SKETCHES

SWITZERLAND

BY AN AMERICAN.

PART SECOND.

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.

PHILADELPHIA:
CAREY, LEA & BLANCHARD.
1836.

Entered according to the Act of CongresB, in the year 1836, by
Caret, Lea & Blanchaad, in the Clerk's Office of tbe Eastern
District of Pennsylvaiua.

SWITZERLAND

18 3 2.

LETTER XIII.
Deak  ,
Within an hour after vve left the Ritterstein, we
were crossing- the bridge that leads into Bingen.
Like true flaneurs, we had not decided where to
sleep, and, unlike flaneurs, we now began to look
wistfully towards the other side of the Rhine, into the
Duchy of Nassau. There was no bridge, but then
there might be a ferry. Beekoningto the post-master,
who came to the side of the carriage, I put the ques
tion. " Certainly, as good a ferry as there is in
Germany." "And can we cross with your horses?"
" Ja — ja — we do it often." The afiair was arranged
in a minute. The leaders were led back to the
stable, and with two horses we drove down to the
water-side. A skiff was in readiness, and spreading
a sprit-sail, we were in the middle of the stream be
fore there was time for thought. In ten minutes we
landed in the celebrated Rheingaa, and at the foot

SWITZERLAND,

of a hill that was teeming with the vines of Rudes
heim. "Charlemagne observing, from the window
of his palace at Ingelheim," says an old legend,
" that the snow disappeared from the bluff above
Rudesheim, earlier than from any of the neighbouring
hills, caused the same to be planted with vines."
What has become of Charlemagne and his descend
ants, no one knows ; but here are the progeny of his
vines to the present hour.
Frangois followed us, in a few minutes, with the
carriage and horses, and we were soon comfortably
housed in an inn, in the village of Rudesheim. Here
then, we were, in the heart of the richest wine region
in Europe, perhaps in the world. I looked curiously
at mine host, to see what effect this fact might have
had on him, but he did not appear to have abused
the advantage. He told me there had just been a
sale, at which I should have been most welcome,
complained that much sour liquor was palmeti
off on the incredulous as being the pure beverage,
and said that others might prefer Johannisberger,
but for his part, good hinter hausen* was good
enough for him. "Would I try a bottle?" The
proposition was not to be declined, and with my din
ner, I did try a bottle of his oldest and best, and
henceforth, I declare myself a convert to Rudes-
heimer hinter hausen. One cannot drink a gal
lon of it with impunity, as is the case with some of
the French wines, but I feel persuaded it is the very
» Behind th^ houses.- so termed, from the vines standing on
lower land than the hill, behind the viUage.

SWITZERLAND. 5
article for our market, to use the vernacular, of a
true Manhattanese. It has body to bear the voyage>
without being the fiery compound that we drink
under the names of Madeira and Sherry. It is a
singular fact, that in none but wine growing coun
tries are the true uses of the precious gift understood.
In them, wine is not a luxury, but a necessary; its
use is not often abused, and its beneficial effect can
scarcely be appreciated without being witnessed. I
do not mean that there is no drunkenness in these
countries, for there is probably as much of the vice
in France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, as
there is with us; but they who drink hard ge
nerally drink some of the vile compounds which
exist everywhere under the names of brandy,
agua diente, or something else. I was one day
crossing the bay of Naples, in my hired craft, la
Divina Providenza, rowed by a crew of twenty-
one men, who cost me just the price of a carriage
and horses for the same time, when the padrone,
who had then been boating about with us several
weeks, began to be inquisitive concerning America,
and our manner of living; more especially among
the labouring classes. The answers produced a
strong sensation in the boat, and when they heard
that labourers received a ducat a-day for their toil,
half of the honest fellows declared themselves ready
to emigrate. " Et, il vino, Signore; quale hil
prezzo del vino?" demanded i\\& padrone. I told
him wine was a luxury with us, and beyond the
reach of the labourer. The general siieer that fol*

SWITZERLAND.

lowed immediately satisfied me that no emigrants
would go from la Divina Providenza.
It is scarcely necessary to tell one of your habits
that the wines we call Hock, are Rhenish, and that
each properly bears the name of its own vintage.
This rule prevails every where, the names of Claret,
Burgundy and Sherry, being unknown in France
and Spain. It is true the French have their Bur
gundy wines, and the Spaniards their Xeres wines,
but vin de Bourgogne includes liquors of different
colours and very difierent qualities. Tbe same is
true of other places. What we call Claret the French
term Bourdeaux wines, though Clairet is an old
French word,^ still occasionally used, signifying a
thin weak potation.
The Rheingau, or the part of Nassau in which we
now are, produces the best wines of the Rhine.
The principal vineyards are those of Johannisberg,
Hochheim, (whence the name of Hock,) Geissen-
heim, Steinberg, and Rudesheim. Johannisberg is
now the property of Prince Metternich ; Geissen-
heim belongs to the Count of Ingelheim, and Hoch
heim and Rudesheim are villages, the vines having
different proprietors. I do not know the situation
of Steinberg. The best wine of Johannisberg has
the highest reputation ; that of Geissenheim is also
delicious, and is fast growing in value ; Hochheimer
Dom. (or houses growing near the village,) is also in
great request, and oflhe hinter hausen of Rudesheim
you have already heard. Dr. Somerville once told
me he had analyzed the pure Johannisberger, and that

SWITZERLAND. 7
it contained less acidity than any other wine he knew.
The Steinberger is coming into favour; it is the
highest flavoured of all the German wines, its per
fume or bouquet, being really too strong.
Rudesheim was a Roman station, and it is proba
ble its wines date from their government. There is
still a considerable ruin, belonging I believe to the
Count of Ingelheim, that is supposed to have been
built bjr the Romans, and which has been partially
fitted up by its proprietor, as a place of retreat, dur
ing the vintage. This is truly a classical villiaga-
tura. It was curious to examine these remains,
which are extensive, so soon after going over the
feudal castle, and it must be confessed that the sons
of the south maintain their long established superi
ority here, as elsewhere. Ingelheim, where Charle
magne had a palace, and where some pretend he was
born, is in plain view on the other side of the river,
but no traces of the palace are visible from this spot.
Such is the difference between the false and the true
Roman! There is also a ruin, a small high circular
tower, that is connected with our Inn, forming even
« one of our own rooms, and which is very ancient,
quite probably as ancient as the reign of the great
Frank. We left Rudesheim after breakfast, driving quite
near to the hill of Geissenheim, and quitting the
main Yoad, for the purpose of visiting Johannisberg,
which lies back a mile from the great route. We
wound our way around the hill, which on three sides
is shaped like a cone, and on the other is an irregu-

