of years in the schools inform us that things
404 BERLIN.
have changed very much since the war with France — that
the cost of living has increased, and that the prosperity of
Berlin seems to have received a check, and there has even
been a change in the public character. " A tremendous victory
gained by any people always makes a difference in their char-
acteristics. I for one fully believe that the military power of
Prussia is irresistible, and that she is to-day mistress of Europe.
If I, as a stranger, am forced to acknowledge this, the Prus-
sians themselves are perfectly conscious of their strength. I do
not think this has induced any feeling of arrogance among
the more intelligent, but certain classes of the community are
inclined to assert it. It don't show itself in words, but rather
in actions of which they are unconscious. Now we, thank
goodness ! as Americans are well received everywhere, and no
parallelisms can be drawn between our country and Prussia,
but toward Austrians, Russians, Hollanders, and Frenchmen
there is little hesitation shown in making distinctions. Now
Prussia is a living paradox. She tries to combine the high-
est intellectual culture with the greatest physical force. She
pushes forward on the chess-board of Europe, side by side,
her philosopher and her soldier. Which will win the game
no one can say, but one will be sure to absorb the other. It
becomes very hard to make a Prussian an enthusiast save in
regard to his country. The heart of the nation sprang to a
fever heat when France attacked her. This pulsation of the
Prussian heart has not yet perhaps ceased throbbing. It is
books and guns for many years to come with Prussia. The
wonderful thing about it is how quickly she can drop study and
take to drilling. It is perfectly true, though, that France was
beaten by the schoolmasters. Returning to the method of in-
struction in the schools of the higher grades, physical and men-
tal culture go hand in hand. As to the professors in the uni-
versity, their names, as you know, have no superiors. Their
method of instruction is of the most exact character. There is
nothing florid about it. Nothing escapes them. I do not
think the perceptive faculty is much cared for in the student by
the great professors. All they want is to ground a man per-
A REVIEW.
405
fectly, to set him solidly on his subject. The imaginative, the
inventive quality they suppose will come of its own accord.
There is a dignity, a massiveness of intellect in these professors
which rather awes one. They do not court familiarity. You
are not exactly afraid of them, but their impressiveness rather
takes your breath away." We held many an interesting conver-
sation of this kind with American students, and have earned
some knowledge of the method of Prussian instruction, and the
less-known characteristics of the people.
Berlin delighted us exceedingly with the air of bustle and
constant movement seen in
the streets. Perhaps, now
that public anxiety in regard
to the condition of the king is
allayed, the city may owe its
present amount of particular
excitement to the meeting of
the Congress. We hear a great
deal about politics, and grave J
questions of European settle-
ments are on every lip. It
seems to be a subject of pride
to Prussians that it is in Ber-
lin that the end of the Euro-
pean game of diplomacy is
to be played. Of course in-
vitations of every kind are sent to the General, and it is well
that he had found some repose in Holland. I understand a
grand review is on the tapis which General Grant is to witness.
I don't think he possibly can escape this time, much as he is
disinclined to witness military pageants. If one has the least
inclination this way, any town in Prussia affords the amplest
opportunities. We have the satisfaction of meeting quite a
number of Prussian officers who have served in the United
States during the civil war, many of them having been in action
under the eyes of General Grant. They all express the highest
admiration for his military capacity and sound judgment, and
IN THE PARK.
406
BERLIN.
are anxious to pay their respects to their old chief. We notice
the direct affiliations Germany has with the United States, and
when the character of our party is understood, we are asked an
infinite number of questions by those who have friends and
relatives in the States. We find that Prussians of all classes
are very fairly acquainted with the geography of our country,
and the many ludicrous mistakes which Frenchmen and Italians
make are eluded. You never can manage to make a French-
man of the middle class quite appreciate the distinction between
North and South America. New York and Rio Janeiro to
him are contiguous and adjacent towns.
We find time to visit Potsdam, and to see the great palaces
there, the Babelsburg, the Royal, New and Marble Palaces,
and the well-known Sans Souci. Potsdam is half a palatial
residence and half a barracks. If anything, soldiers swarmed
here more than in Berlin. In the garrison church are laid the
mortal remains of the greatest of all the kings of Prussia.
With a strange whim, Frederick it is said wanted to find sepul-
cher in his garden alongside of his good horse and his trusty
friends the dogs, but such a thing could not be, and the king
sleeps his long rest in the garrison church. Sans Souci is the
pride of Potsdam, for here, when war was over, Fritz loved to
dwell, and do queer things, and write verses, and dabble with
French philosophy, and laugh at Voltaire, in a quiet and con-
cealed kind of way, which probably the king enjoyed more than
anything else. The mill of Sans Souci is world-famous, and its
story a household tale. It stands still as a monument of the
miller's folly, almost as it did in the time of Frederick the
Great. There is a story, which if at least wanting in authen-
ticity, only rounds the narrative, and that is, that in late years,
the present mill owner, being reduced in circumstances, offered
it to King William, at his own figures, agreeing to allow its
removal. It is reported that the king bought it, but would not
allow the mill to be removed, as it belonged to the history of
the country. Prussians seem to cherish with particular reve-
rence the memory of Frederick the Great, and the longer the
period between his death and the present time, the greater
SANS SOU CI.
407
seems to be the respect paid him. Quite near Potsdam is the
New Palace, also a pet residence of Frederick's, where certain
rooms remain exactly in the same condition as when the old
king left them. That little bit of queerness which Frederick
had, may be recalled in looking at the Tabakscollegium, in-
stituted by his father, which is on the grounds. Here the old
kino- used to practice his horse jokes, and fuddle himself and
his comrades with wine and tobacco. I have so far given our
v,,- impressions of Berlin as seen by the
ordinary tourist, but as our party
had for its head and chief a truly
representative citizen of our great
country, it fell to our share to be
GARDEN OF SANS SOUCI.
thrown in connection with some of the most distinguished men
in Europe to-day. It was a fitting tribute to the United
States, that the General should receive courtesies from the
Chancellor of the United German people. I shall, therefore,
4o8
BERLIN.
devote the greater part of the remainder of this chapter to the
General's visit to Prince Bismarck, and to the singularly cordial
reception the Ex-President met at the hands of the representa-
tives of the royal family in Berlin.
All distinguished diplomats seem to be gouty, and as Prince
Gortschakoff was afflicted with this aristocratic disease, at
the request of the Russian Plenipotentiary, General Grant
called on the prince. It was Mr. Bayard Taylor who arranged
the visit. Prince Gortschakoff was highly pleased with the
compliment paid to his country. Of all the members of the
great European Congress, now holding their session in Berlin,
most of the foreign representatives, Lord Beaconsfield, Lord
Salisbury, M. Waddington, and Count Corti were known to
the General. Mehemet Ali the General had met in Turkey.
Visits of ceremony had to be paid to all these dignitaries.
Among the very first of the great ones of this earth who left
his card for the Ex-President was Prince Bismarck. Unfortu-
nately General Grant was absent, and the visit on the part of
Bismarck was repeated. As the General was most anxious to
make the acquaintance of the great German, for whose charac-
ter and services he had so high an admiration, the calls were
returned at once, and a message was sent his highness, saying
that the General would call at any time which would suit his
convenience. Out of this came a meeting which most fortu-
nately I have in my power to describe, a meeting of two distin-
guished men, which must be so interesting to both Germans
and Americans, that I am glad to be able to describe it in its
minutest details.
Four o'clock in the afternoon was named, and as General
Grant's hotel was but a few minutes' walk from the Bismarck
Palace, a few minutes before four the General walked through
the Frederick Place. This Place is a small square, adorned
with plants and flowers, and with superb trees growing in it,
all laid out in memory of the Great Frederick. Statues of the
leading Prussian generals decorate the walks. As most things
in Germany tend to intensify the military spirit, and to keep up
the remembrance of her heroes, the bronze statues record the
VISIT TO PRINCE BISMARCK.
409
names and deeds of Zeithen, Seidlitz, Winterfeldt, Keith,
Schwerin, and the Prince of Dessau. Passine through the
park, on your right stretches an edifice, or rather a whole range
of buildings, forming three sides of a square. An iron railing
separates it from the street. There are grim sentinels on
guard before the entrances of the building. From the roof
the flag of Germany floats languidly. It is a bright sunshiny
afternoon, and quite warm. The birds are singing in the park.
The buildings are not very imposing, rather low and straggling,
but you notice that one particular range of windows is shaded
with lace curtains. You observe that the promenaders, the
loungers, as they come past these windows, pause for a moment,
and gaze at them
curiously. Now this
building happens to
be, at this present
moment, one of the
most interesting
places in the political
world, for in that par-
ticular room, whose
windows are shaded
I'ALACE OF FKEDEK1CK WILLIAM.
with their lace veils,
the Berlin Congress is holding its sitting, and as for the build-
ing itself, it is the home, the residence of that famous man,
Prince Bismarck.
The General saunters in a kind of nonchalant way into the
court-yard. The sentinels eye him for just an instant, perhaps
curiously, and then quickly present arms. Somehow or other
these grim soldiers recognize at once, as the salute is returned,
that it comes from a man who is himself a soldier. His visit
had been expected it was true, but it was supposed that an
Ex-President of the United States would have come thun-
dering in a coach and six accompanied by outriders, and not
quietly on foot. The General throws away a half-smoked
cigar, then brings up his hand to his hat, acknowledging the
military courtesy, and advances in the most quiet way to the
Aio BERLIN.
door. But ceremony on the part of the Germans cannot
allow a modest, unassuming entrance, for before he has time
to ring, two liveried servants throw wide open the door, and
the Ex-President passes into a spacious marble hall. Of all
the princes of the earth now living, even of the rulers them-
selves, this Prince of Bismarck-Schinhausen is the most re-
nowned. It is the prince who comes through the opening
portals and with both hands extended welcomes General Grant.
You cannot help but note that time has borne with a heavy
hand on Bismarck within the past few years. The mustache
and hair which but a short time ago were iron gray are now
almost white ; there is even some weariness in the gait, a tired
look about the face. But there is not a line on that face which
does not belong to our association with Bismarck, for if ever
true manhood, undaunted courage, and overpowering intellect
were written on a man's features, they are all stamped on the
massive head of the German chancellor. There is that lofty
assertion of station which belongs only to men cast in this
mold, those bold outlines which tell of great brains, which
make and unmake empires, and with all that the frank, in-
trepid, penetrating eye with that firmly - knit mouth which
shows the courage, the tenacity of the Saxon race. Prince
Bismarck wears an officer's uniform, and as he takes the Gene-
ral's hand, he says, " Glad to welcome General Grant to
Germany."
The General's reply is " that there is no incident in his
German tour more interesting to him than this opportunity of
meeting the prince." Prince Bismarck then expresses surprise
at finding the General so young a man ; but when a comparison
of ages is made, Prince Bismarck finds that the Ex-President
is only eleven years his junior.
"That," says the prince, "shows the value of a military
life, for here you have the frame of a young man, while I feel
like an old one."
The General smiled, observing that he was at that period of
life when he could have no higher compliment paid him than
that of being called a young man. By the time this pleasant
PRINCE BISMARCK.
411
chatting had been going on, the prince had offered the General
a seat. All this took place in a library or study. There was
an open window which looked out on the beautiful park on
which the June sun was shining. This was the private park
of the Radziwill Palace, which is now Bismarck's Berlin home.
The library was a large,
spacious
walls of
and the furniture plain
and simple. In one cor-
r o o m, the
gray marble,
ner stood a larofe, high
writing
desk, where
the chancellor works,
and on the waxed
floor a few Turkish
rugs were thrown. The
prince speaks English
with precision, though
slowly from want of
practice, and when he
wants a word seeks
refuge in French. He
shows, however, that he
has a fair command of
our vernacular.
One of the prince's first questions was about General Sheri-
dan.
'The general and I," said the prince, "were fellow cam-
paigners in France, and we became great friends."
General Grant said that he had had letters from Sheridan
recently and he was quite well.
" Sheridan," said the prince, " seemed to be a man of great
ability."
" Yes," answered the General, "I regard Sheridan as not
only one of the great soldiers of our war, but one of the great
soldiers of the world — as a man who is fit for the highest com-
mands. No better rreneral ever lived than Sheridan."
MEETING WITH C1SMARCK.
4 ! o BERLIN.
" I observed," said the prince, " that he had a wonderfully
quick eye. On one occasion, I remember, the Emperor and
his staff took up a position to observe a battle. The Emperor
himself was never near enough to the front, was always impa-
tient to be as near the fighting as possible. ' Well,' said
Sheridan to me, as we rode along, ' we shall never stay here,
the enemy will in a short time make this so untenable that we
shall all be leaving in a hurry. Then while the men are ad-
vancing they will see us retreating' Sure enough, in an hour
or so the cannon shot began to plunge this way and that way,
and we saw we must leave. It was difficult to move the Em-
peror, however ; but we all had to go, and," said the prince,
with a hearty laugh, "we went rapidly. Sheridan had seen it
from the beginning. I wish I had so quick an eye."
The prince then asked about Sheridan's command — his ex-
act rank, his age, how long he held the command, and remarked
that he was about the same age as the Crown Prince.
The General made a reference to the deliberations of the
Congress, and hoped that there would be a peaceful result.
"That is my hope and belief," said the prince. "That
is all our interest in the matter. We have no business with
the Congress whatever, and are attending to the business of
others by calling a congress. But Germany wants peace, and
Europe wants peace, and all our labors are to that end. In
the settlement of the questions arising out of the San Stefano
Treaty Germany has no interest of a selfish character. I sup-
pose," said the prince, " the whole situation may be summed
up in this phrase, in making the treaty Russia ate more than
she could digest, and the main business of the Congress is to
relieve her. The war has been severe upon Russia, and of
course she wants peace."
The General asked how long the Congress would proba-
bly sit, and the prince answered that he thought seven or
eight more sittings would close the business. " I wish it
were over," he said, "for Berlin is warm and I want to leave
it."
The prince said that another reason why he was sorry the
CONVERSATION WITH BISMARCK. .j.
Congress was in session was that he could not take General
Grant around and show him Berlin. He said also that the
Emperor himself was disappointed in not being able to see the
General.
"His majesty," said the prince, "has been expecting you,
and evinces the greatest interest in your achievements, in the
distinguished part you have played in the history of your
country, and in your visit to Germany. He commands me to
say that nothing but his doctor's orders that he shall see no
one, prevents his seeing you."
The General said, " I am sorry that 1 cannot have that
honor, but I am far more sorry for the cause, and hope the
Emperor is recovering."
"All the indications are of the best," answered the prince,
"for the Emperor has a fine constitution and great courage and
endurance, but you know he is a very old man."
"That," said the General, "adds to the horror one feels for
the crime."
"It is so strange, so strange and so sad," answered the
prince, with marked feeling. " Here is an old man — one of
the kindest old gentlemen in the world — and yet they must try
and shoot him ! There never was a more simple, more genu-
ine, more — what shall I say — more humane character than the
Emperor's. He is totally unlike men born in his station, or
many of them at least. You know that men who come into
the world in his rank, born princes, are apt to think themselves
of another race and another world. They are apt to take small
account of the wishes and feelings of others. All their educa-
tion tends to deaden the human side. But this Emperor is so
much of a man in all things ! He never did any one a wrong
in his life. He never wounded any one's feelings ; never im-
posed a hardship ! He is the most genial and winning of men
— thinking always, anxious always for the comfort and welfare
of his people — of those around him. You cannot conceive a
finer type of the noble, courteous, charitable old gentleman,
with every high quality of a prince, as well as every virtue of a
man. I should have supposed that the Emperor could have
414 BERLIN.
walked alone all over the Empire without harm, and yet they
must try and shoot him."
The General said that it was a horrible thing, and referred
to Lincoln— a man of the kindest and gentlest nature— killed
by an assassin.
" In some respects," said the prince, continuing as if in half
a reverie, and as if speaking of a subject upon which he had
been thinking a great deal — " In some respects the Emperor
resembles his ancestor, Frederick William, the father of Frede-
rick the Great. The difference between the two is that the
old king would be severe and harsh at times to those around
him, while the Emperor is never harsh to any one. But the
old king had so much simplicity of character, lived an austere,
home-loving, domestic life ; had all the republican qualities. So
with this king; he is so republican in all things that even the
most extreme republican if he did his character justice would
admire him."
The General answered that the influence which aimed at
the Emperor's life was an influence that would destroy all
government, all order, all society, republics and empires.
"In America," said General Grant, " some of our people
are, as I see from the papers, anxious about it. There is only
one way to deal with it, and that is by the severest methods.
I don't see why a man who commits a crime like this, a crime
that not only aims at an old man's life, a ruler's life, but
shocks the world, should not meet with the severest punish-
ment. In fact," continued the General, "although at home
there is a strong sentiment against the death penalty, and it is
a sentiment which one naturally respects, I am not sure but it
should be made more severe rather than less severe. Some-
thing is due to the offended as well as the offender, especially
where the offended is slain."
' That," said the prince, " is entirely my view. My convic-
tions are so strong that I resigned the government of Alsace
because I was required to commute sentences of capital nature.
I could not do it in justice to my conscience. You see, this
kind old gentleman, that Emperor whom these very people
CONVERSATION WITH BISMARCK.
415
y
have tried to kill, is so gentle that he will never confirm a death
sentence. Can you think of anything so strange that a sove-
reign whose tenderness of heart has practically abolished the
death punishment should be the victim of assassination, or at-
tempted assassination ? That is the fact. Well, I have never
agreed with the Emperor on this point, and in Alsace, when I
found that as chancellor I had to approve all commutations of
the death sentence, I resigned. In Prussia that is the work of
the Minister of Justice ; in Alsace it devolved upon me. I felt,
tn^'-'-k ..^,/%k tflBFseirs-/'- « ""•• 4?- lv 4iN *
, and aloneside of them new constructions erected only yes-
terday. The irregularity of the streets is not unpleasant, for in
many parts of the city land and water are combined. It is re-
corded in the annals of Hamburg that up to the middle of the
last century this city was a villainously dirty town, and wretch-
edly built, but that it owes its present agreeable appearance to
a series of fires which, having destroyed half the town, caused
it to be rebuilt with the present improvements. Never was
there a city which recalled more its maritime importance.
Sailors and men of foreign birth in strange costumes are seen
everywhere, and there are painted signs in all known languages.
The port is full of ships bearing the colors of various nations.
There is no end of water communication in Hamburg, and
small steamers are constantly plying. The commercial great-
ness of this city need not be descanted upon. In the United
States we all know that from Hamburg come the most intelli-
o-ent of our foreign merchants, and that a clerk with a Hamburg
training is supposed to be a graduate in the higher branches of
trading The Exchange, into which some of us venture, is a
vast building where transactions to enormous amounts are
being daily carried out. We are very much at home at Ham-
burg, and enjoy all its hospitalities. We find that the pleasures
of the city have not been in the least exaggerated. Invita-
tions to dinners, to suppers, to evening receptions are sent to
the Ex-President. In fact, the people of Hamburg, as well as
the American residents, did all that the kindest hospitality
could dictate to make the General's stay in their city pleasant
and agreeable. We find, in contrasting Hamburg with the other
principal cities of Germany which wc have so far visited, that
there is a trifle less of that military feeling and martinet pro-
clivity which casts the least bit of a shadow over one's personal
ease, and makes an American feel uncomfortable. The self-
HAMBURG.
433
importance of Germany is not so persistently brought into
prominence in Hamburg. This is no doubt due to commer-
cial causes. Hamburg sends her ships to every port of im-
portance on the globe ; they return freighted with the riches
of the world, and her citizens, from so much communication
with other nations, very naturally imbibe cosmopolitan ideas.
Ideas ever expand as commerce rules, and the great city of
the Hanseatic League, though her liberties be somewhat shorn,
HAMBURG.
asserts her individuality. She has her true aristocracy of
merchant princes, who spend their money nobly, and who
have endowed their handsome city with lasting monuments
in the way of libraries, schools, public gardens, and chari-
table institutions. Hamburg is one of the great commercial
feeders of Germany, and as a distributing point is of vast im-
portance. Of course the relationships of friendship and com-
merce between Hamburg and New York and many other ports
in the United States are very close. If we had been somewhat
deprived of newspapers, and the possibility of finding out all the
28
„,,, DENMARK, NORWAY, AND SWEDEN.
news about home while in Berlin, here at Hamburg all the
familiar journals of the leading American cities were presented
to us for our perusal.
On the day of our arrival the General dined quietly with the
American Consul, Mr. J. M. Wilson. There was the usual
evening tramp about the city, and next morning a deputation
of the Hamburo- Senate called and welcomed the General.
Hamburg, as one of the members of the old Hanseatic Confede-
o'
ration, is a free city, and governed by a senate and a burgo-
master. Although a part of the more modern machine of the
German Empire, it still retains some of its municipal privileges,
being to all intents and purposes a republic, as it has been for
a thousand years. The General admired the city greatly, and
was especially pleased with its order and perfection, and was
indifferent to the rain-storms which set in on our arrival. If,
however, any one would enjoy God's gifts on this northwestern
coast of Europe he must take them with rain.
Hamburg entertained the General with hearty good will.
On the morning after his arrival he was taken by the senators
on board a small steamer and made a tour of the docks and
basins and a small run into the Elbe. The ships were all
decked with bunting. The trip was pleasant, notwithstanding the
rain. In the evening there was a dinner given by the senate
at the Zoological Gardens, the burgomaster, Dr. Kirchenssauer,
in the chair. Among the senators present were Senators Os-
wald, Stamer, Moring, and Hertze. The burgomaster proposed
the General's health in the kindest terms, speaking of the honor
Hamburg received from his visit. The next day, being the
Fourth of July, the General went down to the country residence
of James R. MacDonald, the vice consul, and spent the after-
noon walking about the woods and talking with American
friends. Then came a dinner at a country hotel nearby, where
about thirty American ladies and gentlemen were present,
the consul presiding. Mr. Wilson proposed the General's
health as " the man who had saved the country." This toast
was drunk with cheers, to which the General responded as
follows :
FOURTH OF JULY AT HAMBURG.
435
"Mr. Consul and Friends: I am much obliged to you for the kind
manner in which you drink my health. I share with you in all the pleasure
and gratitude which Americans so far from home should feel on this anni-
versary. But I must dissent from one remark of our consul, to the effect
that I saved the country during the recent war. If our country could be
saved or ruined by the efforts of any one man we should not have a country,
and we should not be now celebrating our Fourth of July. There are many men
who would have done far bet-
ter than I did under the cir-
cumstances in which I found
myself during the war. If I
had never held command ; if I
had fallen ; if all our generals
had fallen, there were t e n
thousand behind us who would
have done our work just as
well, who would have followed
the contest to the end and
never surrendered the Union.
Therefore it is a mistake and
a reflection upon the people to
attribute to me, or to any num-
ber of us who held high com-
mands, the salvation of the
Union. We did our work as
well as we could, and so did
hundreds of thousands of
others. We deserve no credit
for it, for we should have been
unworthy of our country and
of the American name if we
had not made every sacrifice
to save the Union. What saved
the Union was the coming forward of the young men of the nation. They
came from their homes and fields, as they did in the time of the Revolution,
giving everything to the country. To their devotion we owe the salvation of
the Union. The humblest soldier who carried a musket is entitled to as much
credit for the results of the war as those who were in command. So long
as our young men are animated by this spirit there will be no fear for the
Union."
CHUhCH OF ST. JAMES — HAMBURG.
Among those present — for the company was almost entirely-
American — were J. M. Wilson, the Consul ; J. R. MacDonald,
the Vice Consul; Mr. Click, Mr. and Mrs. Danna, Mr. and Mrs.
436 DENMARK, NORWAY, AND SWEDEN.
Warburg, Mr. and Mrs. Slattery, Mr. and Mrs. Politz, Miss
Politz, Miss Gibson, and Miss Wolff. There was some dancing:
in a quiet way, and as we rode to the railway station there were
fireworks in the woods at various points. The next day the
General lunched at the house of Baron von Ohlendorf, one of
the leading- merchants of Hamburg. The house of the baron
is a palace and the entertainment was regal. Among the com-
pany present were the Prussian Minister to Hamburg, the com-
mander of the Prussian garrison, Senators Godefroy and Moring,
and a large representation of the great merchants and bankers
of the city. The consul told me how many millions there
were represented at the table, but I have forgotten, and will not
dare to guess. Hamburg, however, has reason to be proud of
these masters of her prosperity. The General was carried off
to the races, for the Hamburgers were bent on his seeing their
track. It rained, however, and after seeing one spin around
the turf, the General returned to his hotel. Among other inci-
dents ot the visit was the appearance of a Prussian military
band in front of the General's hotel window at eight o'clock on
the morning of the Fourth and a serenade. I copy the pro-
gramme :
1. " Hail Columbia."
2. Overture, 2. d. op. " Die Stumme von Portici," von Auber.
3. Chor der Biester a. d. op. " Die Zauberflote," von Mozart.
4. Entre act und Brautchor a. d. oper. " Lohengrin," von Wagner.
Our stay in Hamburg might have been extended over weeks
if the General had attempted to accept a tithe of the many kind
invitations offered him. But we are for Norway and Sweden
now, taking Denmark en route.
From Hamburg our course for a while is due north again,
though the General has concluded to diverge to the east some
little and to pay Copenhagen a flying visit before going to
Christiania. We leave Hamburg on July 6th, journey rapid-
ly through Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark, and cross the
Great Belt, where we gain a first view of the interior seas of
Northern Europe before reaching Copenhagen. It may be a
COPENHAGEN.
437
very trite expression, but certainly the actual visiting of certain
places dispels many false impressions. Of course on the map
the insular character of Denmark is well marked, but it is the
Danish archipelago which when seen impresses one more par-
ticularly with the peculiarity of this country. In appearance the
7 ' *
B»a-»«JlM]!f
portion of Den-
mark we traveled
over was Dutch in
its character, but
if anything more
bleak and less
under that perfec-
tion of culture which makes Holland so remarkable. Denmark
has not fared well in the late political combinations of Europe,
and still feels keenly her more recent loss, that of her southern
provinces. There is a pride of race in the Dane which no one
can say is not a proper one, for he can look back to a long
THE EXCHANGE.
^pS DENMARK, NORWAY, AND SWEDEN.
and glorious history. More than once she was the conqueror
of England, and all Europe wherever a ship could sail has
felt her power. Denmark, standing as she did at the entrance
of the Baltic, exacted lor many years feudal rights over the
expanse of waters. I trust my country has been forgiven
long ago because we refused to pay Sound dues and asserted
the freedom of the seas. Copenhagen is a most picturesque
place, with noble squares and stately houses. It seems strange
that in this far-off city of the North, the artistic tendency
should be so conspicuous, but it is manifest everywhere. Some-
thing else that strike us is the politeness of the people, the
grace of their manner, and their fine personal appearance.
Physiologically it is a leading race, and being a handsome
one, has stamped its peculiar type on many people. You see
the clear gray eye, the flaxen locks, and the finest of profiles.
