The Koenigstrasse Is The Principal Street And A Very Fine One It Is; Next
To It In Point Of Beauty Is The Franzoesische Strasse.
The Wilhelm
Platz is adorned with the statues in marble of Schwerin, Seidlitz, Keith,
Winterfeld, and Ziethen.
But I cannot enumerate all the splendid public
establishments and fine things to be seen in this beautiful city. The most
striking church is that of St Hedwig. I call it the most striking from its
resemblance to the Pantheon at Rome. The Cathedral is perhaps a finer
building. 'Tis in this last that the Electoral and Royal remains are
deposited.
The streets 'here swarm with military, and indeed the profession of arms
seems to have too much sway in the Prussian dominions. The subalterns and
young men of the Prussian Army are said to have republican sentiments, and
they, in common with all the burghers, desire a constitution. It galls them
to see one enjoyed by the Bavarians, whom they affect to look upon as
inferior to them in intelligence, and that it should be refused to them.
Most of the nobility and the greater part of the General and field officers
are however inveterate aristocrats.
You have heard, I dare say, of the attempt made by some officers among the
nobility to exclude from the service, after the peace, those officers who
were not noble. When it is considered that their best and most zealous
officers sprung from the burghers, and that Prussia, when abandoned by her
King and nobles, was saved from permanent subjection only by the
unparalleled exertions of her burghers and peasantry, one is shocked at
such ingratitude and absurdity. But the officers of the Royal Guard went so
far as to draw up a petition to the King, requesting him to dismiss all the
officers of the corps who were not noble, and Blucher was applied to to
present this petition to the King. Blucher read the paper and ordered all
the officers to assemble on the parade and thus addressed them: "Gentlemen,
I have received your paper and read its contents with the utmost
astonishment. All the remarks that I shall permit myself to make on the
subject of this petition, are, that it makes me ashamed of being myself a
noble." He then tore the petition in pieces and dismissed them.
I have been once at the theatre. Lodoiska was performed. I saw a number
of fine women in the boxes. Formerly gallantry and pleasure were the order
of the day at Berlin; but now, the Court assuming the exterior of rigid
morality and strictly exercised religious devotion, mystic cant and
dullness is the order of the day. The death of the Queen of Prussia threw a
great damp over the amusements of the Court. At Charlottenburg, which is a
short distance from Berlin, in the grounds there, they point out to you her
favourite spots. She was a most amiable Princess, and united to great
personal beauty so much grace and fascination and so many good qualities
that she was beloved by all, and the breath of calumny never ventured to
assail her.
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