I
Never Recollect Having Witnessed A Theatrical Piece Which Afforded Me
Greater Amusement.
NAMUR, May 12.
We left Brussels yesterday afternoon, and having obtained passports to
visit the military posts we went to Genappe, a small village half-way
between Bruxelles and Namur, where we brought to for the night at a small
but comfortable inn called Le Roi d'Espagne. Two battalions of the
regiment Nassau-Usingen are quartered in Genappe. We arrived at Namur this
morning at nine o'clock and put up at the Hotel d'Arenberg. On the road
we stopped at a peasant's house to drink coffee; and we were entertained by
our hostess with complaints against the Prussians, who commit, as she said,
all sorts of exactions on the peasantry on whom they are quartered. Not
content with exacting three meals a day, when they were only entitled to
two, and for which they are bound to give their rations, they sell these,
and appropriate the money to their own use; then the demand for brandy and
schnapps is increasing. But what can be expected from an army whose
leader encourages them in all their excesses? Blucher by all accounts is a
vandal and is actuated by a most vindictive spirit. The Prussians reproach
the Belgians with being in the French interest; how can they expect it to
be otherwise? They have prospered under French domination, and certainly
the conduct of the Prussians is not calculated to inspire them with any
love towards themselves nor veneration for the Sovereign who has such
all-devouring allies. I asked this woman why she did not complain to the
officers. She answered! "Helas, Monsieur, c'est inutile; on donne toujours
la meme reponse: 'Nichts verstehn,'" for it appears when these complaints
are made the Prussian officers pretend not to understand French.
Namur is now the head-quarters of Marshal Blucher, who is in the enjoyment
of divers noms de guerre, such as "Marshall Vorwaerts," "Der alte Teufel."
On the high road, about two miles and a half before we reached Namur, we
met with a party of Prussian lancers, who were returning from a foraging
excursion. They were singing some warlike song or hymn, which was
singularly impressive. It brought to my recollection the description of the
Rhenish bands in the Lay of the Last Minstrel:
Who as they move, in rugged verse
Songs of Teutonic feuds rehearse.
The Prussian cavalry seem to be composed of fine-looking young men, and I
admire the genuine military simplicity of their dress, to which might be
most aptly applied the words of Xenophon when describing the costume of the
younger Cyrus: [Greek: En tae Persikae stolae ouden ti hubrsmenae][7] in
substituting merely the word [Greek: Prussikae] for [Greek: Persikae].
One sees in it none of those absurd ornaments and meretricious foppery
which give to our cavalry officers the appearance of Astley's men.[8]
The situation of Namur is exceedingly picturesque, particularly when viewed
from the heights which tower above the town, whereon stood the citadel
which was demolished by order of Joseph II, as were the fortifications of
all the frontier fortresses. The present Belgian Government however mean to
reconstruct them, and Namur in particular, the citadel of which, from the
natural strength of its position, is too important a post to be neglected.
The town itself is situated on the confluent of the Sambre and Meuse and
lies in a valley completely commanded and protected by the citadel. The
churches are splendid, and there is an appearance of opulence in the shops.
The inhabitants, from its being a frontier town, are of course much alarmed
at the approaching contest, for they will probably suffer from both
parties. We heard at the inn and in the shops which we visited the same
complaints against the Prussians. The country in the environs of this place
is exceedingly diversified, and it presents the first mountain scenery we
have yet met with. The banks of the Meuse hereabouts present either an
abrupt precipice or coteaux covered with vines gently sloping to the
water's edge. Namur is distant thirty-four miles from Brussels, and there
is water conveyance on the Meuse from here to Liege and Maastricht.
MONS, May 14.
We started yesterday morning at four o'clock from Namur. The whole road
between Namur and Mons presents a fine, rich open country abounding in
wheat, but not many trees. We stopped to breakfast at Fleurus, at an inn
where there were some Prussian officers. One of them, a lieutenant in the
2nd West Prussian Regiment, had the kindness to conduct us to see the field
of battle where the French under Jourdan defeated the Austrians in 1794. It
is at a very short distance from the town; he explained the position of the
two armies in a manner perfectly clear and satisfactory to us. The Prussian
officers all seem very eager for the commencement of hostilities, and their
only fear is now that all these mighty preparations will end in nothing;
viz., either that the French people, alarmed at the magnitude of the
preparations against them, will compel the Emperor Napoleon to abdicate, or
that the Allies will grow cool and, under the influence of Austria, bring
about a negotiation which may end in a recognition of the Imperial title
and dynasty. They would compound for a defeat at first, provided the war
were likely to be prolonged. In the meantime, reinforcements continue to
arrive daily for their army. We hear but little news of the intentions or
movements of the other Allies; it being forbidden to enter into political
discussions, it is difficult to ascertain the true state of affairs.
We continued our journey through Charleroy and Binch to this place. At a
small village between Binch and Mons we were stopped by a sentinel at a
Prussian outpost and our passports demanded. Neither the sentinel, however,
nor the sergeant, nor any of the soldiers present, could read or understand
French, in which language the passport was drawn up; but the sergeant told
me that the officers were in a house about a quarter of a mile distant and
that he would conduct me thither, but that he himself could not presume to
let us pass, from not knowing the tenor of our passport.
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