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Iar ridge, and approached the house by the rear. If
you happen to have a bottle of the wine of this vine
yard (real or reputed, for in this respect the false
Simon Pure is quite as likely to be true as the real,)
you will find a sufficiently good resemblance of this
building on its label.
I can give you no other reason why this wine was
formerly so little known, while that of Hochheim
had so great a reputation, than the fact that the moun
tain, house and vines were all the property of a re
ligious community, previously to the French revo
lution, and that the monks probably chose to drink
their own liquors. In this particular they were un
like the people of Brie, for walking one day with
Lafayette, over his estate at la Grange, I expressed
surprise at seeing some labourers making wine.
" Oh, yes, my dear friend," returned the General,
" we do make wine here, but then we take very
good care not to drink it." The monks of Johan
nisberg, most likely both made wine and drunk it
Johannisberg has changed owners several times.
Shortly after our return from the journey on the
Rhine of last year, chance placed meat Paris, at table
between the cAar^ec^'o^azVe* of Nassau, and the Due
de Valmy. The former observed that I had lately
been in Nassau, and inquired how I liked the coun
try. Under such circumstances one would wish to
praise, and, as I could honestly do so, I expressed
my admiration of what I had seen. Among other
things, I spoke of its rich vineyards, and, as a mat
ter of course began to extol that of Johannisberg,

SWITZERLAND. 9
The more I praised the graver the diplomate look
ed, until thinking I had not come up to his own
feelings, I began to be warmer still in my expres
sions. A touch under the table silenced me. The
charge soon after gave me to understand that Johan
nisberg produced only sour grapes for my neighbour,
as Napoleon had given the estate to the first Duke,
and the allies had taken it away from his son. This
was not the first time I have had occasion to see the
necessity of being guarded how one speaks, lest he
offend some political sensibility or other, in this
quarter of the world.
The present owner of Johannisberg has fitted up
the house, which is quite spacious, very handsomely,
though without gorgeousness, and there is really
a suite of spacious and commodious rooms. I saw
ievf or no signs of the monastery about the building.
The vines grow all around the conical part of the
hill, quite up to the windows. The best wine is
made from those near the house, on the south-eastern
exposure. The view was beautiful and very exten
sive, and all that the place wants to make it a desira
ble residence is shade, an advantage, however, that
cannot be enjoyed on the same spot, in common with
good wine. The nakedness of the ground impaired
the effect of the dwelling. The owner is seldom
here, as is apparent by the furniture, which, though
fresh and suitable, does not extend to the thousand
little elegancies that accumulate in a regular abode.
The books say that this celebrated vineyard con-
VOL. IL 2

10 SWITZERLAND.
tains sixty-three acres, and this is near the extent I
should give it, from the eye. The produce is stated
at twenty-five hogsheads, of thirteen hundred bottles
each. Some of the wines of the best vintages sell as
high as four and even five dollars a bottle. I ob
served that the soil was mixed with stone much de
composed, of a shelly appearance, and whitish co
lour. The land would be pronounced unsuited to
ordinary agriculture, -I suspect, by a majority of
farmers. I bought a bottle of wine from a servant who pro
fessed to have permission to sell it. The price was
two florins and a half, or a dollar, and the quality
greatly inferior to the bottle that, for the same mo
ney, issued from the cellar of the host at Rudesheim.
It is probable the whole thing was a deception,
though the inferior wines of Johannisberg are no
better than a vast deal of the other common wine of
the neighbourhood.
From Johannisberg we descended to the plain and
took the road to Biberich. This is a small town on
the banks of the Rhine, and is the residence of the
duke. Nassau figures in the tables of the Germanic
confederation as the fourteenth state, having three
hundred and thirty-eight thousand inhabitants, and
furnishing three thousand troops as its contingent.
The population is probably a little greater. The
reigning family is of the ancient line of Nassau, from
a junior branch of which I believe the king of Hol
land is derived; the duchess is a princess of Wur-

SWITZERLAND. 11
temberg, and a sister of the grand duchess Helena,
of whom 1 have already spoken so often. This little
state is one of the fabricated sovereignties of 1814,
being composed of divers fragments, besides the an
cient possessions of the family. In short, it would
seem to be intended for the government and better
management of a few capital vineyards.
Nassau has been much agitated of late with libe
ral opinions, though the government is already what
it is the fashion to term representative, on this side
of the Atlantic. It is the old theory, that small
states can better support a popular form of govern
ment than a large state. This is a theory in which I
have no faith, and one, in my opinion, that has been
fabricated to suit the accidental situation of Europe.
The danger of popular governments are popular ex
cesses, such as those truculent errors that men fall into
by a misconception of truth, misstatements, igno
rance of their interests, and the sort of village-like
gossip which causes every man to think he is a judge
of character, when he is not even a judge of facts.
The abuses of absolutism are straightforward, dog
ged tyranny, in which the rights of the mass are sa
crificed to the interests and policy of a prince and his
favourites. Now, in a large country, popular excesses
in one part are checked and repressed by the power
and interests of the other parts. It is not an easy*
matter to make a popular error, that leads to popular
excesses,extend simultaneously over a very extended
surface; and they who are tranquil control, and finally

12 SWITZERLAND.
influence, those who are excited. In a small state,
absolutism is held under the checksof neighbourhood
and familiarity. Men disregard accidents and crime
in a capital, while they reason on them and act on
them in the country. Just so will the sovereign of
a small state feel and submit to the authority of an
active public opinion. If I must have liberty, let
it come in large draughts like learning, and form an
atmosphere of its own ; and if I must be the subject
of despotic power. Heaven send that my sovereign
be a small prince. The latter is on the supposition
that 1-am an honest man, for he who would rise by
servility and a sacrifice of his principles, had better
at once choose the greatest monarch he can find for
a master. Small states are usually an evil in them
selves, but I think they are least so when the autho
rity is absolute. The people of Nassau had better
be moderate in their progress, while they of France
should press on to their purjKise; and yet the people
of Nassau will probably be the most urgent, simply
because the power with which they have to contend
is so feeble, for men rarely take the "just medium,"
though they are always talking about it.
We entered the palace at Biberich, which, without
being larger than usual, is an edifice well worth
viewing. We could not but compare this abode
with the President's house, and certainly, so far as
taste and elegance are concerned, the comparison is
entirely to the disadvantage of us Americans. It is
easy to write unmeaning anathemas against prodigal

SWITZERLAND. 13
expenditures, and extorting the hard earnings of the
poor, on such occasions, but I do not know that the
castle of Biberich was erected by any means so foul.
The general denunciation of every thing that does
not happen to enter into our own system, has no
more connexion with true republicanism than cant
has to do with religion. Abuses of this nature have
existed beyond dispute, and the public money, even
among ourselves, is not always honestly or prudent
ly expended; but these are the errors inseparable
¦from human nature, and it is silly to quarrel with all
the blandishments of life until we can find faultless
substitutes. The simple fact that a nation like our
own has suffered an entire generation to go by with
its chief magistrate living in a house surrounded by
grounds almost as naked as a cornfield, while it
proves nothing in favour of ils economy, goes to
show either that vve want the taste and habits neces
sary to appreciate the privation, (as is probably the
case,) or the generosity to do a liberal act, since it is
notorious that we possess the means.
The gardens of Biberich are extensive and beauti
ful. We are proofs ourselves that they are not re
served, in a niggardly spirit, for the exclusive uses
of a few, nor in truth are those of any other prince
in Europe where we have been. The interior of
the house is much ornamented by a very peculiar
marble that is found in the duchy, and which
produces a good effect. A circular hall in the
centre of the building, which is surmounted by a
2 *