Situated partly on the coast of Zealand, Copenhagen also oc-
cupies the island of Amager. All these northern towns have
something of a Venetian appearance, for water is used in every
way possible as a method of locomotion. The ships are
moored in canals which are alongside of the busiest of the
streets. We are particularly struck by the many brilliant
costumes of the country people who throng the streets. I
have spoken of the artistic tendency of the Danes, as shown
in their city of Copenhagen. This is due to the genius of
Thorwaldsen. In fact, Denmark has had a modern renais-
sance, with this advantage that all that was brutal and wicked
in men's manners in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries has
been eliminated in this new art birth. The influence of Copen-
hagen has been very great on all Northern Europe, in fact
over the whole world. It is not only the genius of Thor-
waldsen which asserted its power, for there was once a famous
story-teller, who delighted all children in both the New and Old
World, and made us look to Denmark with love and reve-
rence. Need I say that it is of Hans Andersen that I write?
We all know he died but a year or so ago, but we are very
sure that many a man will remember until he goes down to
his grave the pleasant stories Andersen told him, and in think-
ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUM.
439
ing of them will be a child once more. We would have
dearly loved to have seen good Hans Andersen, and to
have told him how well he was known and appreciated away
across the broad ocean. The veneration and respect paid to
Thorwaldsen is very evident in Copenhagen, and a great cen-
ter of attraction is the Thorwaldsen Museum. Here are pre-
served the greater part of all his works, some three hundred in
number. It is the life, the history of a great genius, which can
be seen in all its wonderful detail. Though Thorwaldsen has
been dead some thirty-four years, his memory seems very fresh.
Museums and collec-
tions of the greatest
merit are to be found
in profusion. In Rosen-
borg Castle are ex-
hibited all the relics
beloneinaf to a loner
race of Danish kings.
It is the Ethnographic
Museum, contained in
the Prindsens Palais,
which is the most
famous of its kind in
the world. Of course,
no country save one
having ample inter-
course with the out-
side world could have
made so perfect a col-
lection. Here are the
antiquities of all ages. Here there is a long series of objects
which teach us the history, manners, or customs of men of the
prehistoric time. There is an absolute thoroughness in all these
collections, and an intelligent system employed in their classifi-
cation, which make them studied throughout Europe. It is
accurate science and an absolute acquaintance with facts which
is the great moving impulse of the Dane. As has been before
R» ISE Mil (KG i
440 DENMARK, NORWAY, AND SWEDEN.
mentioned, however, he is never forgetful of art. This is mani-
fest by the elegant appearance of all the public buildings, and
the judicious care evinced in their decoration. At a short dis-
tance from the city is the Palace of Fredericksberg, in the
midst of a beautiful park. We are attracted that way by the
familiar appearance of a New- York built street-car. Two or
three of us, intent on a stroll, jump on the car, perfectly indiffe-
rent as to where it is going, and thus discover one of the most
charming gardens near the city. Here the better classes come
to drink their beer, and to eat the delicatessen which Denmark
offers. On the long summer evenings, which have scarce any
night, we love to while away an hour or so in these gardens.
We observe closely the methods of Danish amusement. It
is apparently very decorous. People seem to enjoy them-
selves. Young men and handsome girls talk, chat, and laugh,
and the parents join in their glee. It is perfectly true that
we do not at home know how to amuse ourselves in a similar
sensible way. There is a zoological garden here too, and
we follow great troops of children and grown people who are
to pay a visit to the animals. Our visit to Copenhagen is
short, almost too short, but we are under royal commands,
and the General bids us hasten away, for we are to touch
at Sweden, and then be off for Norway. Need I always repeat
that the Ex- President's reception, no matter where he goes,
is of the warmest kind, and that Copenhagen and Denmark
are all anxious to do him honor? We bid our many new-
made friends a good-by, and crossing the Cattegat, touch at
Gottenburg, and then and there make our first acquaintance
with the fjords of the great Northern Peninsula. It was the
heartiest of welcomes that General Grant met at Gottenburg.
There must have been fully five thousand persons, all cheering
lustily as our vessel approached the town, so anxious were the
good Swedes to show their respect to our chief. Again wns
the General in what the French call iui pays dc connaissancc, for
so many Swedes have emigrated to the United States, that his
fame has been spread far and wide through the Great North
Country. There was not a big ship at Gottenburg, not even a
GOTTENBURG. ** x
fishing shallop, that was not gay with flags. It had been the
General's desire to post on at once to Christiania, but he had
not the heart, after such a welcome, not to accept at least a por-
tion of the large hospitality offered to him. Now Gottenburg is
decidedly a place of interest, as it presents what is quite a rare
thing in Europe, the fact that a town may be reborn, and from
being comparatively a dead city, like those in Holland, may
again spring into life and activity. It was great Gustavus (who
rather tore down towns than built them) who first thought
that the position of Gottenburg offered certain advantages. In
1834 it was an old town without activity, and with very little if
any business outside of its local trade. About the year 1850,
Gottenburg began to show signs of improvement, and it is now
a handsome well-built city, with a population of forty thousand.
It does a great lumber business with England, and when iron
is wanted on the Continent, it is Gottenburg that receives and
ships the best Swedish iron. It is called not inappropriately
the Liverpool of the North. There are numerous fine, broad
streets, and the houses, like all houses in which well-to-do mer-
chants dwell, have an air of solid comfort. The weather is
simply delightful now, pleasantly warm midday, with cool nights
and mornings, and the heavens all blue without a cloud. We
are getting farther and farther north, and though it is July
and days arc shortening, still we enjoy the long, clear even-
ings. The day is spent most enjoyably at Gottenburg, and we
go the next morning to Christiania. I think the General is
touched when he notices that in his especial honor every village
we pass near has been decorated by the peasant folk. It is on
the 13th of fuly that we arrive at Christiania, the capital of
Norway. If the reception in Sweden was flattering to the
General, that in Norway I can hardly describe. It is the most
spontaneous of welcomes. There were fully ten thousand peo-
ple who thronged the quays to see the General. King Oscar
himself had left Stockholm, and has made a rapid journey to
his capital of Norway, to take the General by the hand and to
offer him all courtesy. At home we have seen General Grant
as general and President only. These are stations in life
442
DENMARK, NORWAY, AND SWEDEN.
where feelings and emotions must be concealed or at least kept
under control. I watch the General as he receives the applause
of the Norsemen who give him cheer after cheer as he puts his
foot on their hospitable shores. First the General seems puz-
zled, then the least bit of timidity is visible ; there is, too, a
THE NOKWIiCI
trace of wonderment apparent; but then he fairly unbends, and
does show some emotion in his face. I even think he looks
happy when he feels sure that all this honor which is paid him
is spontaneous and comes from the heart of these northern folks.
It is a beautiful day, and the fresh sea air blows across the
sparkling waters, and makes little white caps of foam. No-
thing can be more enchantintr than the view which Christiania
CHRIST/. 1. X/A. „„,
44.5
presents. The fjord stretches out beyond, and looks like a suc-
cession of lakes as the view is intercepted by jutting headlands.
The whole picture partakes of that double character which is
delightful by contrast. Here are headlands bold and precipi-
tous, these crowned with the most verdant culture, then black
rugged rocks beyond, and hills clothed with firs. Vessels are
sailing here and there in the port. Some are bound to America,
while others smaller are to sail due north even to the Arctic
Seas, and fish in those icy waters. Turning from the water
side to Christiania we see a handsome city, elegantly laid out.
Imposing structures rise one over the other, and beyond are the
evidences of culture in numerous handsome villas which crown
the green slopes. It is altogether a scene of unusual beauty and
of surpassing novelty. Sunshine may perhaps be scarcer in
Norway than in the United States, but there is a mellow soft-
ness in a Norse sun which blends the various colors of nature
in the most admirable way. This entrance to Christiania must
remain among the most pleasant reminiscences of this travel.
The General's first visit is to the Castle of Aggershuus. This
old fortress, which commands the city, is built on a rock, and
its construction dates back from the fourteenth century. Here
the old records are kept, and the fortress serves as a receptacle
for the trophies Norway has captured during the last few cen-
turies. From the castle a grand view may be had of Christiania
and the fjord. We find our lodgings of the most comfortable
kind, and we are soon perfectly at home with the peculiarities
of the Norse cuisine. If anything the food one finds in the
north is very substantial. With the differences of climate,
and some peculiar quality in the air, appetites are amazingly
increased. A "square meal," as, for instance, a Norwegian
breakfast, is something like the following: Coffee (admirable
of its kind throughout all Scandinavia), hot bread, ham eaten
raw, fish, such as salmon, fresh, kippered, and smoked, herring,
raw and salted, fresh esro-s, boiled lobster, with a substantial
beefsteak. We all become more or less familiar, too, with the
cucumber, which is eaten prepared somewhat like sourkrout,
tasting acid yet refreshing. We delight most especially in a
... DENMARK, NORWAY, AND SWEDEN.
small, wild strawberry, which is of exquisite flavor. One thing
we are being- accustomed to in this northern world is that
preparation one makes in the way of a lunch immediately
before dinner. Prior to the repas de ceremonie in the room
where guests are received, a good-sized table is spread covered
with various salt preparations, and with bits of brown bread.
It is expected that the appetite shall be whetted in this way,
and further stimulated by a certain number of glasses of cor-
dial or corn brandy. This latter fluid is of the strongest
character, and aquavit, as it is called, when imbibed by one
unaccustomed to such things, quite takes your breath away.
It is understood that such fiery fluids may be adapted to the
excessive cold of Norway, but in July weather, which even so
far north is really hot at times, most of the American party
partook of this corn brandy with extreme moderation. The
shops in Christiania are excellent, and somewhat peculiar in
the way of signs. Norsemen are essentially practical, and
there can be no possible mistakes made. There is no chance
of error in selecting the shop where you want to buy, for the
hardware man hangs outside of his place a pair of tongs or a
shovel, while the glove-maker exhibits a glove of preposterous
size. We note a certain independence about these trades-
people. You are greeted in a quiet but not obsequious way.
These people do not cringe in order to obtain your custom.
It is not bluntness, only the Norseman will assert on all occa-
sions his perfect independence, and I must say I rather like it.
Still with all this a certain amount of respect is exacted be-
tween all ranks. If you enter a shop, no matter how humble be
the wares or the condition of the seller, you are expected to
remove your hat, otherwise you would be set down as a rude
boor. People in Christiania live, as they do in many European
towns, in flats, and their dwellings are large and spacious.
Houses have a porte-cochere, similar to those in Paris, which
leads to a semicircular yard around which the building stands.
Christiania in midsummer must differ essentially from the same
city in winter. We notice the preparations in the houses for
keeping the inmates warm. These consist of huge porcelain
CARL JOHAN GARDEN.
445
stoves in which pine and birch wood are burned. There might
be a great chance for some clever countryman of ours to show
the Norseman how to keep warm with less expense and trouble.
We ask some of our Norse friends about the climate of Chris-
tiania, and they tell us that though in the latitude of Iceland, as
the city is on the
water, it is no-
thinglike as cold
as it is one hun-
dred miles in
the interior.
Just like Ham-
burg, Christi-
ania has suffer-
ed a n d been
benefited by
fires. Formerly
the majority of
the houses were
of wood, but to-
day no n e w
building can be
erected which
is not of stone.
Certainly the
fin est of the
public buildings
is the royal
palace, which
stands on a
slight elevation
at the west end of the city. Not far from the palace is the
Carl Johan Garden. Here is the university and the public
library. I have again and again commented upon the beau-
tiful views one gains from various standpoints in Christiania.
Standing right in front of the royal palace the mountain hills
of Ecrebero; loom in the distance, while country houses, ele-
DEER CAkbE.N — MulKHULM.
446
DENMARK, NORWAY, AND SWEDEN.
gantly perched on the hilltops, are reflected in the tranquil
fjord. Of course we have the entree of the royal palace, but
really regal residences have not much of interest to us. When
you say that one room is decorated in the Renaissance style,
and another in the Byzantine, you have fully described it.
The university has more claim to our attention with its ele-
gantly designed portal crowned by the Minerva. The zoolo-
gical museum within the university is of the most interesting
character. In some respects the animals of Northern Europe
and North America run close together as to form, and we
are pleased to find some quite familiar types. The attention
paid to instruction in both Norway and Sweden is most marked,
and people who cannot read or write are very rare. Perhaps
of many lovely spots around Christiania we derived the most
pleasure from a visit to Oscarshal, or Oscar's Hall. This de-
lightful retreat, which is a royal country-seat, is situated on a bold
peninsula called Ladegardsoen, about a couple of miles from
Christiania. How long noble Norsemen and women have held
their galas here no historian can say, but King Hacon held
revels here untold centuries ago. The palace has been rebuilt
within the last thirty years, and is in a handsome Anglo-Gothic
style. There were two artistic decorations which struck us : a
dining room painted by a Norwegian artist representing scenes
of Norwegian peasant life, and a drawing room ornamented
with the medallions of great Norwegian statesmen. Grand
historical names of old times, which one only gets a glimpse of
in old chronicles, come vividly out almost into present life in
Norway. The Harolds, the Olafs, the Kin"- Sverres, which
seem mere poetical fictions, are here actual realities. Now as
things go in Europe, Christiania is not an old town ; it may
be called, in fact, a city of yesterday, for it was founded
in 1624 by King Christian IV. This speaks well of the
energy of these northern men, and shows that the charac-
ter of a famous people does not degenerate in time. YVe
as Americans may owe a great deal of our energy and freedom
to the old Norse stock, whose blood was mingled with the
Saxon. These bold rovers, who manned their war ships and
HISTORICAL REMINISCENCES. 447
drove out to sea, passed over to Iceland, and thence most cer-
tainly sailed over to America, anticipating Christopher Colum-
bus. The)- had no geographical data to go upon ; the finding
of America was no essay founded upon scientific probability.
Endowed with the spirit of freedom, burning for adventure,
they plunged into unknown seas — the impossible only urged
them on. It is a very fine point to determine exactly what is
an invader or a colonizer. Both terms are applicable to one
and the same people. It is true the old Norseman made little
pother about it. He went about his business with his sword,
spear, and battle-axe, and slew right and left. He drove the
weaker Gaul from off the coast of France, and founded a great
dynasty there, and in time the descendants of these Norsemen,
called Normans, went over and conquered England. They
were rude times, rough ones, and we to-day who philosophize
over them think that such thing's can never occur again, while
we really in our blindness forget that just such events are hap-
'pening to-day, and will happen over and over again in the his-
tory of the world which is yet unwritten. It is ever the weaker
race which goes to the wall. Norway, however, in her later
history, has represented many vicissitudes of fortune. Once all
three kingdoms, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, were united
under one rule, in the fourteenth century a king of Norway
having married a Danish princess. After her death, for she
reigned in her time, came a weak succession. These were
kings who had no Scandinavian feeling, and oppressed the peo-
ple. It was the great Gustavus Vasa, a fugitive in the moun-
tains of Dalecarlia, who roused the people of Sweden from
their apathy, gained the victory, and was elected sovereign.
The history of Sweden was then blended with that of Norway.
.Norway was Danish until 1S14. Now the history of the pre-
sent sovereign of Norway and Sweden is a most remarkable
one. Strange to say, it is the last relic of Napoleonism in
Europe. In 1809, Gustavus IV., King of Sweden, abdicated,
and was succeeded by Carl XIII. This king was childless, and
it became necessary to choose another sovereign for the Swedish
throne. Whether by the secret influence of Napoleon or not,
44 8
DENMARK, NORWAY, AXD SUEDEX.
Bernadotte, a field marshal of France, and Prince of Ponte-
corvo, was elected. He was made crown prince, and adopted
Lutheranism. Now, there was no greater mistake made by the
Emperor Napoleon than when he supposed that his old lieu-
tenant Bernadotte would always remain stanch to the French
side. When war broke out between France and Russia, this
French crown prince and the Russian emperor met at Abo, in
Finland, where it was agreed, that if Sweden joined Russia
ROYAL PALACE — CHRISTIANIA,
against France, Norway should be detached from Denmark
and united to Sweden. Of course, if in the issue of events
the tide of circumstances had turned against Russia, Bernadotte
would have been deposed. But Moscow, and the repulse of the
French in Russia, built up the power of Bernadotte. By one
of those strange freaks of fortune, in that strange game of
chance which men of genius play, it was this French Swede
who held the winning cards. But still in 1814, Norway was
loath to take this newly-made Swedish prince as sovereign. It
was a Swedish army commanded by the Frenchman, who, being
NORWEGIAN VEHICLES. . ._
44y
a good soldier, was ready to enforce his claims. A compro-
mise was made, by which Carl XIII. of Sweden was accepted
as sovereign, and at his death, in 1S18, Bernadotte reigned in
his stead as Carl XIV. There was great courage and clever-
ness about this French lawyer, for to that profession was Ber-
nadotte bred, and possibly it was all for the best that Carl XIV.
reigned over both countries, for when he died in i S44 he was
fairly beloved, and his memory is still reverenced by the people.
This historical reminiscence becomes somewhat necessary, as
it explains how a king may to-day rule over two countries
which, though divided by only an imaginary line, still like to be
thought in a certain measure distinct. There are main' curi-
ous political surmises which might be of interest if detailed
here. Strange to say, the Norwegian seems to cherish very
great love for Denmark, and be rather indifferent to Sweden.
What is very certain is this, that in the union of these two
countries there is strength, and it is to be hoped that in time
the wisdom of the present consolidation may be evident to both
Norwegian and Swede.
An excursion has been planned for us, and we are to have
a taste of Norwegian traveling. Now we make our first ac-
quaintance with those two methods of locomotion known in Nor-
way, the two vehicles called the karjoler and the stolkja^rrer.
Though the best turnouts had been provided for us, still they
were of a peculiar rattle-trap appearance. The karjoler may
be described as a low gig, a kind of clumsy sulky, holding one
person ; it has shafts made of good elastic wood, and the weight
of the traveler is supported on the axletree and the horse's
neck. I call it a horse through courtesy, though it is a pony,
and a very small one at that. Your luggage, which must not be
large (a Saratoga trunk would be an impossibility), is lashed on
a frame on the axletree, and perched on that, clinging there for
dear life, is a small boy, or sometimes a white-haired, blue-eyed
little girl. This appendage does not pretend to drive you, but
has the whole concern in his or her safe keeping. Having thus
described the Norwegian go-cart, I have to say that with the ex-
ception of the American buggy, it is the most comfortable of all
?9
45°
DENMARK, NORWAY, AND SWEDEN.
vehicles. It must have been invented for the peculiarities of
the country. In any other kind of a drag it would have been
impossible to scale the high, rough, rocky hillsides, or to go
down into the valleys. It is delightful to exercise one's Jehu-
like propensities, and to guide the willing little steeds. These
sturdy little brutes were as tractable as possible, good-tempered,
intelligent, and ambitious. Perhaps the choice ponies of Nor-
way had been selected for us. Now as to the other conveyance,
the stolkjaerrer, or seat-cart. Some of the party (for we had
been joined by
a number of
American
friends w h o
had come a
long way out
of their road
to pay their
respects to the
General) de-
cided to try
the seat-cart.
I do not think
they will ever
make another
essay of that
character. They declared that after the first mile they expected
to be shaken into fragments. Means of travel by these simple
carriages are, of course, necessary in Norway ; perhaps journeys
could not be undertaken in any other way. In winter, rail-
roads in certain districts would be difficult to manage, and
then again the business would be limited. Now let me return
to the brave little black pony who is working so gamely in
my Norwegian gig. I do not think he is fourteen hands high.
He has a pretty head and arched neck, a round body, rather
clean le^s, with plenty of hair around his hoofs, and a nimble
pair of heels. He does not stop at a good hillside, but ambles
gayly to the very top, and goes down hill rather faster than I like.
sMggom
1 HE KAKJOLEK.
HAR VESTING IN NOR WAY. , - I
I try to make the blue-eyed boy, who is hanging on behind me,
understand my question, "Does the pony ever fall?" He has
picked up a smatter of English, and he makes me understand
"that such a thing as a horse's stumbling in Norway never
happens." What a delightful polo pony he would make, if only
a little lighter. I am told that with a good horse I can go
on at this pleasant speed forty miles a day ; that if not too
hilly, these little steeds will accomplish six miles an hour, and on
a level bit of road, ten miles. The urchin seemed to love his
horse, and was delighted when I praised him. I am more or
less watchful as I go down some of the steep hills, but it is
rather in regard to the harness than the horse. There are no
traces that I can see, but to the collar there are iron rings
which are attached to the shafts. I suppose it is all right,
though I have been bred into a sincere and lasting belief in a
breeching for down-hill work. Occasionally we have a spurt
with one or another of the party on the road, and I am fortu-
nate in having: the Dexter of Norwegian horses. I learn how
to stop the pony at a word, the Norse whoa being " bur-r-r."
If at the start I was a little nervous, I am now much more
anxious about the little towhead boy, for I am afraid every
moment that he will go spinning in the air. Not a bit of it.
He hangs on like a fly, and has powers of adhesion which are
marvelous. We are passing through a country where they are
making hay. It smells sweet and fragrant. Strong men and
women — and there are more women than men — are cutting
grass with scythes and tossing it up with their rakes. We are
not (so our guide tells us) far enough north to see how they cure
their crops in the true Norwegian agricultural way, hanging the
hay, oats, or barley on stakes about six feet high. The grass
is not very tall, and there would be more weight of fodder in
one American acre than in ten Norwegian ones, and still this
crop is considered luxuriant when compared with the produce
of the fields but a short distance north of us. Can I describe
the beauties of the scenery ? I look up a high mountain-side,
bold and inaccessible, and see where vegetation ceases. It is
warm and pleasant through the narrow road I am driving; but
»c 2 DENMARK, NORWAY, AND SWEDEN.
away above there — it must be always winter. There is not
even a tree there, only stunted shrubs. But lower down there
is a fringe of dark fir trees, and through it there tumbles a
cascade which like a snow-white ribbon flutters along: the
mountain side. Nothing can exceed the magnificence of these
mountain gorges. Sometimes they are barely wide enough for
our karjoler to pass through, then they expand and are spacious
enough to hold a squadron of cavalry- On all sides we hear
the pleasant noise of falling waters, and as we pass the dark
forests we listen to the singing of the wind through the high
pines. It is not only the beauties of this most picturesque
country that we see, but we watch the bright, flashing waters
of the North Sea which have stolen throuo-h the blue mountains
far into the land. Here and there are fishing craft skimming
over the surface. Evidently the reputation of the leader of
our party has been noised about among this simple folk, for
in the villages we pass through the people are out en masse,
dressed in quaintly fashioned costume. There are so many
Norsemen and Swedes in the United States who have done
well, who have shown such thrift and gained such high posi-
tions, that to those who remain at home the United States is
as an El Dorado. I am struck by the happy, healthy look
of the peasant folk, and try to note the picturesque dress of
some of the Norwegian girls. One came tripping down the
mountain side offering; us a basket of mountain strawberries.
Her skirt was of a dark olive-green cloth, and the bodice em-
broidered with bright golden flowers. On her he-ad she wore
something like a Scotch bonnet trimmed with silver lace. She
also wore a stomacher of some bright red material, on which
hung silver ornaments, which clattered as she walked. There
were long silver earrings in her ears, neat blue stockings en-
cased her shapely legs, and on her feet were well-made round-
pointed shoes, with a pair of silver buckles which looked as if
they weighed a pound. Our guide informed us that in the
General's honor a gala dress had been put on. As to the men,
I never saw such waistcoats. They were cut precisely like
those worn in the last century, a coat and waistcoat in fact all
CHURCHES A.XP GRAVES.
453
in one piece. Red caps seemed to be the ordinary head gear.
Short breeches and stockings were universal. I never saw more
honest, sturdy faces. Our road led by a village church. It
was of fair size with nave and chancel. It was built of wood,
not thin planks and scantlings as with us in America, but con-
structed of good, solid, massive beams. How long it had been
built we could not find out. It was weather-stained with time.
The roof was high- pointed and covered with shingles. Roofs
in Norway have to be
high and of a sharp an-
gle, otherwise they could
not withstand the heavy
weight of s n o w which
falls throusfh the loner
winter. On top of the
church swung the typical
cock which had veered in
the gale for many a hun-
dred years. Some of us
halted for a little while
and entered the church-
yard. Here were the last
mortal remains of honest
Norwegian men and wo-
men. These graves were
not like ours, oblong
mounds of turf, but were
raised tombs with an iron
r a i 1 i n g. There was a
sweet touch of summer around these silent graves, for blue
gentianellas and lilies of the valley were growing in all luxuri-
ance; even a rose gave out its pleasant perfume. There seems
to be great respect paid by the Norseman to the last resting
place of his race. The memory of the dead is sincerely cher-
ished. Our informant tells us that reunions are sometimes
held by members of a family in the grave-yards long after the
decease of a relative. It is said that much of that family
PEASAJTC GIR1
454
DENMARK, NORWAY, AW SWEDEN.
affection, that patriotism, that attachment the Norwegian pea-
sant has for his country throughout all his wanderings, may
be traced to this respect they pay to their graves. Just as
we were remounting our vehicles, our skyds gut, or postboy,
urging departure, the pleasant chimes of the bells in the church
steeple were heard. It might have been only the hour that was
told, or some church service that was indicated, but instantly
the whole group of peasants removed their hats and caps and
bowed. It was a kind of reverential act, a return of salutation
to the old church. We are interested in the history of these
peasants, and find that they have certain peculiarities which
are not to be found elsewhere. There never has been anything
approaching to feudalism in this Scandinavian country. A man
has always asserted his rights, and fought for them. He never
owed allegiance to a petty chief. A Norwegian gentleman, who
has acted as our guide, explains what is meant by a bonder:
" You might go," he tells us, " into that rather modest-looking
house yonder on the hill — I have been there before — and if you
asked the owner who he was or what was his origin, he would
tell you that some old king of Norway was his ancestor.
The man is perfectly truthful. He can trace his lineage back
maybe a thousand or twelve hundred years. The English pride
themselves on their names, and date the birth of their noble fami-
lies to the Norman Conquest. He can date his to the time
of Alfred. We could show you bonders, peasants, who have
an absolute descent much farther back than the tenth century.
These bonders form a distinctive class. They have an intense
love for country, and are mostly comfortably off. They despise
all show and parade, and live simply and unostentatiously.
They are always fairly educated, and are representative men.
They occupy a special position, which is difficult to explain.
In your English sense they belong to the yeoman class rather
than to the gentry. They are exceedingly courteous, and will
give you their hospitality without stint. If they have any pride
of race, they never show it, but still they must remember the
grand old stock from which they sprang. I think," concluded
our informant, " that they are quite distinguishable, as a class,
THE LAPPS. ^rr
by their line manly appearance, for they always hold their
heads high, and stoop to no man."
