Muse, since
it possesses so much natural rythm and allows, like the Greek, the
combination of compound words and a redundancy of epithets, and it is
besides so flexible that it lends itself to all the ancient as well as the
modern metres with complete success: indeed it is the only modern language
that I know of which does so.
As for political opinions here, the Germans seem neither to wish nor to
care about the restoration of the Bourbons; but they talk loudly of the
necessity of tearing Alsace and Lorraine from France. In fact, they wish to
put it out of the power of the French ever to invade Germany again; a thing
however little to be hoped for. For the minor and weaker Germanic states
have always hitherto (and will probably again at some future day) invoked
the assistance of France against the greater and stronger. I observe that
the Austrian Government is not at all popular here, and that its bad faith
in financial matters is so notorious and has been so severely felt here,
that a merchant told me, alluding to the bankruptcy of the Austrian
Government on two occasions when there was no absolute necessity for the
measure, that Frankfort had suffered more from the bad faith of the
Austrian Government than from all the war contributions levied by the
French.
BRUXELLES, 28th July.
On arrival at Coblentz we heard that Napoleon had surrendered himself
unconditionally to Capt. Maitland of the Bellerophon. He never should
have humiliated himself so far as to surrender himself to the British
ministry. He owed to himself, to his brave fellow soldiers, to the French
nation whose Sovereign he had been, not to take such a step, but rather die
in the field like our Richard III, a glorious death which cast a lustre
around his memory in spite of the darker shades of his character; or if he
could not fall in the field, he should have died like Hannibal, rather than
commit himself into the hands of a government in which generosity is by no
means a distinguishing feature, and which on many occasions has shown a
petty persecuting and vindictive spirit, and thus I have no hesitation in
portraying the characteristics of our Tory party, which, unfortunately for
the cause of liberty, rules with undivided sway over England. He will now
end his days in captivity, for his destination appears to be already fixed,
and St Helena is named as the intended residence; he will, I say, be
exposed to all the taunts and persecutions that petty malice can suggest;
and this with the most uncomfortable reflections: for had he been more
considerate of the spirit of the age, he might have set all the Monarchs,
Ultras and Oligarchs and their ministers at defiance. But he wished to ape
Charlemagne and the Caesars and to establish an universal Empire: a thing
totally impossible in our days and much to be deprecated were it possible.
Consigned to St Helena, Napoleon will furnish to posterity a proverb like
that of Dionysius at Corinth. This banishment to St Helena will be very
ungenerous and unjust on the part of the English Government, but I suppose
their satellites and adherents will term it an act of clemency, and some
Church and Kingmen would no doubt recommend hewing him in pieces, as
Samuel did to Agag.
I stopped three days at Aix-la-Chapelle to drink the waters and then came
straight to this place stopping half a day in Liege. I shall start for
Paris in a couple of days, as the communication is now open and the public
conveyances re-established. My passport is vise in the following terms:
"Bon pour aller a Paris en suivant la route des armees alliees." I am quite
impatient to visit that celebrated city.
[18] Philipp Klingmann (1762-1824) was better known as an actor than as an
author. - ED.
[19] Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, VII, 12, 1. - ED.
[20] "What business have you? None, I travel for amusement. Strange! What
is there strange in travelling to see a fine country?"
[21] Le Compere Mathieu, a satirical novel by the Abbe Henri Joseph
Dulaurens, published 1765 and sometimes (though wrongly) attributed to
Voltaire. One of the prominent talkers in the dialogues is Pere Jean
de Domfront. - ED.
[22] Horace, Epist., I, i, 15. - ED.
[23] This altar, inscribed Deae Victoriae Sacrum (Corpus inscr. lat.
XIII, 8252), was erected by the Roman fleet on the Rhine at the place
now called Altsburg near Cologne and, after its discovery, taken to
Bonn, where it was set up on the Remigius-Platz (now called
Roemer-Platz) on Dec, 3, 1809. It is now in the Provincial
Museum. - ED.
[24] Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, vi, 20, 3. - ED.
[25] August Lafontaine (1758-1831), born in Brunswick of a family of French
protestants, was the very prolific and now quite forgotten author of
many novels and novelettes. - ED.
[26] From Ernst Moritz Arndt's (1779-1860) celebrated poem, Des Deutschen
Vaterland. - ED.
[27] There seems to be much truth in this opinion, though the question of
the intrigues of Louis XVIII with Robespierre is still shrouded in
obscurity. Some pages of General Thiebault's memoirs might have
cleared it up, but they have been torn out from the manuscript
(Memoires du General Baron Thiebault, vol. I, p. 273). Louis XVIII
paid a pension to Robespierre's sister, Charlotte. - ED.
[28] Sir Charles Stewart, created Lord Stewart In 1814; he was a
half-brother of Lord Castlereagh. - ED.
[29] The same story is given, with slight differences, by Lafayette himself
(Memoires, vol. V, p. 472-3; Paris and Leipzig, 1838). See also
Souvenirs historiques et parlementaires du Comte de Pontecoulant,
vol. III, p. 428 (Paris, 1863). Major Frye's narrative is by far the
oldest and seems the most trustworthy.
