We Met On The Road Several Prussian Waggons And
Reinforcements On Their March To Bruxelles.
Two of my fellow travellers in
the diligence were very intelligent young men belonging to respectable
families in Cologne and were returning thither; they likewise complained
much of the overbearing demeanour of the Prussian military towards the
burghers.
Cologne is a large, but very dull looking city, as dull as Liege; it would
seem as if all towns and cities under ecclesiastical domination were dull
or rendered so by the prohibition of the most innocent amusements. The
fortifications are out of repair; but the Prussian Government intend to
make Cologne a place of great strength. The name of the village on the
opposite of the river is Deutz, and in the time of the French occupation
there was a tete-de-pont. The next morning I was obliged to appear before
the police, and afterwards before the Commandant de la Place, in order to
have my passport examined and vise. At the bureau of the police it was
remarked to me that my passport was not en regle, the features of the
bearer not being therein specified. I replied that it was not my fault;
that it was given to me in that shape by the English Consul at Bruxelles
and that it was not my province to give to the Consul any directions as to
its form and tenor. The Commissary of Police then asked me what business I
was about in travelling, and the following conversation took place: "Was
haben Sie fuer Geschaefte?" - "Keine; ich reise nur um Vergnuegen's Willen." - "
Sonderbar!" - "Worin liegt das Sonderbare, dass man reist um ein schoenes
Land zu sehen?"[20] - He made no answer to this, but one of his coadjutors
standing by him said in a loud whisper, "Ein Herumreiser," which means an
adventurer or person who travels about for no good, - in a word, a
suspicious character. I then said with the utmost calm and indifference:
"Gentlemen, as soon as you shall have finished all your commentaries on the
subject of my passport, pray be so good as to inform me what I am to do,
whether I may go on to Mayence and Frankfort as is my intention, or return
to Bruxelles." The Commissary, after a slight hesitation, signed the visa
and I then carried it to the bureau of the Commandant, whose secretary
signed it without hesitation, merely asking me if I were a military man.
In the afternoon I went to visit the Dome or Cathedral. It is a fine
specimen of Gothic architecture, but singular enough the steeple is not yet
finished. In this Cathedral the most remarkable thing is the Chapel of the
Three Kings, wherein is deposited a massy gold chest inlaid with precious
stones of all sorts and of great value, containing the bones of the
identical three Kings (it is said) who came from the East to worship the
infant Jesus at Bethlehem. The Scriptures say it was three wise men or
Magi.
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