Our journey into the interior is necessarily restricted as to
time. It would have delighted the General if we could have
pushed still farther north. Trondjhem and Christiansund were
even mentioned, but time is fleeting, and our aspiration to pay
a visit to the town nearest to the pole is frustrated. The fact
is we are all more or less possessed with an intense desire
of seeing a Lapp, or riding behind a reindeer. As to the
first, we get a sight of these strange men of the North, and as to
the reindeer, our curiosity is readily satisfied, for we find he
resembles very much our caribou. In response to our inquiries
in regard to the reindeer, we find that he is difficult to keep,
even as far south or north (whichever you please) as Chris-
tiania. We are shown some of the deer, who are apparently
gentle to those who care for them, but who resent any familiarity
on our part. Like our caribou, the reindeer will not thrive
where the reindeer moss is not found in abundance. How
wonderful it is when we think that this particular animal will
only exist where a special food is found. Some of us indulge
in a glass of reindeer milk, and find it sweet and rich, but
the cheeses are terrible inflictions. As to the Lapps, we saw
some nomads in the more southern country. They were not a
prepossessing people. The term Lapp they do not understand;
it may possibly be Swedish, but it is not Norse. In appear-
ance and color, save that they are stunted, they resemble some-
what our Indians, but I did not think their features were like
the Esquimaux. They are a pastoral people, but necessity has
forced some of them to become fishermen. The Lapp is said
to be honest, fairly industrious, and very superstitious, and is
devotedly fond of tobacco and corn brandy. Your Lapp not
only smokes all the time, but absolutely chews tobacco while
he smokes. He is not a frequent inmate of the large towns
of Lower Denmark, but in the north he seems of late to take
to the towns, where he finds employment as a fisherman. We
even find some few Lapps in Christiania. No one can describe
Norway or its people without paying some attention to her
456
DENMARK', NORWAY, AND SWEDEN
great fishing- interests. Where land is so barren, and climate so
ungrateful, the catching of fish is a matter of paramount impor-
tance. The hardy Norse mariners, seeking the harvest of the
seas, sail away up to the north, and the cod and herring of
the Lofoden Islands, when cured and prepared by them, find a
NORWEGIAN IJUIiU.
market in all parts of the world. Fish are to the Norseman
not only food for himself but for his cattle. It often happens,
when an earlv frost comes, and kills the scanty grass, and
there is no hay for horse or cow, that these animals become
ichthyophagous, and exist on fish. All along the coast, perched
•on every eminence, may be seen either the hut of the fisherman
or a watch tower, so that the movements of the fish as they
NORWEGL IN SCENER V. . e ,
45/
come into the shores can be discovered. The hardihood and
daring of these fishermen are extreme. They laugh at wind or
weather. We are well acquainted with this brave race in the
United States, for the fishing fleet of Gloucester carries out
many a Norseman who exercises in American waters the
calling acquired in the Northern Ocean. In some respects this
northern coast is a dangerous one, though there are so many
fjords and islands that shelter is often found. Still one shivers
when the thought comes of men exposed to these terrible north-
ern sfales, and the horrors of the lone niehts.
Of course Norway is by no means the terra incognita of forty
years ago. Besides the magnificence of its scenery, it affords
great attraction to the sportsman. In our short excursion into
the country we met numerous parties of English gentlemen in-
tent on salmon fishing. In fact, numerous invitations were ex-
tended to the General that he should try his hand with rod and
fly in some brawling Norwegian stream. But fishing is hardly
among the General's accomplishments. We are told by an
Englishman that although the sport is pleasant enough, the
great drawback are the mosquitoes, which are on a par, as to
quantity and aggressiveness, with the insect found in the
United States. We spent a few days most pleasantly in our
excursion, having seen country life in Norway under peculiar
advantages. On our return to Christiania, regal courtesies
were offered by his majesty the King, and were accepted
by the General. Our stay in the capital of Norway was now
drawing to a close. It is on our programme that we are to
reach Stockholm on the 24th of July. We bid a good-by
to our many Norwegian friends, and the same hearty feel-
ing which was extended to the General on his arrival at
Christiania is repeated, only it is to wish him a good-by. We
take rail from Christiania by Kingsringer to Stockholm. The
country we pass through does not present much beauty. The
soil seemed poor, and the crops light, but even such scanty
harvest as the ground gives is eagerly sought atter. Occa-
sionally we pass near a beautiful lake, all bordered by dark
pines, and we have glimpses of mountain ranges behind. What
453
DENMARK, NORWAY, AND SWEDEN.
does strike us, as practical Americans, is that every here and
there we pass by large factories with tall chimneys, or see in
the distance the smoke rising up from the iron works, and we
know that we are in Sweden, where the manufacturing interests
are of the most promising character. The railroad is an admi-
rable one, and the carriages perfectly luxurious. Advantage has
been taken of a valley which runs parallel with the Vrangs Elv,
a good-sized Swedish river, to make a portion of the route be-
tween Norway and Sweden. If the railroad be slow as to time,
we have a better opportunity of judging of the character of the
country. We therefore do not complain, but rather enjoy the
long stoppages at by-stations. As usual, it is quite well known
that General Grant is on the train. Accordingly all the towns
and villages we pass through are made resplendent with tri-
umphal arches and flags. The depots are thronged with pea-
sants, who cry welcome, and cheer the General. It is fortunate
perhaps that the Ex-President is not polyglot, or his well-
known speech-making inclinations would have been taxed to
the utmost. Occasionally as these complimentary words are
addressed to him, in a language which he cannot understand,
I think I perceive a slight smile illumine his generally im-
movable features. I am led to believe he is congratulating
himself that a bow or so on his part answers all purposes.
We find, however, that both in Norway and Sweden many
languages are spoken. It is hard to find an educated Nor-
wegian or Swede who does not speak English, French, or
German. There are certain words identical in Norse and
English, and sometimes we who only speak our mother tongue
find we can manage a little Norse. We travel on into the lone
twilight, which is so beautiful in this northern land, and as
we near Stockholm, the country changes, and is more broken.
It is a lake country evidently, for we pass near broad expanses
of beautiful water. That superb grandeur, that weird majesty
of nature which is so imposing in Norway, no longer strikes
us. The journey is rather a long one, and we are glad when
we find ourselves within the good city of Stockholm.
The impression Stockholm made on us was different from
STOCKHOLM A.XD VENICE.
459
that of any other city of the North we had yet visited. In the
construction of its houses it has a style of its own which is de-
cidedly original, although it resembles the French. There is a
grand palace too, which is certainly the equal of any we have
seen in either France or Germany. The city, under the warm-
ing influence of a July sun, seemed to combine the art inspira-
tion of both the North and
the South. It is evidently a
gay city, for I see the streets
crowded with well - dressed
people. There is a certain
quaintness about the country
people which is very attrac-
tive. I am informed that Stockholm is the "Venice of the
North." I have had the same thing told me of other Scandi-
navian cities, which claim a similar appellation. I discard it
entirely. It is true there is land and water mixed, but it is
not Venice. Venice brings with it a feeling of languor. It
recalls a period of decay, which not one of these towns of
the North ever reminds one of. Venice would not be Venice
460
DE.XM.1RK, NORWAY, AND SWEDEN,
if there was the least bustle about it. Stockholm teems with
life. People seem to be in a hurry — not in that impetuous
American hurry of course — that would be impossible — but still
there is at least a briskness which is pleasant to see. I under-
stand though that if Stockholm has charms for the traveler in
summer, it is in winter that the capital of Sweden is at its best.
I should like to see it then, when sledges drawn by prancing
horses flash past in the streets, when all the places of amuse-
OSCAK HALL.
ment are in full blast. We are all, however, pleased with
Stockholm in its summer guise.
Now, Sweden has reminiscences of the past, which are ever
glorious, and she cherishes the memory of Gustavus Vasa most
especially. We have no great love for relics, still we all felt a
desire to see what remained of this great Swedish warrior king.
In the national museum of Stockholm are preserved all that re-
mains of Gustavus and Charles XII. In this collection of curi-
osities, among this mass of royal robes faded by time, which be-
longed to royal nobodies, are the blood-stained clothes great
S / \ 'EDISH HER OES.
46 I
Gustavus wore when he dropped his sword from his hand and
died for religious freedom at Lutzen. There they are, with the
blood which flowed from his wounds still on them. The old
story is, that on the morning of Lutzen he had his breastplate
brought him by a page. The king had been hurt some time
before at Dirschau, and his armor was painful to him, and he
was also soldier enough to foresee how little iron and steel could
stand before powder and ball ; so he said, as his corselet was
presented to him, " I will have none of it. God is my har-
ness." All that is left of Charles XII. lies there in that small
glass case. When Charles stood defiant at Frederickshall, the
fatal ball fired went first through his hat, and then into his brain.
Here is the hat, with the ugly hole in it. As the kine fell, he
automatically raised his hand to his head, and there lies the
gauntlet with its red smear on it. Voltaire did Charles XII.
justice in his history, and his story is well known ; but these
relics give true vividness to the story. This museum has an
endless variety of collections. Here are pictures, engravings,
and cabinets of engraved gems. It is in the Ridderholm Church,
where all the kings and queens of Sweden lay in peace, that
these two heroes were buried. In the aisles, too, repose the
field-marshals Bunner and Torstenson, comrades of Augustus.
The Ridderhause claimed our attention. Here it is that the
Swedish Diet assembles. The walls are decorated with the
escutcheons of the noble families of Sweden. But we have seen
so many museums and collections that we soon tire of them. I
must confess that I like to stud)- a city in its streets. There is
full opportunity in Stockholm. Men and women of the richer,
better-to-do class, are the same all over the world, that is on
the outside. I have to admire, however, the beautiful faces of
the ladies, and their graceful walk. I even think it peculiar to
Stockholm. But w hat most delights me is the picturesque cos-
tume of the women of Dalecarlia. They wore a brown or green
skirt with a colored border, and the scarlet jacket had snow-
white sleeves; on their heads they carried a most coquettish
red cap, and completed their costume with red stockings, and
shoes with the most peculiar heels. They added to their at-
462
DENMARK, NOR WAV, AND SWEDEN.
tractiveness on Sunday by wearing a bouquet, a large one, com-
posed of the most beautiful wild-flowers. Their faces some
might not think handsome, but they were hale and hearty, and
their walk and carriage were superb. These peasants leave their
homes and come to work in Stockholm. The work they do
would horrify the American woman. In Switzerland, a pretty
Swiss maiden may occasionally row a boat across some blue
lake ; but in Stockholm, these Dalecarlian women are the boat-
women, do all the hard work and help the masons, for they mix
mortar and carry the stones and bricks and beams up the lad-
ders. Being very frugal, they save their money, and go back
comparatively rich to their native villages in the mountains,
where they find husbands. All around Stockholm there are
beautiful drives and glorious views. Among the most pleasant
places to visit was the Deer Park, abounding with houses of
entertainment, cafes, and theaters. As it was full summer,
everybody was enjoying the beauties of the spot. All these
northern cities are so wonderfully situated that I cannot help
extolling them. It was ever delicfhtful for us to look on the
broad expanse of land and sea, and to see the villas which dotted
the well-wooded islands. In my rapid description of this great
city of the North, I must not overlook the hospitalities of which
the General was the recipient. As in every place where he has
been so far, tokens of respect and honor are lavished on him.
Of course America is perfectly well known to the Swede, for
there were Swedish colonies in America coeval with those of
Holland ; still of late years the bonds of friendship between
the two countries have been much more closely drawn, as
some of our best emigrants came from these rock-bound shores.
Some of us have pleasant reminiscences brought to our mind of
home, as we are asked if we know such and such a Swedish
merchant who is doing business in New York, Chicago, or San
Francisco. General Grant has invitations sent him to visit the
Palace of Drottningholm, which is the most superb of the gala
residences of the Swedish crown. The King of Sweden has,
with the greatest kindness, given instructions that all the palaces
should be opened for the inspection of the General. I think
MUSIC.
463
the Ex- President, though he has seen innumerable palaces,
would rather go from the garret of a regal residence to the cel-
lar than see a review. Somehow I fancy the king half suspects
this, and military pageants, save of a very mild character, do not
interfere with the General's pleasures.
I have incidentally here and there touched on the artistic
inclinations of these northern people. Its development, as we
well know in America, is not limited to pictures or statues. It
[1 ! 1 1 lh til •', tbp llllli
Hi! yjjijiliLilJiliiJiiMii
'Mi-
ROYAL PALACE — blOCKHULM.
is their musical talents which are of so high an order. This
Norwegian and Swedish music has a charm of its own. Every-
body seems to possess a musical taste, and an appreciation of
this delightful art. Even the peasant folk take to music, and
while away their time with singing, and playing on various in-
struments. In all the great towns there is always music in the
air. In private families the exercise of this art is not consid-
ered as much of an accomplishment as a necessity. We know
in the United States how we have appreciated those artists
which Norway and Sweden have given us. When one specu-
464 DENMARK, NORWAY, AND SWEDEN.
lates on the gifts the Almighty has implanted in man, it may be
understood how in the warmer South, where nature does so much
for the human race, music might have been readily acquired;
but here in the cold North, where existence is a struo-ofle with
frost and cold, it is a grand blessing that this love of music is
implanted in these Norwegian and Swedish men and women,
and has done so much to refine them. We are to leave this
beautiful city of Stockholm on the morrow. As time is press-
ing, the General's orders are positive, and we obey with mili-
tary alacrity. We are to take passage along the Baltic, and
are to be at St. Petersburg within a few days. Now that the
peace of Europe seems assured for a while, the Ex-President
can with perfect propriety pay his respects to the Emperor of
Russia. We are to take the steamer from Stockholm, and will
soon be enjoying the hospitalities of the Paris of the North.
:.4SS5£?
EC
ST. fklEKsllUKu,
CHAPTER XVII.
RUSSIA.
[CROSS the Baltic, from Stockholm to St. Peters-
burg, is quite a voyage, some four hundred miles
or more by sea. Just now, at the close of July,
the trip has proved a moderately pleasant one,
but in the spring and fall there are no heavier gales than those
which blow through these inland seas. Away up in the frozen
north, in the Gulf of Bothnia, old Boreas holds his wind bags,
and launches the cold gusts down to the Baltic Sea.
It is, indeed, an inland sea, and a vast one. Thougfh it is
midsummer, and the sun has driven away the clouds, the sea is
not very cheerful, for it has no grand ocean swell, and is quite
turbid. The wind is brisk, not exactly a gale, but one feels the
motion very distinctly. The party has got its sea legs on again,
and no one is seriously disturbed. We cannot say the same of
3° 465
466
Ji USS/A.
a number of German tourists, who are evidently very much dis-
tressed. Our fellow passengers are of a very heterogeneous
kind. We do not notice that peculiar middle class, however,
which one finds in Southern Europe. Take an American or an
English steamer, going almost anywhere, and you will be very
certain to find that a large proportion of the passengers are of
that honest class who are seeking their fortunes, and who bring
with them, as capital, nothing more than their good thews
and muscles. There are scarcely any who seem to be looking
for what in America is called a job.
Take that fine-looking Italian with the oval face and olive
complexion, for instance. His mission is undoubtedly to present
his new opera before a St. Petersburg audience, if possible, and
so bring the Russians out of what he considers barbarism into
culture. Or the inventive American, who is visiting Russia for
the purpose of introducing his patent rifle, which can be loaded
and fired fifty times a minute. His idea is that with this in^
valuable arm Russia could march straight to the Dardanelles,
and he considers it very unfortunate the war has not lasted six
months longer. The short man leaning over the rail is the
representative of the greatest banking house in the world ; he
makes the trip either to negotiate a loan or to see about the
payment of the last one. Russia draws to herself not exactly
those classed as adventurers, but she is considered a place
where a fortune can be made. To the rest of Europe she is
still a kind of terra incognita.
As we were skirting Finland, not quite halfway on our
journey, the wind increased to a gale, blowing right in our
teeth. But our vessel was an excellent one, the engines pow-
erful, and in four hours we outsailed the squall. Occasion-
ally, as the weather cleared, we could see the coast line,
which was low and dreary. In time the broad expanse of the
Gulf of Finland, some hundred miles in width, narrowed, and
smoother water was reached. Imperceptibly the shores ap-
proached us, and as we neared Cronstadt, the weather made a
final and positive clear-up. We knew we were near some great
haven, for there were many ships coming and going. Now and
CRONSTADT.
467
then a steamer passed bound to the westward. We make out
a bright speck in the far distance, which shines in the sunlight,
and are told that that is Cronstadt. the seaport of the new Rus-
sian capital. We fly our colors, and out of respect to our chief,
the stars and stripes float from the foremast. As we near the
outlying batteries which bristle around Cronstadt a salute is
fired. We steam rapidly into the harbor, past many vessels
of war, which are all gay with flags. Though there must have
S l . ISAAC !
SQUARE, AND SENATE HOUSE.
been much consumption of powder in Turkey, there is still
some of it left in Northeastern Russia, for in the General's
honor powder is burnt without stint. We have no difficulties,
of course, as to passports, as all disagreeable routine is abo-
lished out of consideration to the General. It is the 30th of
July, and as time is passing, we are anxious to reach St. Peters-
burg before night. Fortunately the reception at Cronstadt was
not prolonged. After a brief address of welcome we embarked
on a steamboat and entered an arm of the sea, into which the
Neva pours her rapid stream. The trip is not a long one.
468 RUSSIA.
Soon the great city of Russia, with its many lofty spires, stands
out against the blue sky.
Immediately on arrival we were met by the Hon. E. M.
Stoughton, our Minister at St. Petersburg, who warmly wel-
comed the distinguished traveler. Scarcely had the General
received Mr. Stoughton, when the Emperor's aide-de-camp,
Prince Gortschakoff, and other high officers of the Imperial
Court, called on him with kind messages from the Emperor.
A grand audience was arranged to take place next day, July
31st, when his Imperial Highness Alexander and General
Grant met.
Nothing could exceed the cordiality of the reception.
Prince Gortschakoff, one of the great „o- ures which rule the
destinies of men (the friend of Bismarck or his rival ; which,
no man can say), was also introduced by the Emperor. The
Emperor seemed amazed at the long tour the General intended
making. A portion of the conversation was occupied by the
Emperor in gaining information regarding our Indians. The
subject seemed to interest him greatly, and questions were
asked, not only in regard to their treatment in the past, but as
to their future. Our recent wars with them seemed to be well
known by the Emperor, and the General had to go into very
particular details as to the plans of campaigns, and the peculiar
methods of Indian warfare. As the Russian Empire is such a
vast and extensive country, in which innumerable races and
religions are represented, these questions and answers were
doubtless of great interest to the Emperor and the Russian
chancellor.
At the close of the interview, the Emperor accompanied
the General to the door, saying, " Since the foundation of your
Government, relations between Russia and America have been
of the friendliest character, and as long as I live nothing shall
be spared to continue this friendship." The General's reply
was, " That although the two Governments were very opposite
in their character, the great majority of the American people
were in sympathy with Russia, which good feeling he hoped
would long continue." The Grand Duke Alexis made it a
sr p ETERSBURG
409
point to meet the Ex-President while in St. Petersburg, and
recalled with much pleasure his visit to America. The Grand
Duke made very many inquiries in regard to General Custer,
and tolcl of the deep solicitude he had felt on hearing- of his
death.
The General's call on Prince Gortschakoff was an exceed-
ingly pleasant and social one. Several hours were spent in
chatting and smoking. European matters were discussed, and
the General gave the chancellor some insight into American
politics. Nothing strikes the American more forcibly than
the mature age of European statesmen. It is too often the
case in the United States that when a man has passed his
fiftieth or sixtieth year he becomes worn out. Here is Prince
Gortschakoff, born in 1 798, now more than eighty years old,
who, though he is physically frail, has still as strong a brain as
he possessed in his younger days. No amount of mental work
seems to distress him. Like Thiers and Guizot, who, when still
old men, were possessed with unfailing powers, the successor of
470 RUSSIA.
Nesselrode works unceasingly at his post. The interview was
remarkably social in character, and was greatly enjoyed by the
General, who expressed himself strongly regarding the ability
and courtesy of the Russian chancellor. Fortunately there was
no review, but in lieu of troops there was a special exhibition
of the St. Petersburg fire brigade, which proved to be a very
interesting affair.
An imperial yacht was placed at our disposal, in which a
visit was made to Peterhof — the Versailles of St. Petersburg.
Peterhof is about fifteen miles from the city, and is remarkable
for its splendor, and, as it commands a view of Cronstadt, the
Gulf of Finland, and the capital, has no rival as to position in
Europe. A most notable visit made by the General was to the
Russian man-of-war " Peter the Great." A magnificent band
performed American airs, and a salute of twenty-one guns was
fired. The imperial yacht then proceeded on to Cronstadt,
threading her way among the many noble vessels of the Rus-
sian fleet, all the ships running up the well-beloved stars and
stripes, the nimble sailors manning the yards and making the
air resound with their cheers. Among the officers were many
gentlemen, who in their voyages had paid visits to New York
and other ports of the Union. These officers seemed desirous
of returning the many courtesies they had received in the
United States. I have but briefly summarized all these nota-
ble events. Their more careful recapitulation would fill many
chapters. As is well known, the pomp and dignity of the
Emperor of Russia, the eclat which fills all court matters, the
splendor of the imperial equipages, the grand, regal way in
which everything is done, have no equal in Europe.
Sailing in from Cronstadt, the impression St. Petersburg
makes on the visitor is one of unmitigated surprise, for sud-
denly from the flat shores, from the waste of waters, there
springs up as if by magic a great city, topped with innumerable
spires. It pleased that remarkable man whom the world called
Peter the Great to found a city in an apparently impossible
spot. In 1703, amid the swamps and morass of the Neva, the
new capital was started. It is said that foundations on founda-
ST. PETERSBURG.
47 i
tions were made, which disappeared one after another before
the first house was built. If there was no solid ground, there
were serfs, hundreds of thousands of them. Men's bones make
good props, at times, for those constructions typical of modern
progress, which are called railroads. Of course, what Peter did
at the beginning of the eighteenth century is thought to-day
to be terrible, but there are works which have been executed
in this nineteenth century (we call them commercial enter-
prises), where the lives of men have been taken without stint.
THE ALEXWDEK COLUMN.
It was Peter who as taskmaster took his place over hosts of
men. He was a terribly hard contractor, and never was satis-
fied unless he saw the work done himself under his own eyes.
Guide books tell you how every conveyance that for a long
lapse of years came to St. Petersburg, for pleasure or profit,
had to bring a certain quota of stones. In time, by casting out
this rubble from carts and sledges, great cairns arose. If the
Pyramids are said to have been built in this way, why not
St. Petersburg? It was the genius of Peter the Great that
founded this city, and his successors, principally those remarka-
472 RUSSIA.
ble ladies, Mesdames Anne and Catherine, kept on embellish-
ing St. Petersburg, until to-day this modern capital is among
the most imposing cities of Europe. Of course, in a certain
respect Peter had peculiar advantages, for, in choosing a site
for his city, there were no elevations to cut down ; therefore
St. Petersburg lies flat before you, without a single elevation.
All European cities have great advantages as to architectural
display. When a building is erected there is always a frame
for it. This setting consists of a large open space, in which
the building is posed. Who could appreciate a giant if our
only opportunity to judge of his height was gained by our
standing directly at his feet, and looking straight upward ?
Americans who have made the plots of towns, with very few
exceptions, have never been prone to allow for any magnificent
distances. It is to be hoped that in time to come originators
of cities (and there are many men now alive who may found
cities in the United States) will, with certain utilitarian ideas,
combine some faint notions of ornamentation. A grand spa-
ciousness is one of the characteristics of the Russian capital.
Paris bears in mind this encadrement of public buildings to a
marked degree, and next to the French capital St. Petersburg
has best developed this idea. To appreciate St. Petersburg,
however, to seize it as a whole, an artificial elevation must
be sought. Fortunately lofty spires abound, and from the
highest tower of the Admiralty St. Petersburg may be seen
in all its grandeur. From this tower the Palace of the Se-
nate, that of the Holy Synod, St. Isaac's, the magnificent Win-
ter Palace, and the War Office can be seen. Streets of great
breadth, flanked by rows of superb houses, stretch out in-
definitely into the distance. Turn in another direction and
you catch the peculiar configuration of the city. The Neva
bends almost on itself, forming quite an angle, then divides
into two branches, the Great and the Little Neva. Here are
islands reached by many bridges. The Neva, that turbulent
stream which flows from Lake Ladoga, is held partially un-
der control by massive granite quays. Look south of the
Admiralty, and you see what is called the East Side, the
THE NEVA.
473
Bolshaia Horona, the Academy of Science, and the Ex-
change. Up north is military St. Petersburg, where are the
barracks, and many thousand soldiers. The " Great Side " of
the city is sacred to the court and nobility, and is the most
closely built.
Streets in St. Petersburg are wide and spacious, and give
an idea of vastness. I suppose good sense dictated width of
streets to autocratic Peter. He could command men, and pos-
sibly their actions ; but a heavy fall of snow in a narrow Rus-
A DROSKV.
sian street would not only have been quite objectionable, but
beyond his control. The Neva takes such an abrupt turn that,
though there are several bridges, to reach them or to arrive at
the exact place on the other side of the city might prove a
great waste of time ; accordingly many little boats are con-
stantly crossing the arms of the Neva. It was a grand site
after all, this one chosen by Peter, for if he had any inclinations
toward- imitating Holland and his Dutch city of predilection,
here was a good chance. It is said that Peter could not ima-
gine a city without canals, and so in his time many of them
474
RUSSIA.
were cut, but after a while were abandoned, and years ago were
filled up. Was it not this same Peter who built in the midst
of the capital, on the Petersburg Island, the citadel? It is a
huge frowning construction, which looks askance at the city.
Since Cronstadt shows its teeth, and is the aggressive portion
of St. Petersburg, it is supposable that the citadel was wanted
for the good of the city itself.
If St. Petersburg is anything it is devotional. Of all the
churches St. Isaac's is the most imposing, and its situation the
finest. Near it is the Admiralty, the Winter Palace, the War
Office, the Pillar of Alexander, and the equestrian figure which
crowns the rock, dedicated to the great Czar Peter. I do not
know how many churches had been built on this precise place
— some three or four, I believe — before Nicholas put his heart
and soul into the construction of this particular one. To set
the foundations a whole forest of Finland pines was driven into
the earth. There are four great entrances, to each of which
there is a peristyle. The style is pure Corinthian, which is bold-
ness itself, when one considers the peculiarities of the climate,
for architecture assorts itself to temperatures, as the flowers do.
The building is in the form of a cross. Grand pillars, with bronze
capitals, support portions of the frieze. In keeping with the
Byzantine feeling, a cupola of copper, ruddy with gold, flashes in
the clear August sun, and above all is a gilt cross. Can I tell of the
immense quantity of silver whioh has been used on this shrine?
Those doors, that railing of the Holy of Holies, the sanctuary,
are of solid silver. The Greek Church will not permit of sta-
tues of the Saviour, or of the Mother of God, or of even the
saints ; but pictorial representations are admissible. All these
pictures are framed with silver ; the silver is polished bright,
and glistens in the light. Malachite, that green stone which
we see sometimes in small bits in ladies' brooches, is lavished
in huge blocks on this cathedral. The shrine is resplendent
with malachite. It is rich, it is gorgeous, just such a gift as a
Prince Demidoff, an arch-millionaire, might give to a church.
The profusion of gold heightens the effect. There are niches
in the church, where have been placed the statues of the Grand
OUR LADY OF KAZAN.
475
Dukes Vladimir, Alexander Nevsky, of St. Andrew, and St.
John. I suppose next in importance is the Cathedral of St.
Petersburg, of which our Lady of Kazan is the tutelary saint.
This church is constructed somewhat after the model of St.
Peter's in Rome. Here is the painting of that much-famed
Lady of Kazan, whose sanctity is known throughout all Rus-
sia. Those Cossacks who are Christians, those bold horsemen
of the Don, speak with reverence of this saint, for she was half
NEVSKOl PKOSl'EKT.
a Cossack herself, for John Vassielevitsh brought her from
Kazan to Moscow; and from the old capital of Russia, Peter
the Great transported her to St. Petersburg. The Lady of
Kazan sparkles in diamonds, rubies, and pearls, all of the finest
water, for great Russian dignitaries are lavish with precious
stones when they offer them to a pictured saint. In the streets
among the better class one sees a great many people in mourn-
ing, and a number of carriages bear the insignia indicative of
family loss. It is not so long ago that Russia gave up her
thousands of lives before Plevna and Erzeroum.