14 SWITZERLAND.
dome that is rather striking, from having a colon
nade of this material.
The family was here, and the preparations were
making for dinner in one of the rooms; the whole
style of the domestic economy being that of a noble
man of liberal means. The house was very quiet
and we saw but few menials, though we met two of
the children, accompanied by a governess, in the
grounds. Biberich and the castle, or palace, stand immedi
ately on the banks of the river, which, between
Bingen and Mayence, is straggling and well covered
with islands, having an entire breadth of near half a
mile. The effect, when seen from the neighbouring
heights, -is not unlike that of a lake.
From Biberich we diverged directly into the inte
rior of the Rheingau, taking the road to Wiesbaden,
which is a watering place of some note, and the seat
of government of the duchy. We reached it early,
for it is no great matter to pass from the frontiers of
one of these small states into its centre, ordered din
ner, and went out to see the lions. Wiesbaden has
little to recommend it by nature, its waters except
ed. It stands in a funnel rather than a valley, and
it is said to be excessively hot in summer, though a
pleasant winter residence. I do not remember a
place that so triumphantly proves how much may
be made out of a little, as the public promenade of
Wiesbaden. The springs are nearly, or perhaps
quite a mile from the town, the intervening land

SWITZERLAND. 15
being a gentle inclination. From the springs a rivu
let, scarce large enough to turn a village mill, winds
its way down to the town. The banks of this little
stream have been planted, artificial obstructions and
cascades formed, paths cut, bridges thrown across
the rivulet, rocks piled, &c., and, by these simple
means, one walks a mile in a belt of wood a few rods
wide, and may fancy himself in a park of two thou
sand acres. Ten years would suffice to bring such
a promenade to perfection, and yet nothing like it
exists in all America! One can surely smoke cigars,
drink Congress water, discuss party politics and fancy
himself a statesman, whittle, clean his nails in com
pany and never out of it, swear things are good
enoughforbim without having known any other state
society, squander dollars on discomfort and refuse
cents to elegance and convenience, because he knows
no better, and call the obliquity of taste patriotism,
without enjoying a walk in a wood by the side of a
murmuring rill! He may, beyond dispute, if such
is his sovereign pleasure, do all this, and so may an
Esquimaux maintain that whale's blubber is prefera
ble to beef-steaks. I wonder that these dogged and
philosophical patriots do not go back to warlocks,
scalps and paint!
The town of Wiesbaden, like all German towns of
any consequence I have ever been in, Cologne ex
cepted, is neat and clean. It is also well-built, and
evidently improving. You may have heard a good
deal of the boulevards and similar places of resort,

16 SWITZERLAND.
in the vicinity of French towns, but as a whole, they
are tasteless and barren-looking spots. Even the
Champs Elysees, at Paris, have little beauty of
themselves, for landscape gardening is but just in
troduced into France, whereas, to me, it would seem
that the Germans make more use of it, in and near
their towns, than the English.
We left Wiesbaden next morning, after enjoying
its baths, and went slowly up to Frankfort on the
Maine, a distance of about twenty miles. Here we
took up our old quarters at the White Swan, a
house of a second rale reputation, but of first rate
civility, into which chance first threw me; and, as
usual, we got a capital dinner and good wine. The
inn-keeper, in honour of Germany, caused a dish,
that he said was national and of great repute, to be
served to us pilgrims. It was what the French call
2. jardiniere, or a partridge garnished with cabbage,
carrots, turnips, &c. &c.
I seized the opportunity to put myself au cou-
rant of the affairs of the world, by going to one
of the reading-rooms, that are to be found all over
Germany, under the names of Redoutes, Casinos,
or something of that sort. Pipes appear to be pro
scribed in the casino of Frankfort, which is alto
gether a genteel and respectable establishment. As
usual, a stranger must be introduced. .

SWITZERLAND. 17

LETTER XIV.

Dear 
I HAVE little new to tell you of Frankfort. It
appeared to be the same busy, clean, pretty, well-built
town, on this visit, as it did, at the two others. We
examined the boulevards a little more closely than
before, and were even more pleased with them than
formerly. I have already explained to you that the
secret of these tasteful and beautiful vifalks, so near,
and sometimes in the very heart (as at Dresden) of
the large German towns, is in the circumstance of
the old fortifications being destroyed, and the space
thus obtained having been wisely appropriated to
health and air. Leipsig, in particular, enjoys a
picturesque garden, where formerly there stood no
thing but grim guns, and frowning ramparts.
Frankfort has been the subject of recent political
disturbances, and, I heard this morning, from a
banker, that there existed serious discontent, all along
the Rhine. As far as I can learn, the movement
proceeds from a desire in the trading, banking and
manufacturing classes, the nouveaux riches, in short,
to reduce the power and influence of the old feudal
and territorial nobility. The kingly authority, in
our time, is not much of itself, and the principal

18 SWITZERLAND.
question has become how many or how few, or, in
short, who are to share in its immunities. In this
simple fact lies the germ of the revolution in France,
and of reform in England. Money is changing
hands, and power must go with it. This is, has
been, and ever will be the case, except in those in
stances in which the great political trust is thrown
confidingly into the hands of all, and even then, in
half the practical results, money will cheat them
out of the advantages. Where the pressure is so
great as to produce a recoil, it is the poor against
the rich ; and where the poor have rights to stand on,
the rich are hard at work to get the better of the poor.
Such is the curseof Adam, and man himself must be
changed before the disease can be cured. All we
can do, under the best constructed system, is to mi
tigate the evil.
We left Frankfort at eleven, declining the ser
vices of a celebrated voiturier, called le petit Sa
voyard, whom Frangois introduced, with a warm
recommendation of fidelity and zeal. These men
are extensively known and czrvy their soubriquets,
as ships do their names. The little Savoyard had
just discharged a cargo of miladies, bound to En
gland, after having had them on his charter-party
eighteen months, and was now on the look out for a
return freight. As his wiiole equipments were four
horses, the harness, and a long whip, he was very
desirous of the honour of dragging my carriage a
hundred leagues or so, towards any part of the earth.

SWITZERLAND. 1 9
whither it might suit my pleasure to proceed. But it
is to be presumed that miladies were of full weight,
for even Francois, who comes of a family of voi-
turiers, and has a fellow-feeling for the craft, is
obliged to admit that the cattle of le petit appear to
have been overworked. This negotiation occupied
an hour, and it ended by sending the passport to the
post. We were soon beyond the tower that marks the
limits of the territory of Frankfort, on the road to
Darmstadt. While mounting an ascent, we had a
distant glimpse of the town of Homberg, the capital
and almost the whole territory of the Principality
of Hesse Homberg; a state whose last sovereign had
the honour of possessing an English Princess for a
wife. Truly there must be something in blood, after
all, for this potentate has but tvv-enty-three thousand
subjects to recommend him!
Darmstadt is one of those towns which are laid
out on so large a scale, as to appear mean. This is
a common fault, both in Germany and America, for
the effect of throwing open wide avenues, that one
can walk through in five minutes, is to bring the
intention into ludicrous contrast with the result.
Mannheim is another of these abortions. The disad
vantage, however, ends with the a])pearance, for
Darmstadt is spacious, airy and neat. It is also
well-built. The ancient Landgraves of Hesse Darmstadt, have
become Grand Dukes, with a material accession of

