And
ecclesiastical tyranny." And later on he inveighs against the English
merchants, who "contributed with their gold to uphold the corrupt system of
Pitt and to carry on unjust, unreasonable and liberticide wars."
Whatever may be the final judgement of history on the Tory principles in
politics in the days of the Congress of Vienna, Major Frye's love of
liberty and intellectual progress entitle him to the sympathy of those who
share his generous feelings and do not consider that personal freedom and
individual rights are articles for home use only. Since Frye wrote, the
whole of Europe, excepting perhaps Russia, has reaped the benefits of the
French Revolution, and reduced, if not suppressed, what the Major called
"kingcraft and priestcraft." He did not attempt to divine the future, but
the history of Europe in the nineteenth century has been largely in
accordance with his desires and hopes. It is not a small merit for a
writer, in the midst of one of the most rabid reactions that the world has
known, to have clung with such tenacity to ideals, the complete victory of
which may now be contemplated in the near future.
S.R.
CONTENTS
PART I.
CHAPTER I
MAY-JUNE, 1815
Passage from Ceylon to England - Napoleon's return - Ostend - Bruges
- Ghent - The King of France at Mass - Alost - Bruxelles - The Duke of
Wellington very confident - Feelings of the Belgians - Good conduct of
British troops - Monuments in Bruxelles - Theatricals - Genappe and
Namur - Complaints against the Prussian troops - Mons - Major-General
Adam - Tournay - A French deserter - General Clinton's division - Cavalry
review - The Duke de Berri - Back to Bruxelles - Unjust opinions about
Napoleon and the French - Battle at Ligny - The day of Waterloo in
Bruxelles - Visit to the battlefield - Terrible condition of the
wounded - Kindness of the Bruxellois.
CHAPTER II
From Bruxelles to Liege - A priest's declamation against the French
Revolution - Maastricht - Aix-la-Chapelle - Imperial relics - Napoleon
regretted - Klingmann's "Faust" - A Tyrolese beauty - Cologne - Difficulties
about a passport - The Cathedral - King-craft and priest-craft - The
Rhine - Bonn and Godesberg - Goethe's "Goetz von Berlichingen" - The Seven
Mountains - German women - Andernach - Ehrenbreitstein - German hatred against
France - Coblentz - Intrigues of the Bourbon princes in Coblentz - Mayence -
Bieberich - Conduct of the Allies towards Napoleon - Frankfort on the
Mayn - An anecdote about Lord Stewart and Lafayette - German poetry - The
question of Alsace and Lorraine - Return to Bruxelles - Napoleon's surrender.
CHAPTER III
From Bruxelles to Paris - Restoration of Louis XVIII - The officers of the
allied armies - The Palais Royal - The Louvre - Protest of the author against
the proposed despoiling of the French Museums - Unjust strictures against
Napoleon's military policy - The cant about revolutionary robberies - The
Grand Opera - Monuments in Paris - The Champs Elysees - Saint-Cloud - The
Hotel des Invalides - The Luxembourg - General Labedoyere - Priests and
emigrants - Prussian Plunder - Handsome behaviour of the English
officers - Reminiscences of Eton - Versailles.