47 6 RUSSIA.
The military aspect of Russian churches, that warlike pro-
clivity toward which most of them tend, tourists and travelers
are apt to descant upon. Here in this cathedral, over which
the Lady of Kazan presides, are hung on pillars and cornices
trophies wrested from the enemies of Russia. Here are batons
torn from the hands of French marshals, and an extensive col-
lection of huge keys which once opened the gates of cities
which Russia first bombarded and then captured. Here are
tattered flags and standards, French, Turkish, and Persian,
which have been splashed in blood. Every one of them is
an indication of a death-struggle. That baton belonged once to
the Prince of Eckmuhl, and those keys opened the cities of
Leipzig, Rheims, Breda, Utrecht, and even Hamburg. Specu-
late on the fitness of such trophies in a church ! All a philo-
sophical man can say is that it is a survival, a barbarous one,
derived from the old Romans who made war and religion in-
separable. One can see in Berlin many such trophies, some
with the blood almost dripping from them ; but in the Prus-
sian Arsenal they have a certain sad appropriateness which does
not shock one's sensibilities nearly as much as when seen in
a place devoted to the worship of God. In the fortress, the
citadel of St. Petersburg, is found the church of St. Peter and
St. Paul. In case of any trouble in the Russian capital her de-
fenders or aggressors (either you please) might find prayers or
powder. It was Peter the Great who conceived this military
church, and it has this glory, that the top of its cross is about
nineteen feet higher than that of St. Paul's Cathedral. This
church is the resting place of the Russian emperors. Before
Peter, a long line of barbarian emperors sought their final
rest in holy Moscow. Peter was the first Russian ruler who
found a tomb in the church of his own building, and after him
have come all the rest, even to Nicholas, the great autocrat.
Nothing can be simpler than the character of the tombs which
hold the dust of the dead emperors. It is a singular fact that,
notwithstanding the Russian's great fondness for pomp and splen-
dor, he is in the ornamentation of the grave the most simple.
Suspended to the pillars of this church is another collection of
MICH. I II. OFF P. IL. I CE.
4-77
military trophies. There is one Turkish flag here of ancient
date, which shows rive red stains where the color-bearer griped
it with his fingers as he fell dead. Here are shown certain
sacred vessels, in use by the Greek ritual, which were made by
Peter. They are finished specimens of the carver's work. If
Peter had not known how to create a powerful country and to
found cities, he would certainly have made a first-class ship-
builder or wood
and ivory turner.
The church or con-
vent of Smonloi is
so splendid in con-
struction and inter-
nal decoration as
to be one of the
great ecclesiastical
ornaments of the
city. Above it rise
five cupolas paint-
ed blue and flecked
with golden stars.
The Neva sweeps
around a portion of
the cloister. Here
young ladies of no-
ble birth, havine
the requisite num-
ber of quarterings,
I
HHBMflW
OUR LADY OF KAZAN.
their blue blood being fully established, can receive an educa-
tion. There are numerous convents of the Greek Church in
St. Petersburg, all of them richly endowed. Some of these,
like the churches, are slightly garish with displays of mili-
tary trophies. In one of them on the Nevskoi Prospekt
are two famous portraits, the one of Peter, "the founder,"
and the other of Catherine, "the finisher" of St. Petersburg.
The Michailoff Palace is a grave, impressive-looking build-
ing on the Fontanka Canal, but hardly has the look of a
478
I? USSIA.
place of plaisance. It was built by the Emperor Paul, but
he died shortly after it was finished. The palace recalls
in some respects the peculiarity of the Russian. In order
to perform the impossible, to finish it against time, five thou-
sand men were set to work night and day. To dry the rooms
fires were built, and it cost accordingly five or six times
more than it was all worth. Here are the very rooms where
the luckless Paul met his death, but they are sealed up and
closed to curious strangers. It is not inhabited now by any
members of the imperial family, but serves as a school for mili-
tary engineers. It is said that within this palace are kept
models of all the famed fortresses in the world, and among
them is that of the citadel at the Dardanelles. The Winter
Palace is the great attraction towering up on the bank of the
Neva. Its proportions are immense, and it is profuse in ar-
chitectural design. The principal entrance, which is of marble,
leads to continuous suites of rooms. Here is the Golden Room
used for imperial receptions, the White Saloon, and St. George's
Hall. Nothing: can be more gorgeous than the interior fittings.
It is all that luxury and splendor can imagine. From every
frontage a noble view can be had. Looking toward the south
is the Imperial Square, whence rises the column dedicated to
the memory of Alexander. It is of a single block of stone, and
came from the Gulf of Finland. 'I his palace, as its name de-
signates, is used by the Emperor in winter, and with the rigors
of the climate it must be exceedingly difficult to make these
vast rooms warm and comfortable. It is by a covered way that
the Hermitage is reached. It was here that Catherine sought
rest after the fatigues of her court. It was at the Hermitage that
she founded a very peculiar republic devoted to art and letters.
It contains one of the choicest and most superb collections
of pictures in the world. It is not only for the works of famed
masters that the Hermitage is famous, but there is room after
room sparkling with precious stones, where there are cor-
nices of porphyry, figures made of lapis-lazuli and malachite in
such profusion that it is dazzling. Possibly because in the
United States we are not born to see palaces, one very soon tires
STREETS OF ST. PETERSTi'RC.
479
of such magnificence. Nothing can be more fatiguing than the
long march through the endless galleries of a palace. Tl
i lie
mind like the body can only be taxed to a certain point, and
after that, sight-seeing, even if it be a picture painted by a
Raphael, becomes a wearisome task. The appearance of the
soldiers dressed in varied uniforms gives a brilliant character
to the streets. Evidently all the armed men Russia has at her
command are not on the frontiers. Here are Cossacks, and
some Georgian costumes which are very picturesque. But
hf"!l,:,,:*r s
THE ENGLISH Qt'AV.
aside from the military display, here are all the Northern races,
Finns and Esthonians, and those stunted men must live away up
in far Northeastern Russia. There is a mass of promenaders,
and an appearance of elegance and fashionable display which is
even more pronounced than in Paris. The streets are alive with
vehicles. Who could write of the great Russian city and not
describe the droskyand its driver, the isvoshtshik? When dis-
tances are so great as in this city, and the streets are so bad, a
vehicle is a necessity. The drosky is the cab of St. Petersburg.
480
RUSSIA.
It maybe described as a kind of cloth-covered bench supported
on caleche C-springs, with a perch on which the driver sits. It
jolts considerably, and when one is unaccustomed to riding on
a drosky, the idea seems to pervade you that the fare is going
to be spilt. But you very soon get used to it. The driver is
peculiar. He wears a hat without a brim, his coat comes tight
over his breast, and buttons over his shoulder. Behind him on
his back is his badge and number convenient for reference.
The horses are sturdy little steeds that seem tireless. Now
the drosky, as it belongs to a St. Petersburg gentleman, is a very
neat and stylish affair, especially when the driver is dressed in
his livery, and the horses are fine Ukraine steeds. Then it is
as handsome a turnout as you would wish to see. All day long
through the streets, mixed up with the more shabby equipages,
are the droskies of the officers, which go at such a speed that
the plumes on the spiked helmets of these warriors stream out
in the breeze. The drivers of the street droskies are said to be
somewhat extortionate in their charges. One thing for which
they deserve credit, however, is their kindness to the horses ;
the whip is seldom used, and where in rough places droskies
have stuck fast, the solicitude and affection of the isvoshtshik
toward his horses are very earnest, and he may be heard using
such endearing expressions as "My friend, my sweetheart, my
brother," to urge them on. The skill of these drivers is won-
derful, for foot passengers seem to have the right of way with
a vengeance, and apparently court being run over. As the
isvoshtshik drives, he constantly cries out words of warning to
the vehicles or to the passers-by.
It is on the Nevskoi Prospekt that the street life of St. Peters-
burg is best seen. It extends a distance of fully four versts from
the Alexander Nevskoi Monastery to the Admiralty. At first
it is rather commonplace, but soon the character of the street
improves, and fine buildings of three and four stories are found
on either side. It traverses the Fontanka Canal, but the portion
near the Admiralty is the finest and most fashionable portion.
There is no street more superb or more original in Europe.
Handsome equipages are forever passing here, and on the side-
ST. PETERSBURG.
481
walks, now that it is summer, the fashionable people of the
city are to be found. Elegant shops abound, and though there
is not the same effort at display as in Parisian or New
York stores, the goods, when they are shown you, are of
the finest quality. In fact, nothing seems to be too good
or too expensive for the higher classes. St. Petersburg is
given to holidays. The Greek Church has many festivals,
most of which are kept by the Russians; but the city is made
I
$ A ■
t
up of so many religions,
:mw*i*- j ews> Christians, and
Mohammedans, that there
is hardly a day when the opportunity to divert themselves is
not taken by some class or other. But it is not alone on the
numerous superb streets that an insight can be had of the
magnificence of the city. A walk along the quays, which are
built of solid granite, shows how great St. Petersburg really
is. The houses along the English Quay are simply palaces,
for here the fashionable people of the empire dwell. It is in
winter that the city has a cachet of its own. All these boats
and gondolas on the Neva are pretty enough, but the Neva is
finest when it is frozen over. The streets of the capital are at
482
RUSSIA.
their best when covered with snow. Then the sledges fill the
street. At twenty degrees below zero St. Petersburg enjoys
itself. It is a long winter, for it gets cold in October, and the
rigor of the climate continues until May. Fortunately for St.
Petersburg, when the thermometer sinks to thirty degrees below-
zero, the wind dies out. In the winter there are large rooms,
which are warmed at public expense, where a living temperature
can be had gratuitously by the poorer classes. The great market
place of St. Petersburg is the Gostinnoi-Dvoi. All the bazaars
in Russian towns go by this name, but this St. Petersburg one
is the great market of the world. On one side, this general
market, or perpetual fair, is bounded by the Nevskoi Prospekt,
and on the other by the Bolkhaia SadovaYa, or great Garden
Street. Various trades and callings seem to come together in
this market. Here are silversmiths, there ironworkers, farther
on are to be found wood and coal merchants, and behind these
are the carriage-makers. It is, apparently, at first sight, the
grandest of jumbles, where, however, a certain amount of system
soon becomes evident. Here are boots, saddlery, copperware,
furniture, china, cast-off clothing, confectionery, bird cages,
drugs, hats, and even dilapidated sewing-machines — everything
in fact except arms. All the time through the streets and
by-ways of this market come dashing droskies and wagons land-
ing buyers and unloading goods. This immense agglomeration
of buildings holds no less than ten thousand busy merchants.
The railroad which unites St. Petersburg and Moscow
was built by Winans and Harrison, two enterprising American
engineers, who gained fame and wealth in Russia. How true
that story is which explains the peculiar straight line the road
makes, we are unable to vouch for. It is gravely stated that
when the engineers had devised their line, with its gradients, it
had certain inclinations to the right and left, so that the iron
road should tap some of the adjacent towns between the new
and the old capitals. When the map was shown to Nicholas, he
simply shook his head. " He would have no such twisting
road in his dominions." Taking a ruler, he placed it between
Moscow and St. Petersburg, drew with a pen a red line as
Rt/SS/.l.Y RAILROADS.
483
straight as could be between the two points, remarking, " Make
your road so as to follow precisely this tracing. A straight
line is the shortest distance between two points, and that is all
there is about it. Good day, gentlemen." Such towns of im-
portance as Russia might have had, when the road was pro
jected, were not near the line.
There were many disputants in the guise of noble owners
of the soil, all wanting the road to pass near their domains.
And if it had not been for the promptness of Nicholas, the
business might have hung fire for years. As it is, this railroad
is, in some respects, like the roads prospected in the United
States some twenty years ago. It does connect two large
cities, but there is nothing between them which helps traffic.
Russia is not much given to take advantage of an opportunity.
In other countries, towns would have sprung up mushroom-like
near the iron rail. This road might have been as some
huge ribbon on which pearls could have been strung. But
either from the rigor of the climate, want of energy, or from
4*4
RUSSIA.
absence of the speculative tendency, towns containing even
a small number of inhabitants have no existence along this
railroad.
The road is admirable in construction, and the carriages are
of the best American make and style. Of course, railway officials
were most polite, an elegant carriage having been placed at the
disposal of the General. Leaving St. Petersburg, the railroad
runs through a flat country, and soon on both sides of the track
you notice forests of birch. The trees, with their silvery bark,
stand out in relief against darker woods beyond. Occasion-
ally you pass near some obscure village, or small assemblage
of houses, with its humble church of stone, surmounted by a
belfry. For ever and ever do the broad, flat plains spread out
monotonously in the distance. The same birch trees, with
here and there a fir, are seen as you glide along at the goodly
speed of thirty miles an hour, for between St. Petersburg and
Moscow the distance is something over four hundred miles,
and the General was to accomplish the journey, counting all
stoppages, in twenty hours. One is struck by the elegance
of the stations, and the excellence of the food. On the arrival
of the train the tables are laid with those usual excitants which
stimulate the Russian appetite. There are plenty of bottles,
too, filled with good French wines, and some with the very
excellent products of the grape grown in Southern Russia.
It is a positive necessity, owing to the rigors of the Russian
climate, that the traveler should be supplied with good food.
What a delight it must be for the wear}- voyager, whose eyes
have been tired with seeing nothing but a broad expanse of
snow, to enter one of these stations, and find pleasant warmth
and good food. With all our rattle and bustle, there are many
points which we might borrow from the French, German, and
most especially Russian methods of caring for the traveling
public. It is quite exceptional to see men working in the fields;
now and then a group of women may be seen using a short
sickle, working manfully at the poor, sickly crop. They sing a
low chant as they work, which has a peculiarly sad melodic
phrase in it. These women look very squalid and wretched, and
ON THE WAY TO MOSCOW.
48;
are miserably clothed. The dearth of population strikes one
most forcibly, as the country is as sparsely settled as one of the
Far-Western Territories of the Unit* d States. These poor peo-
ple, you will remember, a few years ago were all serfs. In point
of education, in their now more difficult position of life, which
requires human beings to take care of themselves, they have as
yet little if any experience. Their tutelage lasted so many years,
that they can hardly yet appreciate
the blessings of freedom ; right
after emancipation too much must
not be expected of these poor
peasant-folk. The climate and the
habits of the people too are op-
posed to a natural, healthy increase
of inhabitants. Distances are im-
mense. It is a struggle for life with
many of these people. Some little
responsibility, a very vague one it
is true, was felt by the master
before the people were made free.
Now it is a matter of perfect in-
difference to him how those who
were once his serfs get along. It
is a bad state of affairs, and where
it will lead to no one can say.
Station after station is left behind.
( >ccasionally you pass a long train
filled with soldiers, a portion of
the troops who have been in the
Turkish campaign, and are being moved to the north of the
empire. They look in fine condition, and are neatly clad.
By and by the Valdai Hills are seen in the distance; though
of no imposing height, they are quite refreshing to see, as a
hill of any kind is agreeable after so much flat country.
These hills are the water-sheds of Europe, for from these slight
elevations, as the rain gathers, flow the broad streams that
pour into both the Baltic and the Caspian. There are more
486 RUSSIA.
stations. Great heavens ! how hungry a man — at least the
Russian — seems to be on his travels. As the purveyors at these
stations seem to understand that human appetites may become
sated in time with even the best of fare, you will notice a change
in the menu. As you near Moscow the dainty character of
the restauration increases, and you find those peculiar pies
called piro ga, the most scarlet and delicate raspberries, and
Russian tea. (How excellent it is!) The samovar is always
on the boil. Take it as your Russ does, in a tumbler scalding
hot, nicely sugared, with a slice of lemon, and it is the best of
beverages. As you near Moscow, the road runs through a
more picturesque and thickly settled country. Gliding along
through handsome gardens and pleasure grounds, ornate cot-
tages, sheets of water, and broad, intersecting streets, you come
at last to a halt. This is Moscow, the old capital of Russia,
and one of the most famous cities of the world. There is a
large attendance at the station. Hats are lifted, and loud
cheers are heard. Here are Russian officers, brilliant with or-
ders, who press forward, and pay their respects to the Ex-Presi-
dent. And there is cjuite an assemblage of Americans, all eager
to welcome the distinguished traveler.
If ever a city had a peculiar physiognomy, one especially its
own, it is Moscow. It is the special link which combines the
East with the West, not that East exactly which finds its repre-
sentative in the Arabs, but in the sturdier Tartar race. That
mighty horde from the East which migrated from some un-
known center in Asia thousands of years ago, and which tra-
veled toward the setting sun, halted on the way, and in time took
up a certain amount of civilization in those countries east of the
Ural Mountains. Then it divided its forces : one body swept
northerly, crossed the mountains, and set up their tents in Rus-
sia, and became Christian; the other, bending southerly, overran
Northern Turkey, and became Mohammedan. The vestiges of
the old Tartar are seen unmistakably in Moscow. In the North
of Russia the admixture with the Einnish and aboriginal races
is most marked. Of course the higher classes at St. Peters-
burg and Moscow do not show these salient peculiarities of
MOSCOW.
487
race, but it is very easily distinguished in the common folk.
Nothing is more permanent than the tastes of a people as deve-
loped in their architecture, and the famous building of Moscow,
the Kremlin, is typical of this marked Oriental feeling. Mos-
cow has been one of the great bulwarks of Eastern Christian-
ity, and has often repulsed from under her very walls the Tartar
hordes which strove to subjugate the country. Moscow recalls
to every one the story of the great epic of the beginning of this
century, the arresting of the march of the ambitious conqueror,
■lilJIIlllll'mi-iJHM,
CATHEDRAL OF THE ASSfMPTTON.
Napoleon, the conflagration of the city, and the terrible retreat
of the French. Over there are the Sparrow Hills, from where
the leading files of the French army first saw Moscow, the Mos-
cow which was to bring on them ruin and disaster. Of course
the remembrance of the heroic action of the Russian commanders
has not been forgotten by the people of Moscow, and, in speak-
ing of the wonders of their city, it is often remarked, " that
though Moscow now be great, it never can be so magnificent as
it was before it was burnt." Moscow is placed in the midst
of an undulating country where low hills abound, and the
488
RUSSIA.
Moskwa River traverses it. The city itself is in some re-
spects like what we call in the United States a garden city.
In the center is the Kremlin, surrounded by a wall, and no
new edifice is ever allowed to be built within its sacred pre-
cincts. On the right of this there is a quaint block of houses,
inclosed and separated, called the Kitai Gorocl, or Chinese City;
beyond this are broad spaces tastefully laid out with shade
trees and walks.
The houses are
cottage - like, and
surrounded by
beautiful gardens.
These are placed
somewhat in juxta-
position, the hand-
some cottage of
the rich Moscow
citizen or noble
alongside of the
dwelling of one of
lesser social posi-
tion. The main
streets are spa-
cious, increasing in
width as the}' reach
t h e boulevards ;
but then there is a
multitude of small-
er cross streets,
which afford most
charming views of
private residences.
You can leave a broad thoroughfare which is thronged with
fine ladies and gentlemen all dashing along in their splendid
equipages, and in a minute you find yourself in the country.
There are, in fact, many of these charming villas within thi
great city, which lias a circuit of over twenty miles. Most of
- - - -2= — - -'
TOWER OF JOHN I HE GKE \ I .
MOSCO IV.
489
these cottages are of wood, built in quaint style, in which com-
fort seems to have been more sought for than style. There is
nearly always a fine gateway which opens on a green. Flowers
abound which are of the most vivid colors. Russians, at least
those of Moscow, seem to revel in bright colors, and their houses,
when of stucco, allow for the full development of this taste.
The quarter of the nobility, not far from the Kremlin, partakes
of this elegant country air, for these habitations are more like
villas than town residences. Very few of the houses are more
than one story high. This want of elevation, if not partaking
of the grandiose, imparts rather a quaint and cozy appearance.
The Kremlin is situated on a hill, and is surrounded by a wall
which varies in height from forty to eighty feet, according to
the rise or fall of the ground. This wall is of brick, has battle-
ments on it, is about a mile and a quarter in circumference,
and a number of towers stand above the four gateways. As
you enter the Nicholsky Gate, which is 'in the Gothic style,
you notice in the arch a famous picture of St. Nicholas of
Mojaisk. This wonderful picture, so it is said, is endowed
with miraculous powers. When Napoleon (the legend tells)
left Moscow in disgust, he determined to wreak his ven-
geance on poor St. Nicholas. Accordingly he had a barrel
of gunpowder exploded under this particular picture. Mar-
velous to relate, though the powder went off, neither arch nor
picture was hurt. For this reason, no Russian, prince or
peasant, passes this gate or approaches the picture without
paying respect to St. Nicholas. After passing the gateway,
there is a broad space, and on your right is the Arsenal, and
to your left the Government offices. In the Arsenal are stored
an innumerable quantity of cannon, mostly trophies taken
from the French in their retreat. Walking on, you rem h
the esplanade, which commands a view of the whole city. Now
you see ranged in line an assemblage of the most remarka-
ble buildings that the eye ever witnessed. It takes some min-
utes to appreciate them in all their grandeur. Look at that
tapering tower which surmounts yonder gorgeous gateway.
No one can pass there, not even the Czar, unless his head be
490
RUSSIA.
bared. That church is sacred to the remains of the daughters,
wives, and mothers of the imperial family. That low building
is one of the many churches. Now come, as you scan the grand,
imposing frontage, the famous towers of Ivan Veliki, whence
resound the famous bells. Up springs the great cathedral,
with an endless sur-
mounting of golden
domes and cupolas.
Here are castellated
walls, towers of all
makes and shapes, and
a mass of buildings
unrivaled for beauty.
Adjectives defining the
various stages of hu-
m a n admiration arc
useless when used to
describe the Kremlin.
The Kremlin is, in-
deed, one of the last-
ing impressions a trav-
eler receives. It was
grim Boris Godunoff,
who, after murdering
Demetrius, built this
Ivan Veliki two hundred and seventy feet high, and it is said
swung those famous bells. The bell weighs sixty odd tons,
but it is a baby bell when compared with the monster at the
foot of the tower, which weighs four hundred and forty-four
thousand pounds. It is broken, it is true, and remains mute,
for there was a fire once in the tower, and the bell broke
loose and fell to the ground, the Tsar Kolokol, the great em-
peror of bells. Looking beyond, along that line of wall, is
a multitude of new spires, some Gothic, others Tartar, sur-
mounted with the quaintest weathercocks, some banner-like,
others like eagles, and under them on the main building
there rise endless galleries, piled tier on tier. The Bolshoi
THE KREMLIN.
491
Dvoretz Palace has a wealth of gorgeous rooms, and a mar-
velous picture gallery. Within the Kremlin there are palaces,
churches, an arsenal, and Government buildings. It is a mass
of magnificence, semi-barbaric il you please, but strange and
original. As Moscow is said to have some four hundred
churches, great and small, it
would be impossible to de-
scribe them. From the Krem-
lin can be counted a hundred
and sixty towers and cupolas.
The religious feeling in Russia
seems to be of the most con-
stant and all-pervading kind.
That Oriental character of
belief, which was before in-
dicated when we described the
Turk or Arab as prone to
follow his devotional feelings,
indifferent as to place or sur-
roundings, seems to find its
parallel among the devotees
of the Greek Church. The
respect paid to the pictures of their saints is universal. Now in
Moscow, in the Kitai Quarter, affixed to the wall, is a rather poor
illuminated semblance of the Virgin. The frame is a much better
piece of art than the picture. No one passes that picture thatdoes
not uncover before it, and the greater number kneel and cross
themselves. It is not only the foot passengers who thus show
their devotion, but even the higher classes who ride in carriages.
The Twerskaia is the .great street of Moscow, and is the
entrance of the city from the St. Petersburg carriage-road or
chausscc. Along its great length are the best buildings, the
palaces of the nobility, and the finest shops. At the farthest
end of the Twerskaia is the St. Petersburg Gate, and beyond
that a large open space, where roads branch in every direction.
Here are the finest drives to be had in Moscow, in fact it is
the promenade of the city. Beyond is a plain on which soldiers
I II UMN Or S1GISMUND III.
492
RUSSIA.
encamp. Though the soldier is seen and felt everywhere in
Russia, though a prominent place is given to those wielding
the sword, you do not feel his presence quite as marked as in
Prussia. Perhaps, owing to the late Turkish war, the bulk of
the Russian army is still on the frontier.
Following the promenade, you come to the Petrossky
Palace, a huge brick edifice, of mixed architecture. In one of
the rooms of this palace Napoleon awaited in vain for the
notables of the conquered city to humble themselves before
him. Would they come and sue for pardon ? Would they
bow to the conqueror ? While he waited, Moscow was in a
blaze, and to escape the scorching in the city, the French
soldiers went out to be frozen amid the snows of a Russian
winter. Around the Petrossky Palace spreads the Petrossky
Park. It is here that the middle classes of the old capital come
to take their pleasure. Under these trees, in the pleasant sum-
mer time, the samovar is always boiling, and endless cups of
steaming tea are taken. It is pleasant to watch the groups of
people enjoying themselves in a sensible way, and to see the
splendid equipages dashing past on the high road.
The tarantass, which is, perhaps, the national carriage, is
decidedly Russian in appearance. It has no springs, is four-
wheeled, and is something like a wagon or phaeton. To it are
harnessed three horses, all abreast. It is the middle beast which
is in the shafts, while the outside horses are hooked on by
splinter bars. Russians are generally particular as to colors in
horses, and assort them as to place in the tarantass ; a bay or a
roan takes the shafts, while the outsiders are black or dun.
The middle horse trots, while his mates gallop. There is a
high yoke over the horse in shafts, and to tin's a bell or series of
bells is suspended, though sometimes both outside horses have
collars with small bells. There is something exceedingly ex-
hilarating in going at the full jump behind the three horses,
one at a good trot, and the others at a rapid gallop. Strange
to say, Russian gentlemen rarely handle the ribbons themselves.
It is not the custom of the better classes to enjoy the great
pleasure of driving.
WARSAW.
493
The Kitai Gorod, or Chinese Town, is something like the
St. Petersburg bazaar. The expanse covered by long rows of
shops is immense. It is, as it were, a city devoted to trade,
inside of another city. As you saunter along, you will no-
tice that the merchants do not seem anxious to drive bar-
gains, and are not, as in St. Petersburg, vociferous for a trade.
One queer thing is that the game ot draughts seems to occupy
v'\ ~^, * <&* -,s-r
so much of their atten-
tion that they are quite
indifferent to business.
After General Grant had spent several very pleasant and
interesting days in Moscow, he decided to take the railroad for
Warsaw in Russian Poland. Accordingly the party started on
this long journey of six hundred miles, which was accomplished
without much fatigue. The country between Moscow and Po-
land is uninteresting, being very like that south of St. Petersburg.
494 RUSSIA.
Warsaw is a gloomy old city, elating back to the twelfth
century. It is in Warsaw that the memory of John Sobieski,
who drove the Turk from the walls of Vienna, is ever kept
fresh. There is a fine monument erected to him, where the
Polish hero is seated on a horse, which rears over the body of
a prostrate enemy. After resting for a few days, the General
and party started for Vienna.