20 SWITZERLAND.
territory, the present sovereign ruling over some
700,000 subjects. The old castle is still standing,
in the heart of the place, if a town which is all artery,
can be said to have any heart, and we walked into
its gloomy old courts, with the intention of examin
ing it ; but the keeper of the keys was not to be
found. There is a modern palace of very good ar
chitecture near it, and, as usual, extensive gardens,
laid out, so far as we could perceive from the out
side, in the English taste.
A short distance from Darmstadt, the Berge-
strasse (mountain road) commences. It is a perfect
level, but got its name from skirling the foot of the
mountain, at an elevation to overlook the vast plain
of the Palatinate, for we were now on the verge of
this ancient territory, which has been merged in the
Grand Duchy of Baden, by the events of the last
half century. I may as well add, that Baden is a
respectable state, having nearly 1,300,000 subjects.
The Bergestrasse has many ruins on the 'heights
that overlook it, though the river is never within a
league or two of the road. Here we found posti
lions worthy of their fine track, and, to say the
truth, of great skill. In Germany you get but one
postilion with four horses, and as the leaders are al
ways at a great distance from those ou the poll,
it is an exploit of some delicacy, to drive eight
miles an hour, riding the near wheel-horse, and go
verning the team, very much by the use of the whip.
The cattle are taught to travel without blinkers, and

SWITZERLAND. 21
like men to whom political power is trusted, they
are the less dangerous for it. It is your well-train
ed animal, that is checked up and blinded, who runs
away with the carriage of state, as well as the tra
velling-carriage, and breaks the neck of him who
rides. It was quite dark when we crossed the bridge of
the Neckar, and plunged into the crowded streets
of Heidelberg. Notwithstanding the obscurity we
got a glimpse of the proud old ruin, overhanging the
place, looking grand and sombre in the gloom of
night. The view from the windows next morning was
one of life in the extreme. The principal market
place was directly before the inn, and it appeared
as if half the .peasants of the grand Duchy had as
sembled there to display their fruits and vegetables.
A market is always a'garrulous and noisy place, but
when the advantage of speaking German is added
to it, the perfection of confusion is obtained. In all
good society, both men and women speak in sub
dued voices, and there is no need to allude td them;
but when one descends a little below the elite,
strength of lungs is rather a German failing.*
We went to the ruins while the fogs were still
floating around the hill-tops. I was less pleased
vVith this visit, than with that of last year, for the
* Until the revolution of 1830, the writer never met but one
noisy woman in Paris. Since that period, however, one hears
a little more of the iiniamarre of the comptoir.
VOL. II. 3

22 SWITZERLAND.
surprise was gone, and thei'e was leisure to be
critical. On the whole these ruins are vast rather
than fine, though the parts of the edifice that were
built in the Elizabethan taste, have the charm of
quaintness. There is also one picturesque tower,
but the finest thing, certainly, is the view from the
garden-terrace above. An American, who remem
bers the genial soil and climate of his country,
must mourn over the want of taste that has left, and
still leaves a great nation (numerically great, at
least,) ignorant of the enjoyment of those delicious
retreats ! As Nelson once said " want of frigates,"
would be found written on his heart were he to die,
I think "want of gardens," would be found written
on mine. Our cicerone, on this occasion, was a
man who had served in America, during the last
war, as one of the corps of de Watteville. He
was born in Baden, and says that a large portion of
the corps were Germans. He was in most of the
battles of the Niagara, and shook his head gravely
when I hinted at the attack on Fort Erie. Accord
ing tp his account, the corps suffered exceedingly
in the campaign of 1814, losing the greater portion
of its men. I asked him how he came to fight us
.Vyho had never done him any harm, and he answered
that Napoleon had made all Europe soldiers or rob
bers, and that he had not stopped to examine the
question of right. We drove up the valley of the
Neckar, after a late breakfast, by an excellent road,
and through a beautiful country, for the first post

SWITZERLAND. 23
or two. We then diverged from the stream, as
cended into a higher portion of undulating Country,
that gradually became less and less interesting, until
in the end, vve all pronounced it the tamest and
least inviting region, we had }'et seen in Europe.
I do not say that the country was particularly ste
rile, but it was common-place, and ofl'ered fewer
objects of interest than any other we had yet visited.
Until now, our destination was not settled, though
I had almost decided to go to Nuremburg, and
thence, by Ratlsbonne and the Danube, to Vienna;
but we all came to the opinion that the appearance
of things towards the east was too dreary for en
durance. We had already journeyed through Ba
varia, from its southern to its northern end, and we
wished to vary the scene. A member of its royal
family, had once told me that Wurtemberg offered
but little for the traveller, at the same time, saying
a good word for its capital. When one gets in
formation from so high authority it is not to be
questioned, and towards Stuttgart it was determined
to turn our faces. At Heilbronn, therefore, we
changed the direction from east to south. This
Heilbronn was a quaint old German town, and it
had a few of its houses painted on the exterior, like
those already described to you, in Switzerland.
Weinsberg, so celebrated for its wives, who saved
their husbands at a capitulation, by carrying them
out of the place on their backs, is near this town.
As there are no walled towns in America, and the

24 SWITZERLAND.
example could do no good, we did not make a pil
grimage to the spot. That night we slept at a little
town called Bessinghcim, with the Neckar, which
we had again met at Heilbronn, murmuring beneath
our windows.
The next morning v\e were off betimes to avoid
the heat, and reached Ludwigsberg to breakfast.
Here the scene began to change. Troops were
at drill, in a meadow, as we approached the
town, and the postilion pointed out to us a portly
officer as the Duke of Wurtemberg, a cadet of the
royal family, who was present with his staff. Drill
ing troops, from time immemorial, has been a royal
occupation in Germany. It is, like a Manhattanese
talking of dollars, a source of endless enjoyment.
Ludwigsberg is the Windsor, the St. Denis, of
the Princes of Wurtemberg. There is an extensive
palace, the place of sepulture, and a town of 5 or
6000 inhabitants. We went through the former,
which is large and imposing, with fine courts and
some pretty views, but it is low and Teutonic — in
plain English, squat; like some of the old statues in
armour, that one sees in the squares of the German
towns. There is a gallery and a few good pictures,
particularly a Rembrandt or two. One of the lat
ter is in the same style as the tribute money that I
possess, and greatly encourages me as to the authen
ticity of that picture. The late Queen of Wurtem
berg was the Princess Royal of England, and she
inhabited this palace. Being mistaken for English,

