Mountain And Valley,
Winter And Summer, On The Same Territory.
Descending, the city of Geneva
opens gradually; you behold the lake Leman and the Rhone issuing from it.
We entered the city, which is fortified, and after crossing the double
bridge across the Rhone, we arrived at the Hotel de l'Eau de Geneve at 12
o'clock.
The most striking thing in the city of Geneva to the traveller's
eye as he enters it, is the view of the arcades on each side of the street,
excellent for pedestrians and for protection against sun and rain, but
which give a heavy and gloomy appearance to the city. An immense number of
watch-makers is another distinguishing feature in this city. The first
thing shewn to me by my valet de place was the house where Jean Jacques
Rousseau was born; I then desired him to shew me the spot where that
barbarian Calvin caused to be burnt the unhappy Servetus for not having the
same religious opinions as himself.
The most agreeable promenades of the city are on the bastions and ramparts,
a place called La Treille and a garden or park of small extent called
Plain Palais. In this park stands on a column the bust of J.J. Rousseau.
This park was the scene of a great deal of bloodshed in 1791 on account of
political disputes between the aristocratic and democratic parties, or
rather between the admirers and imitators of the French Revolution and
those who dreaded such innovations. This affair excited so much horror, and
the recollection of it operated so powerfully on the imagination of the
inhabitants, that the place became entirely abandoned as a public
promenade, and avoided as a polluted spot for many years. Very likely
however a sort of lustration has taken place; an oration was pronounced and
the place again declared worthy of contributing to the recreation of the
inhabitants. It is now become the favourite promenade of the citizens of
Geneva, tho' there are still some who cannot get over their old prejudices
and never set their foot in it. There is likewise a pleasant walk as far as
the town of Carrouge in Savoy, which town has been lately ceded by the King
of Sardinia to the republic of Geneva. In Geneva the sentiments of the
inhabitants do not seem to be favourable either to the French Revolution,
or to Napoleon. Their political ideas accord very much with those professed
by the government party in England, and they make a great parade of them
just now, as a means of courting the favour of England and of the Allied
Sovereigns. The government here have shewn a great disposition to second
the views of the Allied Powers in persecuting those Frenchmen who have been
proscribed by the Bourbon government.
This state lost its independence during the revolutionary wars and was
incorporated with France. As the citizens were suspected of being more
favourable to the English than suited the policy of the French government
of that time, they were viewed with a jealous eye and I believe some
individuals were harshly treated; but what most vexed and displeased them
was the enforcement of the conscription among them, for the Genevois do not
like compulsion; they are besides more pacific than war-like and tho' like
the Dutch they have displayed great valour where their interest is at
stake, yet Mercury is a deity far more in veneration among them than
Bellona. The natural talent of this people is great, and it has been
favoured and developed by the freedom of their institutions; and this
republic has produced too many eminent men for that talent to be called in
question; they seem to have decided talents and dispositions for financial
operations. A Genevois has the aptitude of great application united to a
very discerning, natural genius, and he generally succeeds in everything he
undertakes. Literature is much cultivated here, and the females, who are
in general handsome and graceful, excel not only in the various feminine
accomplishments, such as music, dancing and drawing, but they carry their
researches into the higher branches of litterature and science and acquire
with great facility foreign languages. It is true that you now and then
meet with a little pedantry on the part of the young men and some of the
young women are tant soit feu precieuses; and you may guess from their
conversation, which is sometimes forced, that the person who speaks has
been learning his discourse by heart from some book in the morning, with
the intention of sporting it as a natural conversation in the evening. In
short, one does not meet with that abandon in society that is to be met
with in Paris; you must measure your words well to shine in a Genevese
society. This, however, is a very pardonable sort of coxcombry; and tho' it
appear sometimes pedantic, and occasionally laughable, yet it tends to
encourage learning and science, and compels the young men to read in order
to shine and captivate the fair.
The Genevese women make excellent wives and mothers; and many strangers,
struck with their beauty and talent, as well as with the agremens of the
country in general, marry at Geneva and settle themselves there for life.
It is observed that the Genevoises are so attached to their country that on
forming a matrimonial connection with foreigners, they always stipulate
that they shall not be removed from it. On the dismemberment of the Empire
of Napoleon, Geneva was agrege to the Helvetic Confederation, as an
independent Canton of which there are now twenty-two. Three, viz. Geneva,
Vaud, and Neufchatel, are French in language and manners. One, the Tessino,
is Italian, and the remaining eighteen are all German. It is a great
advantage to Geneva to belong to the Helvetic Confederacy, as formerly,
when she was an isolated independent state, she was in continual dread of
being swallowed up by one or other of her two powerful neighbours, France
and the King of Sardinia, and only existed by their forbearance and mutual
jealousy.
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