►j
&
03
W
X
h
u
35
H
&
o
CHAPTER XVIII.
AUSTRIA AND FRANCE.
)T would be out of place in this necessarily brief outline
of travel to enter into the political conditions of the
countries we pass through. What can we say, how-
ever, of Poland and Warsaw ? We are forced to de-
clare that the impression left on our minds was a painful one,
and that when passing from Poland into Austria, there was a
feeling of positive relief. One could not help thinking that
Poland was an oppressed country, that for almost a century
and a quarter the world had resounded with her cries of grief.
Sometimes it is touching- to notice the turn conversation takes
when our own happier home conditions are talked about. Liber-
ty is, indeed, a precious boon, and we do not appreciate it at
its worth. "We cannot speak the language our forefathers
used." So the Polish gentleman will tell you. " Our children
495
496 AUSTRIA AND FRANCE.
are to be taught certain ideas which are revolting to us. It is
a long-continued misery which has been entailed on our sires
and grandsires, and which must press forever on our grand-
children. In our religion we are Catholic (for all the old Poles
derive their religious belief from the French, in opposition to
the Greek Church). We neither have peace at home nor in our
churches."
It was the 18th of August when we reached Vienna, late in
the evening. At the station we were met by the United States
Minister, Mr. Kasson, and by all the secretaries and attaches
of the American Legation. A larcre number of our fellow citi-
zens were there also, and as the General left the cars, he was
loudly cheered. On the 19th, General Grant went to the
American Legation, as it was there Count Andrassy, the First
Minister of the Council, was to receive him. It is quite well
understood that, by diplomatic license, the legation of any
Government is supposed to represent the soil of that country-
Count Andrassy was attended by many of the leading states-
men. An acquaintance with the Count was soon made, and an
hour or more passed in agreeable conversation. In the even-
insf General Grant dined at the Countess Andrassv's, and Mrs.
Grant was the guest of Mrs. Post. On the 20th there was an
audience with his Imperial Highness Francis Joseph. This
reception took place at the Palace of Schoenbrunn. On the
2 1 st the General and Mrs. Grant were guests of the impe-
rial family, and dined with them in the evening. Prior to
the dinner Baron Steinburg accompanied the General to the
Arsenal, where the fullest explanations were made of all the
new Austrian improvements in artillery. A grand diplomatic
dinner was mven on t_ nc 2 2d, by the American Minister. At
to
y
this banquet the guests included all the ambassadors of the
foreign powers. In the evening a reception and ball took
place, when the representatives of the Austro-Hungarian Cabi-
net were present, and the rooms were thronged by the most
distinguished people in \ ienna.
When we were journeying north, we were told that I lamburg
was the most pleasant of cities, but as we were tending south-
VIENNA.
497
erly, we heard on all sides "that Vienna was, indeed, the true
Paris of Southern Europe." Certainly no place has the same
traits as Paris, but in that open-air life, which does not exist
save in the country, it quite surpasses the French capital. It
is a most aristocratic city. You may, if you will, by work-
ing hard enough and having plenty of money at your disposal,
get into the best society in Paris, the Faubourg St. Germain if
you please ; but it is quite a different thing in Vienna. The
higher circles of the nobility are unapproachable. The old
prestige of the Austrian noble still exercises its peculiar privi-
leges, and recalls the exclusive times of Maria Louisa, and of
THK VILLAGE CKoSS-
Kaunitz. There are habits and customs which hedge around the
Austrian higher classes, whose boast is to have genealogies dat-
ing from antediluvian times. Commercial aristocracy of course
is to be found in Vienna, men of the present day, who have
brought their brains to their aid ; but still, as you will very soon
discover, between such men enriched by trade, and the old regime,
there is hardly any intercourse. Vienna is undergoing changes
which have been very rapid, and which are partly clue to the
late International Exhibition. Forty years ago, when Austria
had Metternich for its guiding spirit, to have made Vienna the
center of an exhibition would have been, in that antiquated
statesman's eyes, the same thing as if some one had offered to
498
AUSTRIA AND FRANCE.
introduce the plague, or invite a club of republicans to hold
their sittings in the city.
As you enter Vienna from the station and cross the Ring-
Strasse, or circular boulevard, you find a new city as fresh as
an American town. Here are magnificent streets, crowded with
superb shops, finer, indeed, than we' have seen anywhere, Paris
not excepted. Some controlling thought has apparently guided
the architects, for the appearance of these new quarters is both
harmonious and pleasing. All these immense ranges of build-
ings are due to joint-stock associations, who went mad just be-
fore the Exhibition, and the collapse of these enterprises brought
ruin on many. Still, as we do not see the trouble which has
ensued from these speculations, we only look at and admire the
results. We are comfortably ensconced in a hotel which is
quite sumptuous, and we regale ourselves with the delights of
the Austrian cuisine. We are even inclined to think that there
are no better cooks than those found in Vienna.
Our first visit was to the imperial summer residence, the
Schonbrunn Palace, which is situated on the outskirts of the
city, surrounded by elegant gardens and green woods. We
wandered through the many handsome apartments of this
" Palace of the Beautiful Fountain," recalling the remembrance
of the Due de Reichstadt, who, as a child, may have lived in
some of these great rooms, and pondered there over the tall ot
his father. As we leave the palace we stroll through the gar-
dens, and can only compare them with those of Versailles.
This morning we visited the Stephanplatz, where stands the
famous Church of St. Stephans, and the Archbishop's Palace,
and strolled across the Danube and into the Prater, the grand
park of Vienna. This beautiful park has a superb avenue lined
with trees, called the Prater Allee. It is about two and a half
miles long, and is the great drive for the upper classes. At
one side of this carriage-road are the coffee houses, restaurants,
music halls, etc. This part of the Prater is chiefly frequented
by the poorer people.
The military element is visible everywhere, and soldiers
dressed in light-colored uniforms may be seen in every neigh-
AUSTRIA.
499
borhood. Nothing can be more jaunty than an Austrian lieu-
tenant or captain. Possibly, not excluding your swell English
guardsman, the Austrian officer is the greatest military dandy
in the world. Notwithstanding their rather exquisite appear-
ance, we found them to be most courteous and oblieine, and
very thoroughly informed. Unfortunately for Austria she has
had full need of her soldiers for the last thirty years. As far
as the inventive military art goes the Austrian officer holds
R1NG-STRASSE (BuL'LEVAKL
a distinguished place, and the discoveries of General Uchatius,
especially in artillery, are of the most remarkable kind. It
is certainly within the memory of many when Austrian and
Hungarian were at daggers drawn. Thanks to a wise and
generous policy, one of forgiveness and forgetfulness, Austria
is stronger by the love of her Hungarian population than she
ever has been before. The early misfortunes which met
the present emperor were not lessons lost on him. With
her Italian provinces gone, Austria has gained new life, and
she has to-day the respect and sympathy of all Europe. It
5oo
AUSTRIA AND FRANCE.
was pleasant to hear on all sides the love expressed for the
Emperor, and to listen to the many stories told of his kindnesses.
The Viennese have an intense love for music. Is not Vienna
the city sacred to the waltz and to Strauss ? You hear music on
every side. In the streets, in the public places, military bands
are performing in the most delightful manner. In fact, we float
along on music. The Opera House is second to none, and
from Vienna, as a hot-bed, spring forth all the year round crops
of sopranos, contraltos, tenors, and bassos, who go hence for their
tour around the musical world. Vienna was the home of the
great Mozart. Beethoven, too, did the most of his work here.
In the Viennese population, the Jew forms a large propor-
tion. The Israelite may be seen occupying very extensively
the profession of street peddler. In Germany, generally, the
social condition of the Jew, his place among his fellows, is not a
flattering one. When he arrives at great wealth, the power
which money brings is even then grudgingly accorded to him.
There is a feeling of religious prejudice existing in the German
mind which seems difficult to eradicate. Austria is devoutly
Catholic, though of late years Unitarianism has made great
progress. Education is making rapid strides, and to know how
to read and write becomes a necessity, for there is a rather ar-
bitrary law which prohibits any one from marrying who cannot
read and write. Fancy how oppressive must be a dictum of
this kind. Still it may have its touching side, for we can ima-
gine some pretty Austrian peasant girl, well versed in her A,
B, C's, teaching her swain all the mysteries of the spelling
book so that he may gain her hand in wedlock.
Amone the most delightful of our visits was one to Baden,
fourteen miles from the city and about half way to Voslau.
Baden, as its name designates, is a place for bathing. Springs
abound, and the water is at a very high temperature.
For once the General was forced by many courtesies to ex-
tend his stay some days over the date fixed for our departure.
None of us regretted this delay, for Vienna is a city fitted for
those who feel like indulging in a little rest.
But our time has come, and we hear imperative commands
Ml 'NICH.
50I
for departure. We shall take a direct route for Switzerland,
visiting .Munich on the way, and then go southerly through the
wine country of La Belle France, and, touching at Bordeaux,
go thence to Spain. If we have an Athens in America, so has
Germany; and this Teutonic Athens, this center of art, is
called Munich. Now the Bavarian has certain peculiar charac-
teristics which are not in the least aesthetic. Old Munich struck
us as being, at least in certain portions, more pervaded with
THE ol'EKA HOUSE — VIENNA.
the Middle Age feeling than any other city we had visited.
There are perched on old, venerable houses many of those
peculiar turrets and quaintly shaped appendices which realistic
painters introduce into medieval art. The Ludwigs-Strasse is
the pride of Munich, and, in the estimation of the Bavarian,
is the rival of the Unter den Linden, Berlin. It is a superb
street, flanked on both sides by fine houses. The general ap-
pearance of the city, that is the newer portion, is quite compo-
site. Stimulated by an artistic sovereign, the architects have
constructed houses in all varieties of architecture, and this vari-
r 02 AUSTRIA AND FRANCE.
ety gives a very pleasing and picturesque character to the
streets.
Munich is famous throughout the world for its sparkling
beer, and it is certainly an excellent beverage, though the
method of serving it in some of the leading places must entail
an amount of labor to the thirsty man which only an enthusi-
astic beer-drinker would undergo. In the large brewery, the
Royaline, you have to find your own glass, and then fight your
way to the bar, in order to have it filled. Life in a beer house
is of a peculiar kind. Before the same table may be found men
of various degrees, the gentleman and the workman, the uni-
versity professor and the student. Beer seems to flow like
water. We have not, however, seen any one tipsy. It must,
indeed, take a flood of beer to have the least effect on a citizen
of Munich. Beer is so important a factor in the capital of Ba-
varia, that the augmentation of its price would quite likely lead
to serious disturbances. To show the importance of this indus-
try, in a population of not quite five millions, there are fully ten
thousand persons engaged in its manufacture. Perhaps it is
this great consumption that makes the men of Munich so round,
fat, and jolly. Each nation has its peculiarities, and Bavaria
is held in Germany as a country where the people are the least
likely to change, and where materialism holds its sway. It a
story is told in Germany, where a particular person is made the
object of a jest, it is generally on a Bavarian that the joke is
perpetrated. King Louis, with a great aesthetic purpose, has
so shaped Munich that it is the art center of Germany.
Augsburo-, the second town of Bavaria, has all the pecu-
liarity of an antiquated city. Its many large dwelling-houses
are evidences of the wealth, in former days, of its citizens, who
were merchant princes, managing the exchanges of Europe.
The old Episcopal Palace remains, in the hall of which the
Protestant Declaration of Faith ("The Confession of Augs-
burg") was drawn up by Luther and Melancthon. The palace
is now devoted to public business. Though the greatness of
Augsburg has departed, the city still contains about fifty thou-
sand inhabitants, and issues one of the most celebrated journals
SCHAFFI/A [/SEN.
503
in the world, t\\e Algcmciiic Zcitung. From Augsburg the rail-
road takes us to Ulm, on the Danube, at its entrance into Ba-
varia. It was here, in 1805, that General Mack, with the entire
Austrian army under his command, ingloriously surrendered to
Napoleon, without striking a blow. The old cathedral, now
devoted to Protestantism, which was founded in the fourteenth
century, is still uncompleted. At Schaffhausen, one of the
oldest towns in Switzerland, situated on the north bank of the
■ WW
Rhine, a short distance above the celebrated Schaffhausen
Falls, we stopped long enough to note that it was a very pictu-
resque old place, with its narrow streets, turreted gateways, and
oriel windows. The feudal castle of Unnob, planned, it is said,
by Albrecht Diirer, on a height commanding the town, is still
capable of being used for purposes of defense.
Besancon, the first important French town on our route, is a
thriving place, and its situation on the Daubs is surprisingly
lovely. It has been Roman, Burgundian, Arlesian, Anglo-
French, and even Spanish; all these different investitures can be
r 4 AUSTRIA AND FRANCE.
traced architecturally. Besancon is noted for its watches. This
business came into France like silk-weavingf into England.
Some honest Swiss watchmakers were driven out of their coun-
try for their religion, just as the French were expelled under the
Edict of Nantes. In time the Swiss built up a great industry,
until to-clay it is said that for every one hundred watches sold
in France ninety are of Besancon make. Victor Hugo was born
here in 1802. At the end of our third day's journey we reached
Lyons, the great silk manufacturing city of France. This city
bears but faintly the characteristics of a town whose wealth
comes from the products of the loom. The factory system, as
it is found with us in America, does not exist. There are no
crowds of workmen going to and from their labors. The Lyons
workmen tend their looms at home, the manufacturers furnish-
ing them with the materials, so that all the weaving is done in
their own rooms. On inquiry we find that business is by no
means lively, and that something like stagnation exists among
the thirty thousand workmen. The condition of affairs seems to
be somewhat as follows, as far as the American market is con-
cerned : We are making our silk goods at home. Now, Lyons
could fight it out awhile with England ; but, with America and
England making their own silks, the major portion of the
foreign trade is cut off. As to the taste and great judgment
displayed in the designs and colors of the goods, fancy silks
form but a small proportion of the business. It is plain black
which is the staple article, and on which the trade is based.
American machinery — the power of Yankee ingenuity — has told
in the working of the looms, and processes of manufacture have
been more rapid. As to the excellence of the designs, as brains
always go to the places where they are best paid, undoubtedly
many of the leading French artists, who made those exquisite
patterns, have found remunerative positions in the United
States.
Long trails of smoke from numerous tall chimneys, trains
full of coal, and a general business-like appearance on the road,
advise us that we are in the neighborhood of a great manu-
facturing town. Soon we reach St. Etienne, which is the Leeds
£>
VICHY.
505
or the Sheffield of France, and at the same time something of a
Coventry, for this city produces not only steelware, cutler)-, and
firearms, but in addition ribbons. A St. Etienne knife or razor
has always a great reputation, and hen- the greater proportion
of arms used in the French service are made, so that in some
respects it resembles our
Springfield. After Lyons,
this was the first French
manufacturing town of
any importance we had
visited. The greatest
order and system were
evident in the shops. The
paternal care of the Go-
vernment is quite appa-
rent. France always
steps in, when she can do
anything toward advan-
cing the education of her
STREET IN AL'GSBURC.
workmen. There are
numerous schools for me-
chanics at St. Etienne,
where metallurgy and the
fine arts are acquired.
The great distinction which exists between French and other
manufactures is evident in the taste displayed. To keep up
this superiority, France exerts herself to the utmost, and
attains her point, by giving an artistic training to her work-
men.
We are glad to have the opportunity of visiting Vichy, the
thermal springs not only of France, but of all Europe. It is
hardly like Baden-Baden, for though Vichy attracts many people,
its gayety is less thought about than the curative quality of the
water. The establishments around the springs are admirable,
and the casino is one of the handsomest buildings we have
seen.. But time was short, and after a brief stay we were on
our way once more. Taking the rail again, passing through
506 AUSTRIA AND FRANCE.
Gannat, and Montlucon, we arrived at Limoges. This is an-
other manufacturing center, known to us as the place where
enameled ware was first made. We pass through Limoges,
and make a short halt at Perigueux, the chief town in the De-
partment of Dordogne. We are interested in this old place, and
see the monuments erected to the memory of the good Fenelon,
and to that somewhat bitter essayist, Montaigne. It is not an
easy task to describe the characteristics of these sleepy old
French towns. Things are quite possibly done to-day as they
were two or three hundred years ago. There never is much
bustle save on a market day, or when a festival takes place.
People live and die in peace and contentment, and, with but few
wants, and free from excitements, far from the bewilderments
and agitations of the feverish capital, their life is one of per-
fect repose. A French Rip Van Winkle might take his sleep
here, and on awaking not receive a shock. France has an
enormous population of what are called petits rentiers, or peo-
ple who, having invested in the public securities, live on a
very moderate income. In addition to this class, she has in-
numerable pensioners, who, having served the state all their
lives, in their old age subsist on some small pension their
country grants them. These two classes find in provincial
life, which is inexpensive, exactly that haven of rest which they
wish for. We thought, too, that for those who had seen the
storms of existence and had been tired of them, these old, som-
nolescent towns would make delightful harbors of refuge. In
some of these towns we heard of people who, having been born
there, had gone early in life to America, where for years they
had striven and toiled and put aside their money, until having
acquired a sufficiency, they had returned to France, and sought
once more their beloved old home, trusting to spend the re-
mainder of their clays in peace and happiness.
On our way to Bordeaux, through the wine country, I can
only group my impressions as follows :
Here is true, delightful happiness, the real poetry of travel.
Pleasant little rivers glide quietly by. Long lines of trees
designate the public roads, for they extend away across the
FRENCH AGRICULTURE.
507
horizon in one straight course, and do not turn for hill or eleva-
tion. Here are broad fields, and beyond the woods starts the
village church, an old building 1 which has been devoted to God
for the last five hundred years. Along the line of railroad are
handsome villas, with extended fields all planted with the vine.
It must be a wonderfully rich and thrifty country, and the cul-
ture must needs be very thorough. We have heard of the ex-
cellence of peasant
tillage, and the devo-
tion the FYench agri-
culturist has for his
soil. Small patches
of land, shreds of mo-
ther earth of not more 13*
than two or three
acres, are not as common in the southern as in the northern pro-
vinces. Most of these broad lands belong to single proprietors.
On inquiring, however, we find that the division of the soil, this
tendency to split up the land into small parcels, is commencing.
Poverty seems to be rare, and as to class distinctions, although the
5 o8
AUSTRIA AND FRANCE.
dress shows it in some small degree, that disposition to bow,
cringe, and scrape that we have seen elsewhere we no longer
notice. It is a rich country, and although the crops have been
deficient for the last few years, still people have got along. The
improvement in French agriculture has been rapid. When a
famous English agriculturalist, before the first Revolution, de-
scribed France as a country tilled by beggars, who starved on
the wretched products they raised, he may have told the truth.
Ever since 1830 science has done wonders for France and her
soil. That education which has permeated all ranks has even
reached the peasant class. The laborer has carried his newly
acquired intelligence into the culture of the soil. The one great
trait of the French peasant is his untiring industry, and perhaps
never did men or women work so hard and continuously. Early
and late they are in the fields. The very trees and orchards we
pass evince the care bestowed on them. Pears are just ripening
with the grapes, and the taste of the French woman is shown as
she hands us a basket which is arranged with artistic skill. Here
are apricots the like of which we have never seen before. As
we pass rapidly along this finely cultivated country, a succes-
sion of beautiful prospects unfold themselves before our eyes.
There is a rich hill, and on top is a ruin, an old castle, which
has escaped becoming notorious in the guide book. Up to the
very broken and crumbling walls, the hillside is cultivated, and
in and out of the vines we see women and girls plucking the
grapes. Alongside of the road are large wagons to which
dun-colored oxen are attached. In other fields colza has been
grown, and we see Indian corn, with its long green leaves
suggesting home, and fields filled with withered plants, ugly
thickets, attract our attention. We are told that they are
poppies, and that the most beautiful of all things is to see a
poppy field in its full blaze of color. The poppy is not grown
for its narcotic principle, but for oil. Perhaps we use poppy
oil in the United States on salads, and do not know its origin.
All the hills, when steep, are terraced up to their crests, and
covered with the vine. The hills shine in the sun, caused by
the mica found in the soil. The wine from this broad region
FRANCE.
5°9
goes both to Bordeaux and Marseilles, and some of the vine-
yards we pass are world-famous for their products. A love
for flowers seems to belong to these people of Southern France,
for all the plants that can possibly bloom exhale their fragrance.
It is, however, farther south that flowers are grown as a source
from whence commercial perfumes are derived. We pass by
some small village, name un-
known, and can see crowds of
people on the green. There
are tents and booths, and we
hear but indistinctly the beat-
ing of drums and the squeak-
ing of clarionets. It is a fair,
and all the villagers are flocking
to the neighborhood. There must be great wealth there of gay
ribbons. It is a festival held just before the vintage, but the more
important fairs take place earlier and later in the season. We
notice farmers and their wives on horseback. There is a wo-
man on a pillion, and a pair of contented people are riding on
the same horse. The woman is seated on a kind of a chair
5io
AUSTRIA AND FRANCE.
before, and the man, who is behind, has gallantly passed his hand
around his companion's waist. The women wear white linen
caps, but not of the Norman form. We are told that although
manners are still unchanged, there have been some transforma-
tions in costumes within the last ten years, more especially
among the women. This is quite natural, for although the fe-
male sex ma) r be conservative in many things, they are sure to
change in the fashion of their dress. At a station we have full
opportunity of seeing a group of women and girls clad in true
peasant costume which was certainly handsome. The bodice
was of black stuff, the skirt of gray, with the arms encased in wide,
bulging, snow-white sleeves, and they wore black velvet caps
from which hung ribbons of various colors ; around their necks
were chains with old-fashioned crosses pendent to them. Laugh-
ing and chattering, they were making the place resound with
their voices. They are bound to some vineyards off the line of
the road, where they are engaged to pick grapes. We are in-
formed that we are seeing this part of France at its best, for
the time of vintage is one of pleasure. Americans and travelers
in general rarely see anything in France save Paris, but outside
of that feverish capital there is many an interesting page to be
written on French country life. Many questions are asked re-
garding the California wine country, our methods of cultivation,
and the quality of the wines. We are told that some of the
people who had been bred as vignerons in these provinces were
anxious to carry out their calling" in the West, having had won-
derful stories told them of the productiveness of our Pacific coast.
The wages paid the grape-gatherers are from fifteen sous to one
franc per day, and found. The women and girls are called coitpcurs
or cutters; they go through the vines and clip the bunches.
Following them, and not far distant, are men and women with
baskets on their backs, who pick up the severed bunches and
carry them to the ox-carts. These hotte or basket carriers will
take a tremendous load on their backs, and trot along rapidly.
In the ox-carts the grapes are thrown into casks, and closely
packed. To every twelve grape-cutters there are two basket-
men, all of them under charge of a superintendent. About this
THE VINTAGE.
511
number of people will tend the vintage of two and a half acres.
The pressing of the grapes is a very simple operation. As the
grapes are brought to the press they are picked from the stems,
cleared of leaves, and spread on a platform about twelve feet
square, the sides of which can be built up to any desired height.
The bottom of this movable
box is perforated, and above it
is a heavy block of wood which
can be depressed by means
of a w o o d e n screw. The
fluid, red as blood, spurts out,
and is caught in tubs which are
placed below. The whole ma-
chinery is very simple, and some of us thought that with less out-
lay of power much more satisfactory results might be obtained.
If during this rapid trip we had been willing to taste only a frac-
tional portion of the vintage of France which kind hospitality
offered us, we would not have lived to tell the story of our
travels. We remember that whenever wine was presented to
us for approval we were invariably told " that it was milder
^12 AUSTRIA AND FRANCE.
than mother's milk; and that as to a headache, such a thino-
could not be if we should drink litres of it."
Our destination is Bordeaux, and all along the route we
hear of this great maritime city. With Havre and Marseilles
Bordeaux shares French commerce. From this city there pour
out floods of wine which quench human thirst in all quarters
of the globe. Bordeaux to-day is one of the most picturesque
and animated places in France. For nearly three miles, ex-
tending along the left bank of the Garonne in one long- ben
"& "«"■■£,
a.
are the quays. The Garonne is a deep river, so that vessels of
over a thousand tons can be accommodated at all points along
its quay. On the other side of the river there is a beautiful
country adorned with wooded slopes, vineyards, and charming
villas. Bordeaux, like many European cities, is double, that is,
there is an old and a new town. The ancient city abounds in
narrow streets flanked by strange old rookeries, while the newer
portion rivals Paris in the beauty of its buildings. It is a rich
city, and prosperity reigns. It is the center of large manufac-
tures, and the products of Bordeaux and the South of France
are shipped hence to all parts of the world. It was most plea-
sant for us to see a number of American ships in the river, all
flying their colors in honor of General Grant. Among the
great objects of interest in this city are its wine cellars. Into
one of these cellars we were escorted by the members of a firm
whose wines are known the world around. It was a vast wil-
derness of vaulted chambers, filled with hogsheads and casks,
and endless shelves upon which bottles of wine were stored.
We were told that there were placed here some twelve thou-
sand hogsheads of fine wines, and that over three quarters of a
million bottles were generally held in stock. Here was good
liquor enough, Medoc, Chateau Margaux, La Tuer, La Fitte,
with Sauterne and Yquem sufficient to float a man-of-war. We
asked, "What kind of wine goes to America? " and were told that
"up to i860, America drank very good wines, that during the
civil war our taste deteriorated, but that for the last six years we
were buying the finer grades again." We ventured to advance
the idea that French wines had to be better, because the pro-
I
a!
BORDEAl \.
:>'3
ducts of the Garonne would now enter into competition with
the California vintage. The reply was that " Bordeaux could
only produce a certain quantity of really choice wines, and that
the demand had been for the last quarter of a century always in
advance of the supply." How, then, account for the oceans of
so-called French wines, with elegant labels and fabulous prices,
which are dispensed throughout the United States? We were
told that there was a place in France called Cette, where wines
with all possible and impossible names were manufactured to
order, and that this is the fraudulent fountain from whence
the majority of bad French wines flow. American wines, good
natural juice of the California vine, is sent to Cette in quantity,
there to be doctored up and converted into French wine. In
addition to wine, Bordeaux is the world's entrepdt for brandy,
and we made
to
n i
Bordeaux
fine public builc
churches St.
St. Michael's are
of Gothic archi-
that peculiar
33
special visits
houses where
brandy is kept,
abounds with
i n g s. T h e
Sternion's and
fine examples
tecture, with
southern feel-
5i4
AUSTRIA AND FRANCE.
ing which edifices in Northern France and Europe do not
show. The exchange, the archiepiscopal palace, and the thea-
ter, are admirable representations of modern style. The theater
in Bordeaux is a famous one, and most exacting as to its per-
formers. It is said that the Bordelaise will not always accept
those stars whose meteoric flights have dazzled Parisian audi-
ences. It might be worth while to mention what an important
place the theatrical performers and theatrical writers occupy in
BORDEAUX.
France. If books in the United States are the media through
which current ideas are inculcated, in France it is the theater.
A Frenchman, as far as his theater goes, is a born critic. Dis-
cussions are carried on, judgments are given, in regard to the
play or the method of a leading actor, which are wonderfully
correct and often subtle.