SWITZERLAND. 25
we were shown her apartments, in which she died
quite lately, and which were exactly in the condi
tion in which she left them. She must have had
strong family attachments, for her rooms were
covered with portraits of her relatives. The King
of England was omnipresent, and as for her own
husband, of whom, by the way, one picture would
have been quite sufficient for any reasonable woman,
there were no less than six portraits of him, in a
single room!
As one goes north, the style of ornamenting
rooms is less graceful, and the German and English
palaces all have the same formal and antiquated air.
Ludwigsberg does not change the rule, though
there was an unusual appearance of comfort in the
apartments of the late Queen, which had evidently
been anglicised.
While we were standing at a balcony, that over
looks a very pretty tract of wooded country and
garden, the guide pointed to a hamlet, whose church
tower was peering above a bit of forest, in a distant
valley, or rather swell. '* Does Mein Herr see it ?"
" I do — it is no more than a sequestered hamlet, that
is prettily enough placed." — It was Marbach, the
birth-place of Schiller ! Few men can feel less
of the interest that so commonly attaches to the
habits, habitations and personal appearance of cele
brated men, than myself. The mere sight of a
celebrity nev^r creates any sensation. Yet I do not
remember a stronger conviction of the superiority
3*

26 SWITZERLAND.
enjoyed by true over factitious greatness, than that
which flashed on my mind, when I was told this
fact. That sequestered hamlet rose in a moment to
an importance that all the appliances and souvenirs
of royalty could not give to the palace of Ludwigs
berg. Poor Schiller I In my eyes he is the Ger
man genius of the age. Goethe has got around
him one of those factitious reputations that depend
as much on gossip and tea drinking as on a high or
der of genius, and he is fortunate in being a coddled
celebrity — for you must know there is a fashion in
this thing, that is quite independent of merit — while
Schiller's fame rests solely on its naked merits.
My life for it, that it lasts the longest, and will burn
brightest in the end. The schools, and a prevalent
taste and the caprice of fashion can make Goethes
in dozens, at any time; but God only creates such
men as Schiller. The Germans say, we cannot feel
Goethe ; but after all a translation is perhaps one of
the best tests of genius, for though bad translations
abound, if there is stuff in the original, it will find
its way even into one of these.
From Ludwigsberg to Stuttgart it is but a single
post, and we arrived there at twelve. The appear
ance of this place was altogeiher different from what
we had expected. Although it contains near 30,000
inhabitants, it has more the air of a thriving Swiss
town, than that of a German capital, the abodes and
gardens of the royal family excepted. By a Swiss
town, I do not mean either such places as Geneva,

SWITZERLAND. 27
and Berne, and Zurich, but such towns as Herisau
and Lucerne, without including the walls of the lat
ter. It stands at the termination of an irregular
valley, at the base of some mountains, and, altogether,
its aspect, rustic exterior, and position took us by
surprise. The town, however, is evidently becom
ing more European, as they say on this side the
Atlantic, every day ; or in other words, it is becom
ing less peculiar.
At and around the palaces, there is something al
ready imposing. The old feudal castle, which I
presume is the cradle of the House of Wurtemberg,
stands as a nucleus for the rest of the town. It is a
strong prison-like looking pile, composed of huge
round towers and narrow courts, and still serves the
purposes of the state, though not as a prison I trust.
Another hotel, or royal residence, is quite near it on
one side, while the new palace is close at hand on
another. The latter is a handsome edifice of Italian
architecture, in some respects not unlike the Lux
embourg at Paris, and, I should think, out of all
comparison the best royal residence to be found in
the inferior states of Germany, if not in all Germany,
those of Prussia and Austria excepted.
We took a carriage, and drove through the grounds
to a new classical little palace, that crowns an emi
nence at their other extremity, a distance of a mile
or two. We went through this building, which is a
little in the style of the Trianons, at Versailles;
smaller than le Grand Trianon, and larger than le

28 SWITZERLAND.
petit Trianon. This display of royal houses, after
all, struck us as a little disproportioned to the dimi
nutive size and poverty of the country. The last
is nothing but a maison de plaisance, and is well
enough if it did not bring taxation with it; nor do I
know that it did. Most oflhe sovereigns have large
private fortunes, which they are entitled to use the
same as others ; and which are well used in foster
ing elegant tastes in their subjects.
There is a watering-place near the latter house,
and preparations were making for the King to dine
there, with a party of his own choosing. This re
minded us of our own dinner, which had been or
dered at six, and we returned to eat it. While sit
ting at a window, waiting the service, a carriage
that drove up attracted my attention. It was a
large and rather elegant post-chariot, as much orna
mented as comported with the road, and having a
rich blazonry. A single female was in it, with a maid
and valet in the rumble. The lady was in a cap,
and, as her equipage drove up, appeared to be net
ting. I have frequently met German families jog
ging along the high way, in this sociable manner,
apparently as much at home as when they were un
der the domestic roof. This lady, however, had so
little luggage, that I was induced to inquire whom it
might be. She was a princess of Hechingen, a
neighbouring state, that had just trotted over proba
bly to take tea with some of her cousins of Wur
temberg.

SWITZERLAND. 29
These ywasi kingdoms are so diminutive that this
sort of intercourse is very practicable, and (a pure
conjecture) it may be that German etiquette, so noto
riously stiff and absurd, has been invented to prevent
the intercourse from becoming too familiar. The
mediatising system, however, has greatly augmented
the distances between the capitals, though, owing
to some accidental influence, there is still here and
there a Prince, that might be spared, whose terri
tories have been encircled, without having been ab
solutely absorbed, by those who have been gainers by
the change. Bavaria has risen to be a kingdom of
4,000,000 of souls, in this manner; and the Dukes of
Wurtemberg have become kings, thougli on a more
humble scale, through the liberality or policy of
Napoleon. The kingdom of the latter contains
the two independent principalities of HohenzoUern
(spared on account of some family alliances, I believe)
in its bosom. One of the princes of the latter
family is married lo a Mademoiselle Murat, a niece
of Joachim.
After dinner, we went again lo the garden, where
we accidentally were witnesses of the return of the
royal party from their pic-nic. Tbe King drove
the Queen in a pony phaeton, at the usual pace of
monarchs, or just as fast as the little animals could
put foot to the ground. He was a large, well-whis
kered man, with a strong family likeness to the En
glish princes. The attendants were two mounted
grooms, in scarlet Hveries. A cadet, a dark, Italian-i

30 SWITZERLAND.
looking personage, came soon after, in full uniform,
driving himself, also, in a sort of barouche. After
a short time we were benefited by the appearance
of the cooks and scullions, who passed in afourgon,
that contained the remnants and the utensils. Soon
after we got a glimpse of the Queen and three or
four of the daughters, at a balcony of the palace, the
lady of the net-work being among them. They all
appeared to be^fine women.
At the inn, I heard, with regret, that Sir Walter
Scott had passed but two days before. He was
represented as being extremely ill; so much so,
indeed, as to refuse to quit his carriage, where he
kept himself as much as possible out of view.
We left Stuttgart early the following morning, and
as the carriage wound up the mountain that over
looks the town, I thought the place one of singular
incongruities. The hill-sides are in vineyards, the
palace, in excellent keeping, was warm and sunny,
while the old feudal-looking towers of the castle,
rudely recalled the mind to ancient Germany, and
the Swissish habitations summoned up the images
of winter, snows and shivering February. Still I
question, if a place so sheltered, ever endures much
cold. The town appears to have been built in the
nook it occupies, expressly to save fuel.
We met the Neckar again, after crossing a range
of wooded mountain, and, at Tubingen we once
more found a city, a university, the remains of feo-
dality, redoutes, pipes, and other Germanicr ap-