A street in Bordeaux called the Chapeau Rouge is the pride
of the city, and is always thronged. Relationship between
Bordeaux and the United States is very close, and a knowledge
of our country, its politics, its resources seemed quite familiar
BORDEAUX. cic
to the Bordelaise. This was the more pleasing as Frenchmen
generally, even in the larger cities, were lamentably ignorant
not only of American geography but of our history. Bordeaux
gave us the idea of being one of the most prosperous cities we
had visited ; as the center of a vast agricultural interest, con-
trolling a product of great value, it has done its best to take
advantage of the situation, and kept its commercial supremacy.
We enjoy the hospitalities of the city, which are proffered with
infinite courtesy. We might have prolonged our stay in Bor-
deaux had not General Grant received a message from his ma-
jesty the King of Spain, who was at that time directing the ma-
neuvers of his troops at Vittoria. The king's message, couched
in most courteous terms, conveyed an invitation requesting the
General to honor him with a visit, and such an honor could
hardly be declined. We therefore start for Biarritz, where we
intend to rest one night, and next day cross the frontier.
THE ESCL'KIAL fALACE.
CHAPTER XIX.
SPAIN.
IARRITZ was very beautiful. There was some-
thing joyous in the sunshine which lit up the old
Biscayan town and streamed out over the sea.
And the sea! how glorious it was after so much
living: amone rivers and hedges, and to feel that the farthest
waves washed the coasts of dear America ! Biarritz is a small
frontier town, where the French come in winter and the Span-
iards in summer. It juts out into the sea, and has a peculiar
rocky formation which breaks into ravines and caverns, and ad-
mits of quaint walks and drives. Biarritz might have lived on
for a few centuries its drowsy existence, like hundreds of other
towns which have a seacoast and sand over which bathers could
paddle and splash, entirely unknown, had not the last Napoleon
516
'«
BIARRITZ. - ! j
builded himself a seaside residence. His wife had fancied Bi-
arritz in early Spanish days, and it is supposed the house was
built to please her. But from that moment Biarritz became
famous. Many of the most interesting events of the Third
Empire happened on this beach. You will read about the time
they had in the books of Prosper Merimee. Biarritz seems to
have been to the Empress Eugenie what the Trianon gardens
in Versailles were to Marie Antoinette. It was here that she
could do as she pleased, and it was so near Spain that old
friends could drop in and talk about old times. It was here
that Bismarck came before the German and Austrian war to
find out what Napoleon would do. Napoleon was quite charmed
by the young German statesman, and was talked into a neutral-
ity which he afterward regarded as one of the grave errors of
his reign. It was this bamboozling of Napoleon by Bismarck,
this making the Emperor believe that if he would only keep his
hands off during the Austrian war he might do as he pleased
afterward, that began the career of Prussian triumph. Napo-
leon kept his hands off. Austria was thrown, and Napoleon
found not only that it was impossible for him to do as he
pleased, but that he was at last face to face with the ancient
and hereditary' foe of France.
These are among the thoughts that come as you stroll along
the beach and look out upon the sea. It rolls as calmly as when
Bismarck and Napoleon walked here, planning to govern the
world. Bismarck has more serious problems before him, and
sits perplexed and wondering over his Linked Germany, which
somehow does not unite as harmoniously as was hoped, but en-
genders assassination, and standing armies, and deficiencies, and
communism — sits a prematurely old man, bent and gray before
his time. Napoleon has vanished into night. The fair Euge-
nie finds her home under the cold gray skies of Chiselhurst and
no longer comes to her Biscayan summer resort. Her house
is closed. It is a large, square, unpretending pile, that looks
from a distance like a sugar refinery or a grain elevator, it is
so big and plain. I am told it will not be open until the Empe-
ror comes to his own again, which is a prospect not very appa-
5i8
SPAIN.
rent. In the meantime, the little town, missing its Bonapartes
and Bismarcks, Mornys and Merimees, and all the following of
the court, has fallen into quiet, old-fashioned ways. There is a
casino where you may have cards and coffee ; a singing saloon,
where you may drink beer and hear a vivacious young woman
not overclothed sing you the latest songs from Paris. If it
happens that your knowledge of the French tongue is indefinite
there will be no remorse of conscience in hearing the songs.
There are several hotels — one of them among the finest in Eu-
rope. I have high authority for saying that in this hotel is the
only cook in Europe who can broil a chicken in a manner satis-
fying to the American taste. There are stores where you can
buy worsted commodities and all manner of knickknacks from
Paris. The streets — I believe, however, there is only one — are
picturesque. You see the Basque costumes, farmers who yoke
their oxen by the head, and compel them to haul the heaviest
loads. I think the General was much more interested in this
than in anything else — much more than in the memories and
remnants of the Third Empire — and tried to solve the problem.
He had seen oxen handled in many ways, but never in this
Pyrenean fashion. The more it was studied the more useless
it appeared. I suppose it is some old Basque tradition, and
has come down from the Carthaginians. There were gardens
and aromatic plants that perfumed the air. There were walks
on the sea and on the edge of cliffs that overlooked the sea.
This is all of Biarritz, which lingers as a sunny spot in the
memory, for here you have the ocean, and here also you have
tokens of Spain.
We catch the first glimpse of Spanish life and character at
the little town of I run, which is just over the frontier. Its neat
railway station was draped with flags and bunting. As the
train drew up to the platform General Grant alighted from his
carriage and was saluted by a general of the staff of Alfonso II.,
who welcomed him in the king's name to the Iberian Peninsula.
He stated that he was directed by his majesty to place at
the General's disposal the special railway carriage of the king,
and to beg the acceptance of the same. The General expressed
SAN SEBASTIAN.
5'9
his thanks and accepted the proffered courtesy. The train
moved out of the village toward the war-begrimed city of
San Sebastian, the last stronghold of the Carlists. On the
arrival of the train at San Sebastian, the General was presented
to the town officials and distinguished citizens. The contracted
harbor reflected the green of the tree-covered hills that encircle
it, and beyond the conelike isle at its mouth was the sheen of
the noonday sun on the Bay of Biscay. Leaving San Sebastian,
the road leads southward toward Tolosa and Vergara. At
BIARRITZ
both of these stations
a squad of soldiers
was stationed. The
usual military guard had been doubled in honor of the Ameri-
can General. After winding about the hills beyond the station
of Tolosa, the train suddenly leaves the defiles behind, and
smoothly skirts the side of a great hill, giving the occupants of
the carriage a grand view to the southward. Near at hand are
seen the peaks^of the Pyrenees— only the extreme western spur
of the range, to be sure, but a formidable-looking barrier to
railway engineering. Altogether the journey is a charming
Swiss-like ride, creeping as the traveler does through the most
dangerous mountain-paths, and where, even yet, the railway
520
SPAIN.
coaches are alternately in the wildest forest of scraggy pine and
long-leaved chestnut.
Passing the summit, the descent southward is soon marked
by a radical change in the aspect of the country. Villages are
met more frequently, until, winding through the Welsh-looking
hills, the train dashes into Vittoria.
- - n ■■■
SAN SEBASTIAN.
We entered Spain about noon, passing many scenes of his-
torical interest. I do not remember them all, the bewitching
beauty of the coast and landscape usurping all mere historical
reflections. I have among my books one written by an Eng-
lishman. It is the standard English book on Spain and is
amusing reading. The author is named Ford, and the impres-
THE PYRENEES. - 2I
sion you gather as you run over the pages is one of bitter beer
and Welsh rarebits. Ford seems to have wandered over Spain
a good deal and to have acquired a multitude of facts. But he
cannot finish a chapter without singing " God save the Queen "
and blessing the memory of the Duke of Wellington. He
generally speaks of Wellington as " The Duke," as though there
were only one duke in the British peerage entitled to the defi-
nite article. He hates the French, who have always shown
perfidy toward Spain — "sometimes the sword, sometimes the
wedding ring." This is an allusion to the Spanish marriage
which was a burning question in English politics thirty years
a°-o when Ford was in his glory. England was angry because
the Spanish queen would not marry to suit England. There
was the old dread of French interference in Spain, which was
so rife in the time of Louis XIV. and Napoleon. To allow
one of Louis Philippe's sons to marry a Spanish princess was
an extension of French influence which England would not
tolerate. The son was married, and now lives in Seville as
Duke de Montpensier, and one of the children of this marriage
was the poor Queen Mercedes, who was married last January
and died in June. The impression you gain from writers like
Ford is that Spain would go to eternal perdition but for the in-
tervention of some power like England. England is the foun-
tain of wisdom, the type of justice, the source of power, the all-
conquering and ever just, which hangs over the Peninsula like
a Providence, and without which ?
There is this comfort in a book like Ford's, that the man
believes what he writes. He sees the world from the English
point of view, and every step in a new land is only a point of
comparison with his own. I have read in novels and story
books that the type of the American was his bragging, and that
the true Yankee made it an hourly boast that he could whip
all creation. This was before the war. Since then we have
not been in a bragging humor, and talk only of corruptions
and scandals. But for the true bragging traveler give me the
Englishman. He is not offensive about it. He does not make
it a question of argument. The subject is not one for argu-
^ 2 2 SPAIN.
ment. Of course the highest type of civilization is English,
and of course there is no army that can stand for a moment in
face of an English army, and no soldier lived who could com-
pare with the Duke of Wellington. This is not to be discussed.
Everybody knows it, and I question if there could be any
offense graver than to intimate to our English friend that per-
haps he was mistaken ; that there were other countries where
an army was valiant, and men were honest, and women were
fair ; that there were nations who were unselfish and brave.
The English traveler, who comes to Spain with his standards
fixed, looks on this country as a sad place. Nothing pleases
him. The cooks put too much garlic in the food, the very
vintners do not know how to flavor their sherry. The men you
meet on the streets carry knives. They are bandits, most of
them, or would be if you were to meet them on some lonely
pass in the Guadarama hills. They are all priest-ridden. If
the truth were known they divide with the priest the results of
each adventure. They will not work. Life consists of the
bull ring, the cafe, the mass, and the lottery. They smoke ciga-
rettes — foolish little futile cigarettes — which are smoked before
you can grasp them. What can you think of a people who
smoke cigarettes, when they could buy the old-fashioned clay
pipes of England and have a genuine smoke ? They drink thin
wine, or preparations of almond and orange. How can a nation
be great which will fool its time on these insipid washes and
never know the luxury of a swig of good old honest English
ale ? They eat beans and cakes, and rarely have roast beef.
This is the ultimate sign of decadence.
God forbid that I should raise a standard of comparison
disparaging to England. I only think these standards should
not be raised against Spain, or France, or the United States —
more especially Spain — as English writers are doing almost
without an exception. Coming once more to Spain, on my
third journey, the memory of old impressions gathered from
English books, and more particularly from Ford, comes back
to me, and I know how unjust they are, and how my own expe-
riences were at variance with those I gleaned from the books.
REVISITING SPAIN.
523
As to the politics of Spain, I could never see that any invasion
ever did her good, and I do not see much difference between
the invasions of the English and the French. It does not oc-
cur to me that Wellington came here as the savior of Spain—
THE PYRENEES.
that he had any sentimental ideas on the subject. He came
because England wanted to fight Napoleon, and because Eng-
land always prefers to fight her battles in other countries than
her own. A minister in Parliament can more easily explain
the loss of ten thousand Spanish or Hessian allies in a battle
than if they were- ten thousand fellow countrymen and the na-
tion throbbing over their loss. I hear that the French burned
524 SPAIN -
some towns when they were in Spain. But England destroyed
a Spanish fleet and sacked Badajoz, while we owe to France
the saving of the Alhambra. To France we owe the opening
of the Inquisition prisons, one of the most beneficent acts of
modern times. I can see no interest that would be served by
the destruction of French power in the Peninsula but the in-
terests of England, and. these only so far as it is believed
that England only can be strong and free while other nations
are weak and divided. I can see how, from a high political
point of view, nothing would benefit Spain, Italy, and Portugal
more than for them to form a close commercial alliance with
France — a confederation if possible. They have many points
of resemblance — in religion, the origin of language, and geo-
graphical relations. Such an alliance would infuse the whole
mass with the wealth and the enterprise of France, and the
Mediterranean might become once more the seat of empires as
mighty as the empires of the past. But this might affect the
route to India, the balance of power, the freedom of the seas,
or some special British interest. Everything must be secondary
to that. So long as British interests are safe it matters little
what happens to Spain or how poor her people may be.
I look on Spain in a kindlier spirit, and although as you
cross the frontier you see how all things change, and feel the
instantaneous difference between Spain and France, I cannot
help feeling that she was mighty in other days, and that within
her borders lies the strength that may awake to the mastery of
empires. On the one side of the boundary you leave the brisk,
dapper French gendarme, all action and noise, the clean sta-
tions, trim with flowers, the eating tables where you can burden
yourself with bonbons and champagne. On the other side you
hear no noise. That everlasting French clatter has ceased.
You do not see groups of gesticulating people all speaking at
once. Things are not so clean. There is smoke everywhere
■ — smoke in the saloons, in the eating rooms. You might find
something to eat in the restaurant, but it would only be with
your appetite in a normal condition. No one seems in a hurry.
Groups in all conditions, some in cloaks, some in rags, stand
VITTORIA.
525
about smoking cigarettes and talking of politics and the bull
fights. I wonder if this is a good sign, this talking politics. It
is a new thing in Spain.
There were officers in hieh erade who awaited the cominy
of General Grant. They came directly from the king, who was
■ ~>- ■■>, ' ' fig
IN VITlnl.l \.
at Vittoria, some hours distant. Orders had been sent to re-
ceive our Ex-President as a captain general of the Spanish
army. This question of how to receive an Ex-President of the
United States has been the source of tribulation in most Euro-
pean cabinets, and its history may make an interesting chapter
some day. Spain solved it by awarding the Ex-President the
highest military honors. More interesting by far than this was
526
SPAIN.
the meeting with Mr. Castelar, the Ex-President of Spain.
Mr. Castelar was in our train and on his way to San Sabastian.
As soon as General Grant learned that he was among the
group that gathered on the platform he sent word that he
would like to know him. Mr. Castelar was presented to the
General, and there was a brief and rapid conversation. The
General thanked Mr. Castelar for all that he had done for the
United States, for the many eloquent and noble words he had
spoken for the North, and said he would have been very much
disappointed to have visited Spain and not met him ; that there
was no man in Spain he was more anxious to meet. Castelar
is still a young man. He has a large, domelike head, with an
arching brow that recalls in its outline the brow of Shakespeare.
He is under the average height, and his face has no covering
but a thick, drooping mustache. You note the Andalusian type,
swarthy, mobile, and glowing eyes that seem to burn with the
sun of the Mediterranean. Castelar's Presidency was a tempest
with Carlism in the north, and communism in the south, and
the monarchy everywhere. How he held it was a marvel, for
he had no friend in the family of nations but America, and that
was a cold friendship. But he kept Spain free, and executed
the laws and vindicated the national sovereignty, and set on
foot by his incomparable eloquence the spirit which pervades
Spain to-day, and which, sooner or later, will make itself an
authority which even the cannon of General Pavis cannot chal-
lenge. It was a picture, not without instructive features, this
of Castelar, the orator and Ex-President of Spain, conversing
on the platform of the frontier railway station with Grant, the
soldier and Ex-President of the United States. "When I
reach Madrid," said the General, " I want to see you." " I
will come at any time," said Castelar. The only man in Spain
who received such a message from General Grant was Emilio
Castelar.
A slight rain was falling as we entered Vittoria. The town
seems in a glow, and the open space in front of our hotel is
filled with booths and dealers in grain and other merchandise.
The traders sit over their heaps of beans, peppers, melons, and
BASQUE FARMERS.
527
potatoes. They are mainly women, who wear a quaint Basque
costume ; the men in red and blue bonnets, with blue blouses,
mostly faded, and red sashes swathed about the waist. These
cavaliers spend most of their time smoking cigarettes, watching
their wives at work. Now and then a swarthy citizen in a
Spanish cloak saunters by, having been to mass or to coffee,
and eager to breathe the morning air. A farmer drives over
the primitive stony street. His ca'rt is a box resting on two
BASQUE FAKMEKS.
clumsy wooden wheels. When you remember that it has taken
two thousand years of Basque civilization — the most ancient,
perhaps, in Europe — to produce this wheel, you may guess how
far the people have advanced. The cart is drawn by two oxen
with their horns locked together and their heads covered by a
fleece. In the cart is a pig, ready for the last and highest office
a pig can pay to humanity. Other carts come laden with hay
drawn by the slow, shambling oxen, all seeking a market. You
hear drums and trumpets and army calls. The town is a camp,
and ladies are' thro no-ins: the lattice windows and soldiers come
528
SPAIN.
out of the narrow streets into the market place.
This is the season of the maneuvers. A crowd of citizens
stand in the street about a hundred paces from our hotel, quiet,
expectant, staring into an open gateway. This gateway leads
into a long, irregular, low range of buildings of yellowish stone
and red tiles. Over the gate clings the flag of Spain, its damp
folds clustering the pole. A black streamer blends with the
yellow and crimson folds, mourning the death of the Queen.
Natty young officers trip
about, their breasts blaz-
oned with decorations,
telling of victories in
Carlist and Cuban wars,
all wearing mourning on
their arms for the poor
young Mercedes. The
sentinels present arms, a
group of elderly officers
come streaming out of
the gateway. At their
head is a stripling with a
slight mustache and thin,
dark side-whiskers. In
this group are the first
generals in Spain —
Concha, Ouesada — cap-
tains general, noblemen,
helmeted, spurred, braid-
ed with gold lace, old
men with gray h a i r s.
The stripling they follow, dressed in captain-general's uniform,
and touching his cap to the crowd as it uncovers, is Alfonso
XII., King of Spain.
When General Grant reached Vittoria there were all the
authorities out to see him, and he was informed that in the
morning the King would meet him. Ten o'clock was the hour,
and the place was a small city-hall or palace, where the King
SPANISH GIRL.
INTERVIEW WITH THE KING. - 2q
resides when he comes into his capital. At ten the General
called, and was escorted into an anteroom where were several
aides and generals in attendance. He passed into a small
room, and was greeted by the King. The room was a library,
with books and a writing table covered with papers, as though
his majesty had been hard at work. His majesty is a young
man, twenty past, with a frank, open face, side whiskers and a
mustache like down. He was in the undress uniform of a cap-
tain general, and had a buoyant, boyish way about him which
made one sorrow to think that on these young shoulders should
rest the burdens of sovereignty. How much he would have
given to have gone into the green fields for a romp and a ram-
ble — those green fields that look so winsome from the window.
It is only yesterday that he was among his toys and velocipedes,
and here he is a real king, with a uniform, heavily braided with
bullion, showing that he ranks with the great generals of the
world. Alfonso speaks French as though it was his own tongue,
German and Spanish fluently, but not so well, and English with
good accent, but a limited vocabulary. When the General
entered the King gave him a seat, and they entered into con-
versation. There was a little fencing as to whether the con-
versation should be in English or Spanish. The General said
he knew Spanish in Mexico, but thirty-five years had passed
since it was familiar to him, and he would not venture upon it
now. The King was anxious to speak Spanish, but English
and French were the only tongues used.
The King said he was honored by the visit of General
Grant, and especially because the General had come to see him
in Vittoria ; otherwise he would have missed the visit, which
would have been a regret to him. He was very curious to see
the General, as he had read all about him, his campaigns and
his presidency, and admired his genius and his character. To
this the General answered that he would have been sorry to
have visited Europe without seeing Spain. The two countries
— Spain and the United States — were so near each other in
America that their interests were those of neighbors. The
General then spoke of the sympathy which was felt throughout
34
53 o SPAIN.
the United States for the King in the loss of his wife. The
King said that he had learned this, had seen its evidence in
many American newspapers, and it touched him very nearly.
He then spoke of the Queen. His marriage had been one of
love, not of policy. He had been engaged to his wife almost
from childhood — for five years at least. He had made the mar-
riage in spite of many difficulties, and their union, although
brief, was happy. No one knew what a help she had been in
combating the difficulties of the situation, for it was no pleasure
to be an executive — no easy task. The General had seen some-
thing of it, and knew what it was. To this the General
answered that he had had eight years of it, and they were the
most difficult and burdensome of his life. The King continued
to dwell on the burdens of his office. Spain was tranquil and
prosperous, and he believed she was entering upon a career of
greater prosperity ; and from all parts of his kingdom came assu-
rances of contentment and loyalty. There were no internecine
wars like the Carlists' in the north, or the communists' in the
south, and Cuba was pacified. All this was a pleasure to him.
But there were difficulties inseparable from the royal office.
While his wife lived, together they met them, and now she was
gone. His only solace, he continued, was activity, incessant
labor. He described his way of living — rising early in the
morning, visiting barracks, reviewing troops, and going from
town to town.
All this was said in the frankest manner — the young King
leaning forward in his chair, pleased, apparently, at having some
one to whom he could talk, some one who had been in the
same path of perplexity, who could feel as he felt. The Gene-
ral entered into the spirit of the young man's responsibilities,
and the talk ran upon what men gain and lose in exalted sta-
tions. There was such a contrast between the two men —
Alfonso in his general's uniform, the President in plain black
dress, fumbling an opera hat in his hand. In one face were all
the joy and expectancy of youth — of beaming, fruitful youth —
just touched by the shadow of a great duty and a heart-searing
sorrow. Behind him the memory of his love, his dear love,
THE RECEPTIOX OP THE GENERAL.
531
torn from his arms almost before he had crowned their lives
with the nuptial sacrament — before him all the burdens of
the throne of Spain. In the other face were the marks of
battles won, and hardships endured, and triumphs achieved —
and rest at last. One face was young and fair. The skin as
soft as satin, youth and effort streaming from the dark, bound-
ing eyes. The other showed labor. There were lines on the
idga&t
it
Sfii
PALACE AT MADRID
■?i brow, gray hairs mantling the
forehead, the beard gray and
brown, the stooping shoulders
showing that Time's hand was
bearing upon them. One was
twenty years of age, the other
fifty-six ; but in feeling, at least,
it seemed that the younger of the two was the Ex-President-
Care and sorrow had stamped themselves on the young King's
face. The pomp, the parades, the dinners, the display of mili-
tary and social attractions, have been repeated here, as in other
European lands. You must add to this that Spanish courtesy
is always stately and gracious. This air of sincerity adds to
SPAIN.
532
the value of a courtesy. The American will tell you in a
hurried, rolling fashion, "Glad to see you;" "Come again;"
" Take a drink ;" and straightway you vanish and are forgotten.
If you meet a week later you will require an introduction. The
Spaniard will tell you, " This is your house. You have taken
possession of it." You must not suppose that this involves the
right to move your furniture and set up housekeeping. He
means what the American means, but says it in a more impres-
sive manner. In the reception of General Grant there was the
same difference. It was stately and grave. The General might
have been a conqueror coming into his kingdom ; he might
have been the fifth Charles, risen out of his Escurial tomb, come
back to see what had become of his vast dominion. He would
have been received pretty much as our Ex-President was re-
ceived. There would have been ceremonies, speeches, atten-
tions. You would miss the crowds that surrounded him at
Christiana and all through Sweden — friendly, eager crowds.
You would miss the cheers that followed him through Eng-
land. The Spaniard never goes in a crowd except to mass, and
never cheers unless it may be at a bull fight. The moment of
supreme enthusiasm only comes when Frascuelo drives the
point of his sword into the neck of the panting and wounded
bull.
From Vittoria the General and party went direct to Madrid,
arriving on October 28th, and were most heartily welcomed.
The situation of Madrid is singularly unfavorable, as it is built
on a high barren plane where there is scarcely a tree or shrub.
The river Manzanares, an unimportant affluent of the Tagus,
skirts it on the west. This stream is crossed by five bridges
whose great size forms a striking contrast with that of the
river. We visited the Royal Palace, an immense square edi-
fice, a combination of the Ionic and Doric in its architec-
ture, but were not especially interested. Its great size was the
only thing which astonished us. Opposite the Royal Palace,
on the other side of the Manzanares is the Padro, the Hyde
Park of Madrid. This is a long spacious walk, adorned on
either side by rows of trees and several fountains. It is the
~
—
CO
THE ESCURIAL. -, ■>
evening resort for all classes of people. Here, on a sunny-
afternoon, we find the beauty and the valor and the grace of
Madrid. Pleasant it was to see all Madrid out taking the air,
and note the wonderful beauty of the skies, which have a beauty
of their own in this captivating Spain. Pleasant it was, too,
to see the maidens with veils and mantillas, grouped in couples,
with demure, gazelle-like eyes, looking at you so shyly. Pleas-
ant it was to see the nurses of Andalusia, in peasant costume,
with brown faces, and ripe, bonny bosoms, which children were
draining, ranged in chairs and watching the swaying world in
innocent, unconscious wonder.
There was a visit to the Escurial, the Hon. J. Russell
Lowell and his wife accompanying General Grant. The day
was spent in wandering about its gigantic walls, which embody
the genius and bigotry of the darkest age of Spain. The won-
der that we felt, at a work so unique and so stupendous, gave
place to gratitude that the age which had made its existence
possible had passed away, that the power which it embodied
has vanished, and that its only value now is as a monument of
a cruel, dreary, and degraded age. The evening of our de-
parture from Madrid was the occasion of the attempt to assas-
sinate King Alphonso. This attempt took place a moment or
two after the king, at the head of his troops, passed in front of
the hotel, where General Grant and Mr. Lowell were standing
on the balcony. His Majesty, in passing, waved to General
Grant a gracious personal salute. A moment afterwards the
shot was fired, which, happily, failed in its murderous aim.
CHAPTER XX.
PORTUGAL.
ISBON is a city built as it were on billows. The
view from the river is very beautiful, recalling in
some degree the view of Constantinople from the
Bosphorus. The skies were gracious to our coming,
and the air was as warm as a Virginia spring. There are
so many stories about the foundation of Lisbon that the
reader may take Ids choice. Ulysses is said to have made this
one of his wanderings, and to have, in the words of Camoens,
bidden " the eternal walls of Lisbon rise." There is a legend
to the effect that Lisus, friend of Bacchus, was the founder,
while other authorities say that it was the great grandson of
Noah, a person named Elisa, and the date they fix at two thou-
sand one hundred and fifty years before Christ, or two hundred
and seventy-eight years after the Deluge. The value of these
534
LISBON. 535
legends is that there is no way of contradicting them, and one
is about as good as another. I find it easier to believe the
narratives I hear, and to fancy, as I walk up and down the
steep, descending streets, that I am really in classical society.
It is due to Elisa's claim to say that the time is fixed, and that
it was only four thousand and twenty-eight years ago. As we
come into more attainable chronology we find that Lisbon
was once a part of the Carthaginian dominions, and supported
Hannibal. That astute commander had such hard luck in the
world that I have always been disposed to take his part, and
Lisbon has a friendlier look now that I know she stood by the
Carthaginian captain against the power of Rome. It shows a
lack of enterprise in the Lisbon people that they have not found
out the house in which Hannibal lived or the trees under which
he prayed, as all well-regulated towns in the United States do
concerning Washington. There was no trace of Hannibal in
Lisbon. The people seemed to be under the impression that
the only great commanders who had ever been in Lisbon were
Don Sebastian and the Duke of Wellington. They show the
very quay from which Don Sebastian embarked on the journey
from which he has not returned, and the lines of Torres Vedras
are in the suburbs, where the duke began his sentimental er-
rand of delivering Europe.