SWITZERLAND. 31
pliances. Here we breakfasted, and received a visit
from a young countryman, whose parents, Germans,
I believe, had sent him hither lo be educated. He
will, probably, return with a good knowledge of
Greek, perfect master of metaphysics and the pipe,
extravagant in his political opinions, a sceptic in re
ligion, and with some such ideas of the poetry of
thought, as a New England dancing-master has of
the poetry of motion, or a teacher of psalmody, of
the art of music. After all this is better than send
ing a boy to England, whence he would come back
with the notions of Sir William Blackstone to help
overturn or pervert his own institutions, and his
memory crammed with second-hand anecdotes of
Lords and Ladies. We labour under great embar
rassments on this point of education, for it is not
easy to obtain it, suited equally to the right, and to
our own peculiar circumstances, either at home or
abroad. At home we want science, research, la
bour, tone, manners, and time ; abroad vve get the
accumulated prejudices that have arisen from a fac
titious state of things ; or, what is perhaps worse,
their reaction; the servility of castes, or the trucu-
lence of revolution.
About a post beyond Tubingen, a noble ruin of a
castle of the middle ages, appeared in the distance,
crowning the summit of a high conical eminence.
These were the finest remains we had seen in a long
time, and viewed from the road, thpy were a beau
tiful object, for half an hour. This was the castle

32 SWITZERLAND.
of Hohenzollefn, erected about the year 9S0, and
the cradle of the House of Brandenburg. This
family, some pretend, was derived from the ancient
Dukes of Alsace, which, if true, would give it the
same origin as those of Austria and Baden, but it is
usual and probably much safer, to say that the
Counts of HohenzoUern were its founders. We
must all stop somewhere short of Adam. I was
musing on the chances that have raised a cadet, or
a younger branch, of the old feudal counts who had
once occupied this hold, to the fifth throne in Eu
rope, when we entered an irregular and straggling
village of some 3000 souls, that was not, by any
means, as well built as one of our own towns of the
same size. A sign over a door, such as would be
occupied by a thriving trader with us, with "De
partment of War" on it, induced me to open my
eyes, and look about me. We were in Hechingen,
the capital of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, an inde
pendent state, with a Prince of its own ; who is the
head of his famil}', in one sense, and its tail in an
other ; there being, besides the King of Prussia, a
Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen adjoining, who
is his junior in rank, and his better in power; having
some 40 or 50,000 subjects, while he of Hechingen
has but 15,000. On ascending a hill in the place
itself, we passed an unfinished house, all front, that
stood on the street, with no grounds of any beauty
near it, and which certainly was not as large, nor
nearly as well constructed, as one of our own prin-

SWITZERLAND. 33
cipal country houses. This building, we were told,
was intended for the town residence of the Heir
apparent, who is married to a daughter of Eugene
Beauharnois, and of course to a niece of the King
of Bavaria.
All this was an epitome of royalty I had never
before witnessed. The Saxon duchies, and Bay-
reuth and Anspach, now merged in Bavaria, had
been the subjects of curious contemplation to us, but
they were all the possessions of potentates compared
to this principality. I inquired for the abode of the
prince, which could not well be far off, without being
out of his own dominions. It lay behind a wood a
mile distant, and was not visible from the inn where
we stopped. Here was a capital mistake; had the
old castle, which was but half a mile from the vil
lage, been kept up, and it seemed to be in good con
dition for a ruin, with the title of Count of Hohen
zoUern, and the war and state departments been put
in one of the towers, no one could have laughed at
the pretension, let him try as hard as he pleased ;
but  .
We had a strong desire to visit the ruin, which
puts that of Habsburg altogether in the shade, but
were prevented by a thunder shower which shook
the principality to its centre. The Knight's Hall,
the chapel and the clock-tower are said to have been
restored, and to be now in good condition. We
could do no more, however, than cast longing eyes ,
upward as we drove under the hill, the ground being
VOL. II. 4

34 SWITZERLAND.
still too wet for female accoutrements to venture.
We had a Hechingen postilion in a Hechingen live
ry, and, although the man was sensible of his digni
ty and moved with due deliberation, vve were just
one hour in crossing his mas'ter's dominions.
Re-entering Wurtemberg, we slept that night at
the village of Bahlingen. The country next morn
ing was particularly tame, though uneven, until near
noon, when it gradually took more interesting forms
and spread iSself in pretty valleys and wooded hills.
The day was pleasant, and as we trotted merrily
through one of the vales, A  pointed to a little
rivulet that meandered through the meadows on our
right, and praised its beauty. " I dare say it has a
name; inquire of the postilion." "Wie ist diesen
fluschen ?" " Mein Herr, der Donau." The Da
nube! There was something startling in so unex
pectedly meeting this mighty stream, which we
had seen rolling its dark flow through cities and
kingdoms, a rivulet that I could almost leap across.
It was to us like meeting one we had known a mo
narch, reduced to the condition of a private man. I
was musing on the particles of water that were glid
ing past us on their way to the Black Sea, when we
drove up to the door of the inn at Tuttlirigen.
This was in the Black Forest, and what is more,
there were some trees in it. The wood was chiefly
larches, whence I presume the name. Our host dis
covered from the servants that we were Americans,
and he immediately introduced the subject of emi-

SWITZERLAND. 35
gration. He told us that many people went from
Wurtemberg to America, and gave us to understand
that we ought to be glad of it — they were all so well
educated! This was a new idea, certainly, and yet
I will not take it on myself to say that the fact is
otherwise. While we were at breakfast, the inn-keeper, who
was also the postmaster, inquired where we meant
to sleep, and I told him at Schaffhausen, on the
Rhine. He then gave me to understand that there
was a long, but not a steep mountain to ascend, which
separated the waters of the Danube from those of the
Rhine, and that two extra horses would add greatly
to the facility of getting along. Taking a look at
the road, I assented, so that we left the inn with the
honours of a coach and six. The effect was evident
from the start, and after entering Wurtemberg and
travelling through it complaining of the dulness of
the teams, we left it with eclat, and at the rate of
ten miles the hour. The frontier of Baden met us
again on the summit of the mountain. Here vve got
a fine and extensive view, that included the Lake of
Constance, in its sweep. The water looked dark and
wild, and the whole scene had a tint that strongly
reminded me of the character of Germanic mysteri-
ousness. We must have been at a great elevation,
though the mountains were not prominent objects;
on the contrary, the eye ranged until it found the
horizon, as at sea, in the curvature of the earth.
The rills near us flowed into the Rhine, and travers-

36 SWITZERLAND.
ing half Europe emptied themselves into the North
Sea ; while the stream that wound its way through
the valley below, took a south-easterly direction to
wards the confines of Asia. One gets grand and
pleasing images in the associations that are connected
with the contemplation of these objects.
From this point we began to descend, shdVn of
our honours in the way of quadrupeds, for it was
with a good deal of difficulty we got three horses at
the next relay. Thus is it with life, in which at one
moment we are revelling in abundance, and at the
next suffering with want. We got along, however,
as in life, in the best manner we could, and after
driving through a pretty and uneven country, that
gradually descended, we suddenly plunged down to
the banks of the Rhine, and found ourselves once
more before an inn door, in Switzerland!