Julius Caesar was kind to Lisbon, although the people —
such is the ingratitude of modern times — seem to have for-
gotten it. Then came the Goths, who took it from the Romans
and plundered it. The Goths, who seem td have been an unin-
teresting people, well deserving their fate, were driven out by the
Moors more than eleven centuries ago. The Moors never had
much peace in Lisbon, and the chronicles of their reign are chroni-
cles of assaults and counter-assaults — now Christian ahead, and
now the infidel — for centuries, so that real estate must have been
as bad an investment during their day as in New York since the
panic. But there came a prince of the House of Burgundy,
about seven centuries ago, and he whipped the Moors in a
pitched battle. The chief incident in this transaction was the
appearance of our Saviour to the king on the morning of the
53<
PORTUGAL.
battle, with a bright halo around his head, who assured the
prince of victory. This sovereign is called the founder of the
present kingdom of Portugal. He was known as Affonso the
Conqueror, and his remains are in a magnificent sepulcher at
Coimbra. He flourished about the time of Henry II., who had
the fatal quarrel with Becket. For two centuries Lisbon re-
mained under her kings,
until a king of Castile
came over and burned
a greater part of the
town. It seems that
there was a woman in
the case, for Camoens
tells of the beauteous
Leon ore, who was torn
from her h u s b a n d's
widowed arms against
the law and command-
ments. In 1497, Vasco
de Gama sailed from
Lisbon on the expedi-
tion which was to result
in the discovery of the
passage around the Cape
of Good Hope to the
Indies. This was the
beginning °f a career of
commercial splendor. For two centuries the wealth of the
Indies was poured into her coffers. In 1580, Philip II. of Spain
took the town and annexed Portugal. During' his reign the
Spanish Armada was fitted out at Lisbon and sailed from here to
conquer England. If Philip had made Lisbon his capital and
transferred the government of the whole peninsula hither there
is little doubt that Spain and Portugal would be one country
still, with advantage to the two nations and the world. Lisbon
is the natural site for such a capital. But Philip was infatuated
with his monkish career at the Escurial, and his successors did
1 •■*' „
FISH-GIRL OF LISBON.
537
not think much of Portugal except as a good province to tax,
and so in 1640 the people arose one December night and drove
the Spaniards out, and from that time it has been in the hands
of its own people.
The most memorable event in Lisbon history was the earth-
quake of 1755, traces of which you can see to-day, and about
which people converse — as the people of Chicago do about their
fire — as though it happened the other day. It was on the feast
of All Saints, in the earl}' morning, when Christians were at
mass praying for the repose of the souls of the clear ones gone.
A noise was heard as of thunder, the buildings tossed like a
ship on the billows, darkness fell upon the earth, and, as all the
churches were crowded, hundreds were crushed to death at the
altar's foot by the falling timbers. Nearly every church in the
town was destroyed. Then the people rushed to the water side
and to the higher places of the town, mainly to a church called
St. Catherine's. Surely there was safety on the high places and
on the banks of the river. But a second shock came. St. Cathe-
rine's Church fell with a crash. The river became a sea, and
there rolled over its banks a mountainous wave, sweeping the
lower streets and all that lived on them ; and the earth opened,
and the ships went down, likewise a magnificent marble quay,
on which people had assembled — all went down, down into the
depths; and when the wave receded it was found that all had
been swallowed up. The river rose and fell three fathoms in
an instant. The ships' anchors were thrown up to the surface.
A third shock came, and vessels that had been riding in seven
fathoms of water were stranded. Then a fire broke out and
raged for six davs. Never since cities were founded was any one
so sorely smitten as beautiful Lisbon.
The best authorities say that the loss to Lisbon was three
hundred million dollars in money. Of twenty thousand houses
only three thousand remained. Thirty thousand lives were lost.
Then the robbers came and plundered the ruined town, and it
was given over to plunder until the resolute Marquis Pombal,
ancestor of the recently deceased Soldanba, came, and, building
gallowses in various parts of Lisbon, hanged everyone who could
53*
PORTUGAL.
not give a clear explanation of how he came by his property.
In all three hundred and fifty were hanged. It seems that the
earthquake which destroyed Lisbon was Celt all over the world
— as far north as the Orkney Islands and in Jamaica. The
culmination was in Lisbon. But the people, under the lead of
the brave Pombal and the king, Joseph I.— who is called " The
Most Faithful " — rebuilt the town, and you see how well that
work was done. You see rows of houses that remind you of
Paris, fine squares and a newness in certain quarters, as though
it was the re-
built section of
Boston. One
hundred and
twenty -three
years have
passed since the
earthquake, but
no event is so
well known.
People show
you where the
quay stood
which sank into
the depths. I
strolled over it
this morning
with General
Grant and saw
the barefooted
fishwomen
hawking fish.
They point out
the magnificent
improvements
carried out by Pombal. They show you with pride the eques-
trian statue of Don Jos£, erected by a grateful people in com-
memoration of his services in that awful time. And if you climb
STREET SCENE — LISBON.
RECEPTION IN LISBON. --, n
up to the fort for a view of the lovely scenery which incloses
Lisbon, the first object pointed out is the ruin of the Carmelite
church destroyed in the earthquake.
The King of Portugal, Don Luis I., is a young man in the
fortieth year of his age, second cousin to the Prince of Wales,
who is three years his junior, and between whom there is a
marked resemblance. The Queen is the youngest sister of the
present King of Italy. The king's father is Prince Ferdinand
of Saxe-Coburtr, cousin of the late Prince Consort of EnQ-land.
His first wife, the mother of the king, died many years since.
His second wife, now living, is an American lady from Boston,
named Henzler, ami is called the Countess d'Edla. One of the
king's sisters is wife to the second son of the King of Saxony ;
the other, wife to Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen,
whose election to the throne of Spain by Prim was one ot the
causes of the war between Germany and France. In the way
of revenue, the king is paid four hundred and five thousand
dollars a year, and the queen sixty-six thousand six hundred
dollars. The eldest son, heir apparent, is now fifteen years
old, and twenty-two thousand two hundred dollars is his salary.
The second son is only thirteen years old, and receives eleven
thousand one hundred dollars. The king's father is paid one
hundred and eleven thousand dollars annually, and his brother,
a young man of thirty-one, is general in the arm)- and has a
salary of seventeen thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars per
annum. When you add the king's great-aunt, an old lady of
seventy-seven, who is paid twenty-two thousand two hundred
dollars, you have the whole royal family, with their incomes,
amounting in the aggregate to something over six hundred and
fifty thousand a year.
The Kino-, on learning- that General Grant had arrived in
Lisbon, came to the city to meet him. There was an audience
at the palace, the General and his wife meeting the King and
Queen. The King, after greeting the General in the splendid
audience chamber, led him into an inner apartment, away from
the ministers and courtiers who were in attendance on the cere-
mony. They had a long conversation relative to Portugal and
54Q
PORTl GAL.
the United States, the resources of the two countries, and the
means, if means were possible, to promote the commercial rela-
tions between Portugal and America. Portugal was, above all
things, a commercial nation, and her history was a history of
discovery and extending civilization. Lisbon, in a direct line,
was the nearest port for ships leaving New York. It was on
SCENK IN ruKTUGAL.
the line of latitude south of the icebergs, and a pleasanter part
of the ocean than the routes to Liverpool. There was a harbor
large enough to hold any fleet, and the King believed that
when the new lines of railway through Portugal and Spain
were built, the route would be seventeen miles shorter than over
the present many-winding way of the Salamanca road. The
advantages of such a port as Lisbon would be many for travelers,
and the King had no doubt that markets for American pro-
ROYAL LITERATURE. -.j
duce and manufactures would be found in die countries around
Lisbon.
The King had been a naval officer, and the conversation ran
into ships of war and naval warfare. There were other meetings
between the King and the General. The day after the palace
reception was the King's birthday, and there was a gala night
at the opera. The King and royal family came in state, and
during the interludes the General had a long conversation with
his majesty. The next evening there was a dinner at the palace
in honor of the General, the ministry and the leading men of
the court in attendance. The King conversed with the General
about other themes — wanted him to gro with him and shoot. It
seems the King is a famous shot. But the General's arrange-
ments left him no time to accept this courtesy.
It seems the King is a literary man, and having translated
" Hamlet " into Portuguese, the conversation ran into literary
themes. The King said he hoped to finish Shakespeare and
make a complete translation into Portuguese. He had finished
four of the plays — "Hamlet," "Merchant of" Venice," "Mac-
beth," and "Richard III." "Othello" was under way, and
already he had finished the first act. The question was asked
as to whether his majesty did not find it difficult to translate
such scenes as that between Hamlet and the grave-diggers—
almost dialect conversations — into Portuguese. The King said
he thought this was, perhaps, the easiest part. It was more
difficult to render into Portuguese the grander portions, where
the poetry attained its highest flight. " The Merchant of
Venice" he liked extremely, and "Richard III." was in some
respects as. fine as any of Shakespeare's plays. "What politi-
cal insight," said the King; "what insight into motives and
character this play contains!" The King asked the General
to accept a copy of " Hamlet," which his majesty presented
with an autograph inscription. As the time came to leave, the
King asked the General to allow him to mark his appreciation
of the honor the General had done Portugal by visiting it
by giving him the grand cross of the Tower and Sword. 1 he
General said he was verv much obliged, but that, having been
542
PORTUGAL.
President of the United States, and there being a law against
officials accepting decorations, he would rather, although no
longer in office, respect a law which it had been his duty to
administer. At the same time he appreciated the compliment
implied in the king's offer and
would always remember it with
gratitude.
Don Fernando, the King Con-
sort and father to the king, was
also exceedingly courteous to the General. His majesty is
sixty years of age, and is a tall, stately gentleman, resem-
bling somewhat his relative, Leopold I. of Belgium. Don Fer-
nando is one of the Coburg house of princes, who are spread-
in^ over Europe. He belongs to the Catholic wing of the
family — these great houses having Catholic and Protestant
wines, to suit the exigencies of royal alliances. He came to
Portugal forty-two years ago as the husband of Doiia Maria II.,
VISIT TO CINTR. 1. c , ,
543
Queen of Portugal, and sister to Dom Pedro of Brazil. Dona
Maria died in 1853, and Don Fernando became regent until
his first son, Dom Pedro V., was of a^e. Dom Pedro reigned
six years, and was succeeded by his brother, the present sove-
reign. Americans will be pleased to know that his majesty, on
his second marriage, selected a Boston lady. The marriage is
morganatic — that is to say, the Church blesses it, but the lady not
being royal, the law will not recognize her as queen. Countess
d'Edla, as she is called, is much respected in Lisbon. When the
General called she escorted him through the various treasure
rooms of the palace and seemed delighted to meet one of her
countrymen, and especially one who had ruled her country.
Countess d'Edla seems to have had a romantic career. She
studied music, and came to sine in Lisbon. Here Don Fernando
made an acquaintance which ripened into love, and in 1869
she became his wife. Don Fernando, like his son the king, is
an accomplished man, skilled in languages and literature, with
an especial interest in America. He talked to General Grant
about California and the Pacific coast, and expressed a desire
to visit it. His majesty has a curious and wonderful collection
of pictures, bric-a-brac, old armor and old furniture — one of
the most curious and interesting houses in Europe. He is fond
of painting, and showed us with pride some of his painting on
porcelain.
Finally Don Fernando gave us a pressing invitation to visit
his palace at Cintra. A visit to Cintra was down in our pro-
gramme, but the king's invitation put the palace at our dispo-
sal, a privilege rarely given. Cintra is about fifteen miles from
Lisbon, and we were compelled to go early in the morning.
Our party included the General and his wife, Mr. Dimon, our
Consul ; Viscount Pernes, and Mr. Cunha de Maier, formerly
Portuguese Consul General in the United States, and author of
a history of the United States in Portuguese. Mr. Moran, our
Minister, was unable to join us on account of indisposition.
The drive was attractive, through a rolling, picturesque country,
with cool breezes coming in from the sea that made overcoats
pleasant. Cintra is one of the famous spots in Europe, but
- . . PORTUGAL.
54 RED SEA AND INDIA.
were at Aden. The iron pipe for conveying the coal ran
through the cabin of Colonel Grant and myself, and the noise
made sleep impossible. I went on deck and found Mr. Borie
ready to go on shore as soon as the sun rose. None of the
others had appeared, and but for the noise we might as well
have remained in our berths; for there was a rolling, splashing,
uncomfortable sea, and all we could see of the shore were the
moving lights of sentinel posts and the shadow of the hill.
Those of us who had improved our time on the journey, and
had written letters, sent them on shore, and not without a feel-
ing of sentiment at seeing them go, for it seemed a farewell to
our own world, that we were leaving Europe and America and
passing into the opening door of Indian civilization. As the
morning came over the sea and the darkness turned into gray
the passengers came on deck, the General appearing about sun-
rise. The proposal to go ashore was vetoed on account of the
sea, the early hour, and the fact that we were to sail at eight.
The inhabitants of the island were hospitable and came out to
see us, paddling little cigar-shaped, feather-like canoes, which
danced about on the waves. There were several races among
them, and the quaint blending of character and costume in-
terested us, especially as it was our first glimpse of the strange
contrasts and developments of the Indian world.
At Aden we touched on our world long enough to hear of
the resignation of Marshal MacMahon and the change in the
French Republic. It was just a touch of news, but it gave us
a theme for talk, and when you have a week of sea life before
you any theme is a welcome one. On the morning of Febru-
ary 6th, about eight, the last Somali swimmer was tossed over
the side of the vessel into the water ; the last peddler in fea-
thers was hustled down the gangway ; the Parsees took a sad
leave of their friend, who looked a dismal farewell, the engines
moved, and we turned our course toward India. It was an
hour or two before we lost sight of Aden, and all the afternoon
there were bits of the Arabian coast coming and going on the
horizon. To our north was Arabia, and our course was north-
east. If you look at the map you will see that the journey from
BOMBAY.
605
Suez to Bombay is like going clown one side of a triangle and
up the other side. Aden is about the twelfth of a parallel north,
and Bombay about the eighteenth, consequently in passing
Aden we touch the southernmost station of our Indian trip.
We had been told to expect something severe in the way of
weather at Aden ; that we would bake, or burn, or broil in the
Indian Ocean ; that it would be so warm that the vessel would
have to reverse her engines and go backward to make a current
of air. All of these prophecies failed. Our whole journey from
Aden to Bombay was over a calm sea, the ship as a general
thing scarcely rolling. We spent most of our time on deck in
conversation with our English friends, with whom we became
closely acquainted, and among whom we found high intelli-
gence and courtesy. It was a good opportunity of studying the
character of the men whom England sends out to rule India.
They seem to have something of the American. There was
less of the reserve of the insular quality which marks the Eng-
lishman generally — more of our American shrewdness and
energy and knowledge of the world.
At noon on Friday, 12th, our position was latitude 18 05'
north, longitude 69 22' east. We were scudding along at
eleven knots an hour, and in the morning would see Bombay.
The sea became a dead calm, and the morning brought with it a
purple haze, which flushed the horizon, and it was after a time
and by shading the eyes from the sun that we could manage to
trace the line of the hills and knew that this was the coast of
India. Our departure from Europe had been so sudden that
we had no idea that even our consul at Bombay knew of our
coming. All arrangements were made to go to a hotel and from
thence make our journey; but the "Venetia" had scarcely
entered the harbor before we saw evidences that the General
was expected. Ships in the harbor were dressed with flags, and
at the wharf was a large crowd — soldiers, natives, Europeans.
As we passed the English flagship a boat came alongside with
an officer representing Admiral Corbett, welcoming the Gene-
ral to India. In a few minutes came another boat bearing
Captain Frith, the military aide to Sir Richard Temple, Gover-
6o6
RED SEA AND IXD1A.
nor of the Presidency of Bombay. Captain Frith bore a let-
ter from the Governor welcoming the General to Bombay, and
offering him the use of the Government House at Malabar
Point. Captain Frith expressed the regret of Sir Richard that
he could not be in Bombay to meet General Grant, but duties
connected with the Afghan war kept him in Sinde. The Con-
sul, Mr. Farnham, also came with a delegation of American
residents, and welcomed the General and party.
At nine o'clock in the morning the last farewells were spoken,
we took our leave of the many kind and pleasant friends we
had made on the " Venetia," and went on board the Govern-
ment yacht.
Our landing
was at the
Apollo Bun-
de r — the
spot where
the Prince of
Wales land-
ed. The
tides in the
harbor are
high, and
there were
stone steps
over which
the sea had been washing. As we drew near the shore there
was an immense crowd lining the wharf and a company of Bom-
bay Volunteers in line. As the General ascended the steps
he was met by Brigadier-General Aitcheson, commanding the
forces ; Sir Francis Souter, Commissioner of Police ; Mr. Grant,
the Municipal Commissioner, and Colonel Sexton, command-
ing the Bombay Volunteers ; all of whom gave him a hearty
welcome to India. The volunteers presented arms, the band
played our national air, and the General, amid loud cheers from
the Europeans present, walked slowly with uncovered head to
the state carriage. Accompanied by Captain Frith, who repre-
GOVERNMENT HOUSE — BOMBAY.
MALABAR POIXT.
607
sented the Governor, and attended by an escort of native cav-
alry, the General and party made off to Malabar Point.
Our home in Bombay is at the Government House, on
Malabar Point, in the suburbs of the city. Malabar Point was
in other days a holy place of the Hindoos. Here was a tem-
ple, and it was also believed that if those who sinned made
a pilgrimage to the rocks there would be expiation or re-
generation of soul. The Portuguese who came to India were
breakers of images, who believed that the religion of Christ
was best served by the destruction of the pagan temples.
Among the temples which were subjected to their pious zeal
was one on Malabar Point. There are only the ruins remain-
ing, and masses of rock, bearing curious inscriptions, lie on the
hillside. Malabar Point is an edge of the island of Bombay
jutting out into the Indian Ocean. Where the bluff overlooks
the waters it is one hundred feet high. This remnant of the
rock has been rescued from the sea and storm and decorated
with trees and shrubbery, the mango and the palm. Overlook-
ing the sea is a battery with five large guns, shining and black,
looking out upon the ocean and keeping watch over the Em-
pire of England. It is difficult to describe a residence like
Government House on Malabar Point. Architecture is simply
a battle with the sun. The house is a group of houses. As
you drive in the grounds through stone gates that remind you
of the porters' lodges at some stately English mansion, you
pass through an avenue of mango trees, past beds of flowers
throwing out their delicate fragrance on the warm morning air.
You come to a one-storied house surrounded with spacious
verandas. There is a wide state entrance covered with red
cloth. A guard is at the foot, a native guard wearing the
English scarlet, on his shoulders the number indicating the regi-
ment. You pass up the stairs, a line of servants on either
side. The servants are all Mohammedans ; they wear long
scarlet crowns, with white turbans ; on the breast is a belt with
an imperial crown for an escutcheon. They salute you with
the grave, submissive grace of the East, touching the forehead
and bending low the head, in token of welcome and duty.
608 RED SEA AND INDIA.
You enter a hall and pass between two rooms — large, high,
decorated in blue and white, and look out upon the gardens
below, the sea beyond, and the towers of Bombay. One of
these rooms is the state dining-room, large enough to dine fifty-
people. The other is the state drawing-room. This house is
only used for ceremonies, for meals and receptions.
You pass for one hundred paces under a covered way over a
path made of cement and stone, through flower beds and palm
trees, and come to another house. Here are the principal bed-
rooms and private chambers. This also is one story high, and
runs clown to the sea, so that you can stand on a balcony and
throw a biscuit into the white surf as it combs the shore.
These are the apartments assigned to General Grant and his
wife. There are drawing rooms, anterooms, chambers, the
walls high, the floors covered with rugs and cool matting. As
you pass in, servants, who are sitting crouched around on the
floors, rise up and bend the head. You note a little group of
shoes at the door, and learn that in the East custom requires
those in service to unslipper themselves before entering the
house of a master. Another hundred paces and you come to
another house, with wide verandas, somewhat larger than the
General's. These are the guest chambers, and here a part of
our party reside. Still farther on is another house, and here
the writer finds a home, and as he sits at the table writing these
lines he looks out of the open door, shaded by a palm tree, and
sees the white surf as it breaks over the rocks, and hears its
drowsy, moaning, unending roar.
I look out of the window and see a tall flagstaff with a stone
base. From this staff the flag of England floats when the
governor is home. My house is a series of rooms arched over
with light walls. The chamber in which I write is a comfort-
able working room, with many windows and easy-chairs. The
room adjoining is a bedchamber. Other rooms complete the
suite, and from my chamber window I can look out on the sea,
on the embrasured guns, and watch the coming and going of the
tides. You note that the builders of this house had only one
idea — to fight the sun. It is now the coolest winter weather,
ON THE VERANDA— BOMBAY.
<><><)
remarkably cool for Bombay. Every window and every door
is open, and even my summer garments are warm, and when
weary with the heat I throw down the pen and walk out under
the palm trees, and look at the surf and woo the breezis that
come over the seas from Persia, and throw myself upon the
lounge and dip into one of the books piled about — books about
Indian history, religion, caste — which I have found in the
library, and in which I am trying to know something of this
ancient and wonderful land.
STREE1 IN BOMBAY.
So far as beauty is concerned — beauty of an Indian charac-
ter, with as much comfort as is possible in Hindostan — nothing
could be more attractive than our home on Malabar Point.
We are the guests of the Governor, and the honors of his house
are done by Captain Frith and Captain Radcliffe, of the army,
two accomplished young officers, the last representatives of the
last type of the English soldier and gentleman. We take our
meals in the state dining-room, and when dinner is over we
stroll over to the General's bungalow, and sit with him on the
veranda looking out on the sea — sit late into the night, talking
39
5 IO RED SEA AND INDIA.
about India, and home, and all the strange phases of this civi-
lization. Mrs. Grant seems to enjoy every moment of the visit,
more especially as we are to have a week's mail on Wednesday,
and the steamer never breaks its word. Mr. Boric is in fine
spirits and health, all things considered, and has surprised us in
the virtue of early rising. All manner of plans are proposed
to induce Mr. Borie to throw luster upon the expedition by de-
stroying a tiger and carrying home a trophy of his prowess to
Philadelphia, but he steadily declines these importunities, tak-
ing the high-minded ground that he has never had a misunder-
standing with a tiger in his life, and does not propose now to
cultivate the resentments of the race.
The attentions paid to the General and his party by the
people of Bombay have been so marked and continuous that
most of our time has been taken up in receiving and acknowl-
edging them. What most interests us, coming fresh from
Europe, is the entire novelty of the scene, the way of living,
the strange manners and customs. All your impressions of
India, gathered from the scattered reading of busy days at home,
are vague. Somehow you associate India with your ideas of
pageantry. The history of the country has been written in
such glowing colors, you have read Oriental poems, you have
fallen under the captivating rhetoric of Macaulay, you look for
nature in a luxuriant form, for splendor and ornament, for
bazaars laden with gems and gold, for crowded highways, with
elephants slowly plodding their way along. My first thought
was to inquire for the Car of Juggernaut, which occupies some
such place in your mind as a Barnum show. Therefore, when
you look upon India — India as seen in this her greatest city —
you are surprised to find it all so hard and baked and brown.
You miss the greenness of field and hill-side. You see a
people who have nothing in common with any race you know.
There are so many types, curious and varying, that your impres-
sions are bewildered and indefinite. I suppose in time, as we
go into the country, and know it, we shall see that this civiliza-
tion has lines of harmony like what we left behind us, that there
are reasons for all the odd things we see, just as there are
LIFE AT MALABAR POIA T. ^ yl
reasons for many odd things in America, and that Indian civili-
zation even now, when its glory has departed — its mightiest
States are mere appendages of the British Empire — when day
after day it bends and crumbles under the stern hand and cold
brain of the Saxon, is rich in the lessons and qualities which
have for ages excited the ambition and the wonder of the world.
Indian life, however, as far as I can see it, is simply a life
at Government House on Malabar Point. What you note in
the arrangement of a house like this is the number of servants
necessary to its order. There is a minute division of labor and
a profusion of laborers. When I began this paragraph it was
my intention to say how many servants waited on me, for
instance, in my own modest bungalow. But the calculation is
beyond me. At my door there is always one in waiting, a
comely, olive-tinted fellow, with a melting dark eye. If I move
across the room he follows with noiseless step to anticipate my
wishes. If I sit down to read or write, I am conscious of a
presence as of a shadow, and I look up and see him at my
shoulder or looking in at the window awaiting a summons. If
I look out of my bedchamber window toward the ocean, I see
below another native in a blue gown with a yellow turban. He
wears a badge with a number. He is a policeman and guards
the rear of the bungalow. If I venture across the road to look
in upon some of my friends, a servant comes out of the shade
of a tree with an umbrella. His duty is to keep off the sun.
You cannot pass from house to house without a procession
forming around you.
The General strolled over a few minutes asro with some let-
ters for the post, and as I saw him coming it was a small pro-
cession — a scarlet servant running ahead to announce him,
other scarlet servants in train. If you go out at night toward
the Government House for dinner, one in scarlet stands up
from under a tree, with a lantern, and pilots you over a road as
clearly marked as your own door-sill. In the early morning,
as you float from the land of dreams into a land of deeds, your
first consciousness is of a presence leaning over yoiir couch,
with coffee or fruit or some intimation of morning. If you go
6l 2
RED SEA AND INDIA.
driving, servants in scarlet cluster about your carriage, and in
the General's case there is always a guard of native horsemen.
If you could talk with your natives you might gain some curious
information. But they know no English, and your only method
is pantomime. This constant attention, curious at first, be-
ON THE VERANDA AT MALABAR POINT.
comes, especially to eager Americans taught to help themselves
in most of the offices of life, oppressive. But there is no help
for it. I went into Mr. Borie's room last evening, and found
him quite disconsolate over a native who was creeping about
him, tearing his buttons and trying to put him in order. Mr.
Borie in every key and intonation was trying to tell the native
COBRA CASTLE.
6l 3
that he did not want him, that he could manage his buttons
unaided. I tried to help him out, but my knowledge of the
dialect was scarcely comprehensive enough to help a friend in
an emergency. There was no resource but to bow to fate. 1 n
the evening, thanks to the offices of Captain Frith, Mr. Borie
added to his knowledge of tongues the Hindostan phrase for
" Let me alone." Since then there has been comparative peace
in " Tiger Hall."
"Tiger Hall" is the name we have given to Mr. Borie's
bungalow. You see that, forty years ago, this Malabar Point
was a jungle, and sportsmen came here and shot tigers among
these very rocks, where we stroll about in the cool of the even-
ing, smoking our cigars and looking down upon the tumbling
surf.
My own bungalow is called Cobra Castle. I cannot imag-
ine what gruesome fancy led to that name. I am afraid it was
the Colonel, fertile in epithet. After the tiger, the cobra is the
common enemy of man in India. The cobra is a snake, from
whose bite no human being has ever recovered. The Govern-
ment has taken steps to extinguish the cobra. It has offered
a large reward to any one who will discover a remedy for the
bite. The most gifted doctors in England, men as eminent as
Sir Joseph Fayror and Dr. Lasedar Brunton, have been at work
for years to discover some remedy for the poison. Bounties
are paid to the natives for every snake killed. But here comes
in an old superstition, as in the case of the tiger, the supersti-
tion that the snake also is a sacred animal. One of the strange
fancies of the Hindoo is that gods should be worshiped not
alone because of the good they can do, but of the evil. Wor-
ship, therefore, is often a means of propitiation, and the tiger
and cobra, as the most deadly of animals, the representatives of
the most fatal influences, are protected and revered. The re-
sult of this is that the native does not sustain the Government in
its efforts to extirpate animals, who, according to statistics, take
nearly twenty thousand lives a year. If a cordial support were
given by the people there would not be in ten years a tiger or
a cobra in India. They would be as scarce as wolves in France.
6 14
RED SEA AND INDIA.
The fact that my bungalow is apart by itself, near the sea,
overlooking the rocks, and open to any invasion, led to its
being called Cobra Castle. But I am bound to say that I
have seen no animal within its walls but a harmless lizard,
about six inches long, which curled itself under one of the
arches and clung there in a torpid condition.
There is some comfort in knowing that the winter is not
the season for the active participation of the cobra in the duties
of life. He comes out under the influence of summer suns and
the rain. As it is, I suppose there is as much danger in our
bungalows from wild and poisonous animals as in the New
York house of Mr. Delmonico. We live in sumptuous fashion.
There is the ever present sea, the shading trees, the walks, the
perfume of the flowers scenting the air — the beautiful bay,
which reminds you of Naples. In the early morning and the
evening you are permitted to go out and ride or stroll. When
the sun is up you must remain in-doors. We have had our
own experiences of the sun at home, and you cannot understand
the terror which he inspires in India. An hour or two ago the
Colonel came into my bungalow, and as he passed to his own I
strolled with him, perhaps a hundred paces, without putting, on
my helmet. One of our friends of the staff, who happened to
be at the door, admonished me in the gravest manner of the
danger that I had incurred. "I would not," he said, "have
done that for a thousand rupees. You have no idea how
treacherous the sun is here. Even when the breeze is blowing
you must not even for an instant allow your head to be uncov-
ered. The consequences may attend you through life." This
morning the General went out on horseback for a spin through
the country, accompanied by Sir Francis Souter, Captain Frith,
and Colonel Grant. Seven was the hour named — "because,"
said Sir Francis, "we must be homebefore nine. In India we
dare not trifle with the sun."
Life in Bombay grew to be almost home-life under the
genial hospitality of our hosts. Although we had been a week
in Bombay, there was so much of Europe about us that we
could not make up our minds that we were in India. We had
PROSPERITY <>/■ BOMBA Y.
615
not seen a tiger or a cobra, and all our associations were with Eu-
ropeans. There was a club where you could read the English
and New York newspapers. There was a racing club, where you
could sit at your window and see the horses gallop over the
course. There were two or three English newspapers published
in Bombay, two in English — the Gazette and The Times in In-
dia — well printed and well written. It is wonderful how speedily
you go through a paper that has no roots in your own country,
TOWER OF SILENXE, MALABAR POINT — BOMBAY.
and how even as sad an article as a minute on the famine has no
interest to you. Bombay is more European than Indian, and
I suppose will always be so while the sea throws the commerce
of the world upon her wharves. Much of the prosperity of
Bombay — which you see in large, majestic stores, in colleges,
esplanades, and wharves — came from our American war. " It
is odd," said an Englishman, "that Bombay and General Grant
should be face to face, for the General ruined Bombay."
Then came the story of the cotton mania which raged dur-
ing the American war. The cessation of the cotton supply of
616 R E1) SEA AND INDIA.
the United States threw England back upon India and Egypt.
The year before our war Bombay exported about 826, 000,000
worth of cotton. During the war the average yearly export
was over $100,000,000. Here was a gain to Bombay in four
years of $350,000,000, and this sudden addition to the wealth
of the city engendered every form of speculation. If people
had reasoned they would have known that, whatever way the
war ended — whether the North or South won — the close would
have been the revival of the cotton crop and an end of these
false values. But the gambler never reasons, and Bombay, ac-
cording to one of the historians of the panic, believed that
"the genius of Lee" and "the stubborn valor of the soldiers"
would make the war last for a longer time. A good deal of
this confidence was due to the tone of the London press on the
American war, which, when read now in the cold light of logi-
cal and veritable events, represents the lowest point ever
reached in the degradation of journalism. The Bombay mer-
chant read his English newspaper and believed it, and continued
to gamble. Banks were established — shipping and iron com-
panies, financial associations, land companies, reclamation
schemes, railway companies, spinning and weaving, companies
in gas, coffee, cotton, oil, and brick. Six hundred per cent, was
a fair return for one's investments in those days, and I suppose
no city in the world was so prosperous as Bombay in 1865.
If Lee and Grant had fought a twenty years campaign this
might have continued. But in the spring of 1865 a telegram
came announcing that Lee had surrendered, and Bombay col-
lapsed. The companies went to the wall. A firm of Parsee
merchants failed for $15,000,000, and before the end of the
year there was not one company remaining of the hundred
which had arisen during the war. And all coming from a tele-
gram which, in the afternoon of April, 9, 1865, General Grant,
sitting on a stone by the wayside of Appomatox, wrote in pen-
cil in his memorandum book — " The army of Northern Virginia
surrended to me this afternoon." The year 1865 is known as
the year of panic, insanity, and bankruptcy. I have heard
stories of that mad time from many who were here and saw it.
ELEPHANTA CAVES.
617
Those days of mania were days of splendor for Bombay in
many ways, and it was pointed out that all the magnificent
buildings which strike your eye on landing came from the men
who were mad with the cotton mania.
There was a visit to the English man-of-war " Euryolus,"
the flagship of the English squadron in India. Admiral Cor-
bett received the General, and on his leaving the vessel fired
twenty-one guns. There was a visit to the Elephanta Caves,
one of the
sights in In-
dia. We left
the wharf
and steamed
across the
bay in a small
launch be-
longing to
the Govern-
ment. The
aftern o on
was beauti-
f u 1 , the
islands in the
bay break-
ing up the horizon into various forms of beauty that reminded
you of Italy and the islands of the Mediterranean. Ele-
phanta Caves belong to Hindoo theology. Here in the
rocks the Brahmins built their temples, and now, on holy days,
the people come and worship their gods according to the
ritual of their ancestors. What the temple might have been
in its best days you cannot imagine from the ruins. After see-
ing the stupendous remnants of ancient monuments in Egypt,
Karnak and Abydos and Memphis, you cannot enter into the
enthusiasm with which rocks like these at Elephanta are re-
garded. In Egypt you see that religion was the supreme ex-
pression of the people's life, and there is nothing else in her
monuments. The same might be said of India, but the men
[ANTA CAVES.
6i8 RED SEA A AD INDIA.
who dug out the Elcphanta Caves and fashioned the rocks into
temples and the forms of gods, had not the earnest spirit of
those who built the mighty monuments whose ruins strew the
banks of the Nile.
Our visit to Elephanta was a kind of picnic. Everything
we have seen in India thus far has a Prince of Wales value, if
1 may use the expression. You are taken to see things be-
cause the Prince of Wales saw them on his tour. It is remem-
bered that the Prince came to the caves and dined in the halls
consecrated in the Hindoo eyes to sacred memories. There
were illuminations and fireworks, and the night was so warm that
no one enjoyed the dinner. We have a cooling breeze coming
in from the Indian Ocean, and as we slowly climb easy flights
of steps we have an almost naked retinue of Hindoos, in vari-
ous stages of squalor, asking alms and offering to sell us gold
beetles. The temples are reached in time, and we stroll about
studying out the figures, noting the columns and the curious
architecture, full, rude, massive, unlike any forms of architec-
tural art familiar to us. The main temple is one hundred and
twenty-five feet long and the same in width. The idols are
hewn out of the rock. The faces of some are comely, and
there is a European expression in the features that startles you.
The type is a higher one than those we saw in Egypt. One
of the idols is supposed to be the Hindoo Trinity — Brahma,
Vishnu, and Siva. There is matter for thought in the fact that
the idea of the Trinity, of the holiest of holy mysteries, was
somehow grasped by these pagan worlds long before our
blessed Lord came amonc men. There is a figure of a woman
with a single breast — the wife of Siva — and you note in these
pagan faiths that woman, who holds so sad a place in their do-
mestic economy, was worshiped as fervently as some of us
worship the Virgin. It is the tribute which even the heathen
pays, as if by instinct, to the supreme blessing of maternity.
But when the Portuguese came with the sword and the cross
little mercy was shown to the homes of the pagan gods. It is
believed that these temples were cut out of the rocks in the
tenth century, and that for eight hundred years these stony em.
PARSEE'S S( //<>(>/..
619
blems, which we finger and poke: with canes, were worshiped.
General Grant observes that his memories of Karnak make it
difficult for him to appreciate the caves at their true value. So
we saunter about and look out on the waters and watch the
descending sun throw its purple golden shadows over Bombay.
The night is falling as our launch pushes into the bay. In this
land there is no twilight, and a few minutes after the sun goes
down darkness reigns, darkness over everything, only the lights
of the distant town and the stars looking clown from a cloud-
less sky.
There were visits to be made, and Monday was a busy day.
Letters were written. Mail day does not come as often in
India as at home, and throughout the dominion it is a day
dedicated to home. I am afraid we caught the infection, for
Sunday was given to zealous correspondence, and the steamer
that went out on Monday caused an addition to her majesty's
postal revenues. There was a visit to the school of a Parsee
gentleman, whose hobby is education. Our Parsee friend had
spent a good deal of money on his school ; and as the educa-
tion of woman is something new and startling to the Indian
mind, it was interesting to see the progress of the experiment.
We visited the school in the afternoon of February 1 7, and
were received by the scholars and teachers rising and singing
the English national anthem. One of the scholars, a young
lady of fifteen, recited one of Macaulay's lays ; another, the
advice of Polonius to his son. The accent was peculiar, and it
was difficult to adjust the Oriental twisting of the syllables to
an American ear. The first impression was that the scholars
were speaking a foreign tongue ; but in a moment or two we
became accustomed to it. The recitations were well done,
especially Polonius to Laertes, a speech more apt to impress
the Oriental mind, given to proverbs and metaphors, than the
fiery, clanging verses of Macaulay. There was music, and an
exposition of needlework and embroidery. The students looked
graceful in their embroidered jackets and caps, and although it
was very warm and the room in which the school was gathered
was oppressive and inconvenient, our visit was interesting.
6 2 o Rrn SEA AND INDIA.
The future of India lies in the advancement and education of
her people, and whatever looks toward that is a hopeful sign.
On Monday the General was entertained in state at the
Government House at Malabar Point. Hon. James Gibbs, the
member of the Council who acted as Governor in the absence
of Sir Richard Temple, presided, and at the close of the din-
ner the company drank the health of the General. In re-
sponse the General referred to the kindness he had received in
India, which was only renewing the kindness shown him all
over Europe, and which he accepted as an evidence of the good
will which really existed between Englishmen and Americans,
and which was to his mind the best assurance of peace for all
nations. After the dinner the General received a large num-
ber of the native merchants and gentlemen of Bombay. It
seemed odd to our American eyes that merchants and gentle-
men should be asked to come in at the end of a feast and not
to take part. But this exclusion is their own wish. Many of
these merchants and gentlemen belong to castes who look on
the food of the Europeans as unclean, who believe in the
sacredness of life, and will not eat animal food, and who could
not sit at the table with the General without losing caste.
These men will meet you in business, will serve you in various
ways, but their religion prevents their sharing your table. So
the invitation to the natives to meet the General was fixed at
an hour when dinner was over.
They came in groups — Hindoos, Arabs, Parsees, native
officers in uniforms, in quaint flowing costumes. The General
stood at the head of the hallway, with Mr. Gibbs and Major
Rivett-Carnac, the Governor's military secretary. As each na-
tive advanced he was presented to the General with some word
of history or compliment from Mr. Gibbs. " This is So-and-
So, an eminent Brahmin scholar, who stands high among our
barristers ; " or, " This is So-and-So, a Parsee merchant, who
has done a great deal of good to Bombay, and has been
knighted for his services by the Queen ; " or, " This is the old-
est Arab merchant ; " or, " This is a gallant officer in our na-
tive cavalry ; " or, " This is the leading diamond merchant in
BOMBAY.
621
Bombay, a Hindoo gentleman, one of the richest in India."
As each of them advanced it was with folded hands, as in
prayer, or saluting by touching the breast and brow in the sub-
missive, graceful, bending way, so strange to our eyes. Here
were men of many races — the Parsee from Persia, the Arab
from Cairo, whose ancestors may have ridden with Omar ; the
Brahmin of a holy caste, in whose veins runs the stainless blood
of Indian nobility, descendant of men who were priests and
PUUNA, NE.U BOMB A V
rulers ages before England had risen from her clouds of bar-
barism. Between these races there is no love. If they do not
like England, they hate one another. Religious differences,
tradition, memories of war and conquest, the unaccountable an-
tipathies of race which we have not eliminated from our civili-
zation — all generate a fierce animosity which would break into
flames once the restraining hand were lifted. What welds
them together is the power of England, and as you look at this
picturesque group — their heads, full eyes, their fine Asiatic
type of face, clear and well cut — here assembled peacefully,
g 22 Kl /> SEA AND INDIA.
you sec the extent of the empire to which they all owe alle-
giance, and you admire the genius and courage which has
brought them to submit to a rule, which, whatever it may have
been in the past, grows more and more beneficent.
This dinner at Malabar Point closed our visit to Bombay.
After the reception of the native gentlemen and merchants
the General strolled over to his bungalow, and, sitting on
the veranda looking out upon the ocean, he conversed for a
long time with Mr. Gibbs, Major Carnac, Mr. Borie, and the
gentlemen of the household. It was our last night in Bombay,
and so many things were to be talked about — the English in
India, and the strange romance of their governing India. It is
in conversations such as these, where you meet gifted men,
charged with great trusts, full of their work, and familiar with
it, that travel has its advantages, and especially to one in the
position of General Grant. Himself a commander of men and
ruler of a nation, it is instructive to compare notes with men
like those he meets in India, who are charged with the rule of
an empire. The interesting fact in India as a political ques-
tion is this : Here the Englishman is solving the problem of
how to govern an ancient and vast civilization, or rather, varie-
ties of civilization, to govern it by prestige and the sword. In
America the Englishman is trying to create a new nation, based
on a democracy. The two problems are full of interest, and,
fresh from English-speaking America, we see something new
every hour in English-governed India. The governments are
as far apart as the Poles, for there is no despotism more abso-
lute than the government of India. Mighty, irresponsible,
cruel, but with justice, and, after safety, mercy. This is what
you see in India.
On Tuesday we left Bombay. The day was very warm —
oppressively warm. We had an idea of what might be felt in
an Indian summer. The General drove into town and made
some farewell calls. At five he left Government House in a
state carriage, accompanied by Major Carnac, who represented
Governor Temple, and escorted by a squadron of cavalry. On
arriving at the station there was a guard of honor of native
LEAVING BOMBAY.
623
infantry drawn up, which presented arms and lowered colors.
All the leading men of the Bombay government — Parsee and
native merchants ; our consul, Mr. Farnham, whose kindness
to us was untiring; Mr. Gibbs, and all the members of the Gov-
ernment household — were present. Among those who came
to say good-by was Colonel H. S. Olcott of New York. Colonel
Olcott had just arrived in India, where he proposes to study
Indian philosophy. He was accompanied by some Brahmins
of high caste, whom he presented to the General. In a few
minutes the signal for leaving was made, and the General,
thanking his good friends of Malabar Point, the train pushed
off amid cheers and the salutes of the military.
Two comfortable cars, something like our parlor cars, had
been placed at the disposal of the party, and a well provided
larder had been secretly stowed away by our ever thoughtful
friends to console us on our long journey to the north. Bid-
ding farewell as the train pushed onward from the station,
crowded with officers in full uniform and their ladies, we caught
the familiar sound of three hearty cheers given by the residents
of the little American colony. Unfortunately the night had set
in before we had reached the top of the Ghauts, where the cool
breeze and the charming view made the attraction for a summer
residence to the citizen of Bombay. One little station at which
we took tea was decorated with entwined English and Ame-
rican flags. The next morning at daybreak we found ourselves
flying through the country at about thirty miles an hour, stop-
ping occasionally at a picturesque little station or bungalow,
tastefully decorated with flowing vines and shading bamboo
screens, and situated either in a barren jungle or shaded by a
group of mango trees and surrounded by well-cultivated fields
of rice or cotton. The distant hills on either side, rocky and
wild, indicated the well-known home of tigers and cobras, but
the valleys studded with groups of mango trees, looking much
like oak, reminded us of many a home scene, and really looked
familiar. The ride was a dusty one, for rain had not fallen
since September, and the few occasional showers which usually
attend the blossoming of the mango, which had not appeared,
624
RED SEA ANIi INDIA.
were now the dread of the people, who feared their coming to
ruin the ripening crops. At half-past nine p.m. our guide book
notified us that we were nearing Icbulpur, at which place we
intended spending the night in order to see the far-famed mar-
ble rocks on the following day. We were met by the Deputy
Commissioner, and were driven to the hotel. The hotel is like
all the houses here, situated apart, like our country houses, and
is a most imposing structure. It is said to have been built by
a native of considerable wealth, in anticipation of his marriage,
NATIVE VILLAGE.
but the young lady, unlike others of her race, was permitted to
change her mind, and the disappointed lover sold the house.
The house — a type of those in this part of the country — is
built of brick, coated with lime, and the frequent whitewashing
which seems to be a part of the religious morning ceremonies
of the natives, gives the appearance of marble to all the struc-
tures seen in the native town. A narrow winding staircase on
either side brings us to the top of the portico. A balcony from
which a very fine view of the surrounding country is seen, opens
into a large hall, for the house has two stories, with a very high
WOMEN OF INDIA.
625
ceiling of Moorish architecture, and with its bedrooms open on
either side. The little room at the end of the bedroom, with a
stone floor, is the bath room, a large tub in the center, which is
soon filled by a waiter who empties into it the contents of a
coat's skin water-sack.
Early the next morning we took our places in carriages, ac-
companied by Judge Berry, for a picnic to the rocks. It was a
twelve mile trip, ten of which were along an avenue shaded by
mango trees, as good a road as I ever saw. Changing horses
at a village about halfway, we saw the native houses, clustered
together, which were whitewashed, and presented an exceedingly
attractive appearance. Each has a little portico of the purest
626 RKn SEA AND INDIA.
white, with a little stoop. The walls are low, and the roof is
tiled with a covering' of long, dried, native grass. A little circle,
surrounded by a long brick wall, resembling a fountain cistern,
is in front of each house, and in these the natives sit and do
their work, weaving or pottery, both of which seem their favo-
rite avocation. What a curious picture these people present!
Tall, fine-looking, muscular fellows, many with winsome faces,
but scant in clothing, lounge around. The women, with their
one garment covering their head and then wrapped gracefully
over the chest, are worthy studies for an artist. Scarlet is their
favorite color, and their graceful figures, which are rendered so
by the burdens they carry upon their heads, made a group
exceedingly attractive. The women are the workers. They
are seen in the fields ; they do a full share in the very hard
work of building; they seem less idle, but at the same time
their slavery does not seem to oppress them, for their gayety,
as they file along in rows with water jugs, proves them to be
happy in their ignorance of anything better. The children are
very bright ; one little fellow became a great favorite with the
party, his bright black eyes and smiling face were very attrac-
tive. We left our carriage after ten miles' ride, and continued
the journey over a bad road through the jungle on elephants.
The first elephant, at a word from the mahout, knelt for his
party to mount. He was a handsome fellow, covered with
scarlet cloth, and carried a platform that accommodated four.
Upon him were seated General Grant and Mrs. Grant, Mr.
Borie, and Judge Berry. The rest of the party mounted the
ladder that led to the back of the next.
The river Neirhedda came into sight — a sacred river which
washes away the sins of the Hindoo, and which from a prophecy
of hundreds of years, becomes this year more sacred than the
Ganges. Its dark green water, running at a rapid rate over
numerous stony beds, then in narrow, deep channels that it has
cut through the limestone rock, now out of sight, then again in
view, makes a very pretty picture from our high position on the
elephant. The scenery is wild, rocky in many places to the
water's edge. There at a distance is a large Hindoo temple, and
THE SERVANT QUESTION.
627
from it down the steep bank a long flight of steps. Two large
orange pennants float irom long poles into the water's edge,
and numerous dark figures dot the shore ; they are pilgrims
who come to bathe and are from a great distance, Hindoos of
all kinds, men, women and children. The bungalow, where our
lunch awaits us, is situated on a high rocky point overlooking
the river. It is a beautiful day, clear, though rather warm, but
a pith helmet, and a large sunshade affords us some protection
from the hot sun's rays.
A small row-boat takes us up the gorge where the river has
cut through a marble hill. The steep sides of pure white marble,
some sixty feet high, at times with almost polished surface, then
again rugged and cracked, with enormous crevasses, the home
of the wild pigeon, makes the scene a grand one. But its chief
beauty is upon a moonlight night, when the shining marble and
the tall, dark shadows are said to remind one of hobgoblins ami
ghosts — particularly, I presume, when the white glistening eyes
and teeth of the native bargemen reflect their rays of moonlight
also. We spent an interesting, novel, and pleasing day, but a
thunder shower came on before we started that delayed our re-
turn trip ; and at last, when once more upon our old friends the
elephants, we returned to meet the carriages, the dust of five
months had been turned into a superficial breeze, the atmos-
phere was cool and pleasant, and we found the return trip even
pleasanter than the one before. In the evening, after we
reached the hotel, we all put on winter clothing. Icbulpur is
a clean town, and at the same time not without picturesqueness
and beauty. A cactus hedge about five feet high surrounds
most of the bungalows, and a wide-spreading mango tree gives
shade during the heat of the day. In the workhouse about
three hundred Thugs, with their families, are confined, weav-
ing carpets, rugs, etc., but they are not any longer dangerous ;
the railroad has run away with their occupation, and they now
work off the sins of their ancestors.
Before leaving Bombay the servant question gave us much
concern, and when presented to the General, did not meet with
enthusiasm. But there was a burden of evidence in its favor
623
RED SEA AND INDIA.
that could not be resisted, and when it was suggested that
without native servants we might find ourselves in the middle
of an Indian wilderness, with no possible means of advancing
until we had acquired the Hindostan language, there was no
other argument required. So our servants were hired. The
business is a good deal like buying tickets in a lottery. The
candidates look alike, and speak the same pinched and barren
English, confined to the few phrases necessary to personal at-
tendance. There are varieties of labor which require varieties
of servants.
SOUTHERN ASIA.
Suchathing
as a handy
man of all
work, w h o
can go
through the
whole range
of p r o fes-
s i o n a 1 re-
quirements,
from the
boots to the
beard, is not
kno w n in
India. The Mussulman will wait upon you at table. The
Hindoo would regard such an office as against his faith, the
food you touch being impure. The Hindoo's main office is
about the person. I suppose if we had encouraged the Indian
idea of division of labor we should have had a dozen servants
for each of the party ; but the General, who looked with alarm
at the prospect of any at all, suggested four. His drawing from
the lottery was a cadaverous brown creature, named Chandy-
Loll. I think this was his real name. Anyhow, it is near
enough to be right, for we were always forgetting his name
and calling him something else.
Chandy-Loll was engaged upon a recommendation signed
by Mr. Cadwalader, the ex-Assistant Secretary of State, writ-
THE SERVANT QUESTION. Q 2g
ten when Mr. Cadwalader was in an amiable mood. I am
sorry to say that Chandy-Loll did not develop all of the virtues
which charmed Mr. Cadwalader. Mr. Borie fell into the hands
of an imposing person named Peter Marian. Peter is a Chris-
tian, descended from a Portuguese family, and looks like Gen-
eral Burnside. Peter is much handsomer, and shows more in-
tellect than several of the rajahs we have met. When Mr.
Borie first brought him into our society we thought that he had
found a native prince, and was about to open a new avenue of
intercourse with the native nobility. Colonel Grant's servant
has been called Genghis Khan. He is a boy with all the
brightness and movement of youth, but without much sense.
His English is mainly pantomime, and a conversation between
the Colonel and Genghis looks like a rehearsal for a circus.
Genghis has the gaze of an intelligent poodle, looking this way
and that to anticipate his master's wishes, ready to jump the
moment he knows which way to jump. My own servant, Kas-
sim — we call him Kassim, because although not being his name,
it is the nearest thing to it — is a character. Kassim is a seri-
ous, middle-aged Hindoo, who speaks English. He had letters
from English officers with whom he had traveled, and so I
took him. My experiences with a Hindoo servant were novel.
As soon as Kassim was engaged he took possession of me. I
passed into obscurity. I had no care about myself. Kassim
floats around, always talking in a chattering, heedless fashion,
and is a nervous, anxious being who should have studied astron-
omy. There is nothing vivid in Kassim's conversational pow-
ers, but after patient listening you sometimes discern an idea.
One of his principal themes is the worthlessness of Hindoo ser-
vants in general, and his gratitude that he is an exception to
the rule. He would always, he said, see that his master had
the best that was in circulation — the best tent, the best orange
in the basket, the best seat in the car. All this was kindly
meant in Kassim, but he lacked enterprise, and suffered from
the imperturbability of Peter and the enterprise of Genghis
Khan.
We pay our servants a rupee a day, about forty cents in
630
RED SEA AMD INDIA.
American money. We allow them a half rupee a day for sub-
sistence. They travel third class. You have no trouble about
them beyond this. The few things they can do they do well.
They are attentive, patient, and, I hope, honest. They have
no enterprise. You can never depend upon a general direc-
tion. If you want a thing done every day, you must give the
order every day for a month at least. They have no idea of
time or promptitude. You cannot hurry them. Their mind
MY HINDOO SERVANT, KAbSl.M.
is not capable of taking in two ideas at once. They do a great
deal of unnecessary work, especially if it is work at which
they can sit down. The Hindoo's idea of happiness is to be
able to sit on his haunches, his legs crossed under him, and
chatter or meditate. Kassim's favorite occupation is the pack-
ing and unpacking of my portmanteau. It is not much of a
portmanteau, but the amount of packing it has undergone would
try the patience of the stoutest-hearted trunk. Whenever I
come into my room or tent, I am apt to find Kassim crouched
over the portmanteau packing. He has an aversion to papers
all.ii/.u:ad. 5 m
and any form of manuscript. It is with the utmost difficulty
that I can prevent his destroying letters and manuscripts, and I
am sure if I want any special bit of writing to find it at the bot-
tom of his canvas bag, among the shoebrushes and the black-
ing. Another of his apprehensions is, that we shall go into the
iuii'de and shoot tio-ers. When we ensfaoed Kassim, he vol-
unteered the information that he could do everything in the
world that could be expected from a Hindoo, and especially
shoot tigers. But when he heard our light conversation with
Mr. Bone upon his resolution to kill tigers, Kassim looked at
the matter from a grave and anxious point of view, and warned
me in private of the perils of the jungle, and especially of the
peril that Mr. Borie would be sure to invite if he persisted in
his purpose.
At Allahabad, the Lieutenant Governor, Sir George Confer,
met the General at the railway station, as did also his secretary,
our friend Colonel Brownlow, of the passengers of the " Venetia."
We were the Lieutenant Governor's guests while there, and it
was with regret that we left the pleasant home of Sir George
and Lady Confer, for Agra, where we were to remain several
days.
END OF VOLUME I.
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