SWITZERLAND. 37

LETTER XV.

Dear  ,
We had sought refuge on the Rhine, from the
tameness and monotony of Wurtemberg! I dare
say the latter country has many beautiful districts,
that it contains much to admire and much to avvaken
useful reflection, but to the mere passer-by It is not
a land of interest. Like a boat that has unexpect
edly got into a strong adverse current, we had put
our helm down and steered out of it, to the nearest
shore. Here we were then, and it became neces
sary to say where vve should be next. My own eyes
were turned wistfully towards the east, following
the road by the Lake of Constance, Innspruck and
Saltzbourg to Vienna, but several of our party were
so young when we were in Switzerland, in 1828,
that it seemed ungracious to refuse them this favour
able opportunity to carry away lasting impressions
of a region that has no parallel. It was, therefore,
settled before we slept, again to penetrate the can
tons next morning.
I heard the drum-like sound of the inn once more
with great satisfaction, for although the house, judg
ing from the coronets and armorial bearings about it,
had once been the abode of a count, it was not free
4»

38 SWITZERLAND.
.from the peculiar echoes of a true Swiss tenement,
any more than it was free from its neatness. The
drum, however, did not prevent us all from sleeping
soundly, and after an early breakfast we went forth
on this new pilgrimage to the mountains.
There was an end to posting, no relays existing
in this part of Switzerland, and I had been com
pelled to confide in the honesty of a unknown voi
turier, a class of men who are pre-eminently -subject
to the long established frailty of all who deal In
horses, wines, lamp-oil and religion. Leaving this
functionary to follow with the carriage, we walked
along the banks of the river, by a common-place
and dirty road, among forges and mills, to the ca
taract of the Rhine. What accessories to a ca
taract! How long will it be before the imagina
tions of a people who are so fast getting to mea
sure all greatness, whether in nature or art, by the
yard-stick, will think of those embellishments for
Niagara? Fortunately the powers of men are not
equal to their wishes, and a mill by the side of this
wonder of the world, will be a mill still, whereas
these falls of the Rhine, are nearly reduced to the
level of a race-way, by the spirit of industry. We
were le-ss struck with them than ever, and left the
place with the conviction that, aided by a few suit
able embellishments, they would have been among
the prettiest of the pretty cascades that we know,
but that as matters go, they are in danger of soon
losing the best part of their charms. We saw no

SWITZERLAND. 39
reason, in this instance, to change the impressions
made at the former visit, but think, the volume of
water excepted, that Switzerland has cascades that
outdo this cataract.
After following the course of the river, for a few
miles, we met the stream, buried low in the earth,
at one of its sudden bends, and, descending a sharp
declivity, crossed to its left bank, and into the Can
ton of Zurich. We were taken by surprise, by this
sudden rencontre, and could hardly believe it was
the mighty Rhine, whose dark waters were hurrying
beneath us, as we passed a covered bridge of mere
ly a hundred or two feet in length. One meets
with a hundred streams equal to this in width,
while travelling in America, though it is rare to find
one anywhere with the same majesty of motion, and
of its fine cerulean tint.
We had travelled an hour or two towards Zurich,
before our eyes were greeted with the sight of peaks
capped with snow. They looked like the faces of
old acquaintances, and, distance depriving them of
their severity, they now shone in a mild sublimity.
We were all walking ahead, while the horses were
eating, when these noble objects came into the view,
and, preceding the rest a little, I involuntarily
shouted with exultation, as, turning a knoll, they
stood ranged along the horizon. The rest of the
party hurried on, and it was like a meeting of dear
friends, to see those godlike piles encircling the vi-.
sible earth."

40 SWITZERLAND.
The country through which we travelled, was the
low land of which I have so often spoken, nor was
it particularly beautiful or well cultivated until we
drew near the capital, when it assumed the polished
look of the environs of a large town, and the ap
proach to Zurich, on this side, though less romantic
perhaps, wanting the lake and mountains, we thought,
if anything, was more beautiful than that by which
we had come in 1828.
We were much gratified with the appearance of
Zurich; more even than in our former visit, and
not the less so at finding it unusually empty. The
agitated state of Europe, particularly of England,
has kept the usual class of travellers at home, though
the cantons are said to be pretty well sprinkled
with Carlists, who are accused of assembling here
to plot. M. de Chateaubriand is in the same hotel
as ourselves, but it has never been my fortune to see
this distinguished writer to know him, even acci
dentally ; although I afterwards learned that, on
one occasion, I had sat for two hours on a bench
immediately before him, at a meeting of the French
Academy. My luck was no better now, for he
went away unseen, an hour after we arrived. Some
imagine themselves privileged to intrude on a cele
brity, thinking that those men will pardon the in
convenience for the flattery, but I do not subscribe
to this opinion; I believe that nothing palls sooner
than notoriety, and that nothing is more grateful to
those who have suffered under it, than retirement.

SWITZERLAND. 41
By a singular concurrence, vve were at Zurich,
the second time, on Sunday, and almost on the same
day of the year. In 1828, we drove along the
lake-shore, August 30th, and we now left Zurich,
for the same purpose, August 28th, after an interval
of four years. The same objects were assembled,
under precisely the same circumstances ; the lake
was covered with boats, whose tall sails drooped in
pure laziness ; the solemn bells startled the me
lancholy echoes, and the population was abroad,
now as then, in holiday guise, or crowding the
churches. The only perceptible changes in the
scene was produced by the change in our own di
rection. Then we looked towards the foot of the
lake, and had its village-lined shores before us,
and the country that melts away towards the
Rhine, for a back-ground; while now, after pass
ing the objects in the near view, the sight rest
ed on the confused and mysterious mountains of
Glaris. We took our gouter at the Paon, and, unwilling
to cross the bridge in the carriage, we all preceded
it, through the crowded streets of Rapperschwyl,
leaving the voiturier to follow, at his leisure. We
were just half an hour on this bridge, which appear
ed as ticklish as ever, though not so much as to
stifle the desire of P  to see how near its edge
he could walk. When we entered Schweitz, the
carriage overtook us, and we drove to the foot of
the mountain, which it is necessary to ascend to

43 SWITZERLAND.
reach Einsiedeln. Here we took chevaux de ren-
fort, and a reinforcement they proved, indeed, for
I do not remember two nobler animals than the voi
turier obtained for the occasion. They appeared
to be moulded on the same scale as the mountains.
We were much amused by the fellow's management,
for he contrived to check his own cattle, in such a
way as to throw all the work on the recruits. This
was not effected without suspicion, but he contrived
to allay it, by giving his own beasts sundry punches
in the sides, so adroitly bestowed as to render them
too restive lo work, ^y way of triumph, each
poke was accompanied by a knowing leer at Fran-
5ois, all of whose sympathies, a tribute to his
extraction, I have had frequent opportunities of ob
serving, to my cost, were invariably on the side of the
voituriers. So evident, indeed, was this feeling in
the gentleman, that had I been accustomed to travel
much by this mode, I should not have kept him a
month. It was a mild evening as we travelled our way up
this formidable ascent, which is one of the severest
in Switzerland, and we had loitered so much along
the shores of the lake, as to bring us materially be
hind our time. Still it was too late to return, and
we made the best of things as they were. It is
always more pleasant to ascend than to descend, for
the purposes of scenery, and, as picture after picture
broke upon us, the old ^0Mzy-7W0?«zy was awakened,
until woj once more, felt ourselves in a perfect fever

SWITZERLAND. 43
of mountain excitement. In consequence of diverg
ing by a foot-path, towards the east, in descending
this mountain, in 1828, 1 had missed one of the finest
reaches of its different vievvs, but which we now en
joyed under the most favourable circumstances.
The entire converging crescent of the north shore
of the lake, studded with white churches, hamlets
and cottages, was visible, and as the evening sun
cast its mild light athwart the crowded and affluent
landscape, we involuntarily exclaimed "that this
even equalled the Neapolitan coast in the twilight."
The manner in which the obscurity settled on this
picture, slowly swallowing up tower after tower,
hamlet, cottage and field, until the blue expanse of
the lake alone reflected the light from the clouds,
was indescribably beautiful, and was one of those
fine effects that can only be produced amid a nature
as grand as that of the Alps.
It was dark when we reached the inn, at the sum
mit, but it was not possible to remain there, for it
had room for little more than kirschwasser. The
night came on dark and menacing, and for near two
hours, we crawled up and down the sharp ascents
and descents, and to make the matter worse it began
to rain. This was a suitable approach to the abodes
of monastic votaries, and I had just made the remark,
when the carriage stopped before the door of my old
inn, the Ox, at Einsiedeln. It was near ten, and
we ordered a cup of tea and beds immediately.
The next morning we visited the church and the

44 SWITZERLAND.
convent. The first presented a tame picture
compared to that I had witnessed in the former
visit, for there was not a pilgrim present; the past
year it had been crowded. There vvere^ however,
a few groupes of the villagers kneeling at the shrine
or at the different altars to aid the picturesque. We
ascended into the upper part of the edifice and walk
ed in those narrow galleries through which I had
formerly seen the Benedictines stalking in stealthy
watchfulness, looking down at the devo|ees beneath.
I was admitted to the cloisters, cells, library, &c.,
but my companions were excluded as a matter of
course. It is merely a spacious German convent,
very neat and a little barnish. A recent publica
tion caused me to smile involuntarily, once or twice,
as the good father turned over the curiosities of
the library, and expatiated on the history and ob
jects of his community; but the book in question
had evidently not yet, if indeed it will ever reach
this remote spot.
We had a little difficulty here in getting along with
the French; and our German, (in which by the way
some of the party are rather expert,) had been ac
quired in Saxony, and was taken for base coin here.
The inn-keeper was an attentive host, and wished to
express everything that was kind and attentive ; all
of which he succeeded in doing wonderfully well,
by a constant use of the two words "par exemple.''''
As a specimen of his skill, I asked him if an extra
horse could be had at Einsiedeln, and his answer

SWITZERLAND. 45
was "par exemple, monsieur ; par exemple, oui;
c'est ^ dire, par exemple;" so We took the other
horse, joar exemple, and proceeded.
Our road carried us directly across the meadows
that had been formed in the Lake of Lowertz, by
the tall of the Rossberg. When on them they ap
peared even larger than when seen from the adjacent
mountain; they are quite uneven, and bear a coarse
wiry grass, though there are a few rocks on their
surface. Crossing the ruin of Goldau, we passed
on a trot from the desolation around it, into the beau
tiful scenery of Arth. Here we dined and witnessed
another monastic flirtation.
After dinner we drove along the shores of the lake
of Zug, winding directly round the base of the cone
of the Righi,or immediately beneath the point where
the traveller gets the sublime view of which you
have already heard. This was one of the pleasantest
bits of road we had then seen in Switzerland. The
water was quite near us on the right, and we were
absolutely shut in on the left by the precipitous
mountain, until having doubled it we came out upon
an arm of the lake of Lucerne, at Kiisnacht, to which
place we descended by the chemin creux. Night
overtook us again while crossing the beautiful ridge
of land that separates the bay of Kiisnacht from the
foot of the lake, but the road being excellent, we
trotted on in security until we alighted, at nine
o'clock, in the city of Lucerne.
The weather appearing unusually fine the next
VOL. II. 5

46 SWITZERLAND.
day, Frangois was ordered round to Berne with the
carriage and luggage, and we engaged a guide and
took a boat for Alpnach. At eleven we embarked
and pulled up under lovely verdant banks, which
are occupied by villas, till we reached the arm of the
lake that stretches towards the south-west. Here a
fair breeze struck us, and making sail, away we went,
skimming before it, at the rate of eight miles an hour.
Once or twice the wind came with a power that
showed how necessary it is to be cautious on a water
that is bounded by so many precipitous rocks. We
passed the solitary tower of Stanztad on the wing,
and reached Alpnach in less than two hours after
embarking. Here we took two of the little vehicles of the
country and went on. The road carried us through
Sarnen, where my companions, who had never be
fore visited the Unterwaldens, stopped to see the
lions. I shall not go over these details with you
again, but press on towards our resting-place for the
night. On reaching the foot of the rocks which
form the natural dam that upholds the lake of Lun-
gern, P  and myself alighted and walked ahead.
The ascent being short, we made so much progress
as to reach the upper end of the little sheet, a dis
tance bf near a league, before we were overtaken by
the others; and when we did meet, it was amid ge
neral exclamations of delight at the ravishing beau
ties of the place. I cannot recall sensations of
purer pleasure produced by any scenery, than those I

SWITZERLAND. 47
felt myself on this occasion, and in which all around
me appeared to participate.
Our pleasures, tastes, and even our judgments are
so much affected by the circumstances under which
they are called into action, that one has need of dif
fidence on the subject of their infallibility, if it be
only to protect himself from the imputation of in
consistency. I was pleased with the^ake of Lun-
gern in 1828, but the term is not strong enough for
the gratification it gave me on this return to it. Per
haps the day, the peculiar play of light and shade,
a buoyancy of spirits, or some auxiliary causes may
have contributed to produce this state of mind; or il
is possible that the views were really improved by
changing the direction of the route, as all connois-
sieurs in scenery know that the Hudson is much
finer when descending than when ascending its
stream; but let the cause be what it might, had I
then been asked what particular spot in Europe had
given me most delight by the perfection of its na
tural beauties, taken in connexion wilh Its artificial
accessories, I should have answered that it was the
shores of the lake of Lungern. Nor, as I have told
you, was I alone in this feeling, for one and all, big
and little, in short the whole party joined in pro
nouncing the entire landscape absolutely exquisite.
Any insignificant change, a trifle more or less of hu
midity in the atmosphere, the absence or the inter
vention of a few clouds, a different hour or a different
frame of mind may have diminished our pleasure, for

48 SWITZERLAND.
these are enjoyments which, like the flavour of
delicate wines, or the melody of sweet music, are
deranged by the condition of the nerves, or a want
of harmony in' the chords.
After this explanation you will feel how difficult
it will be to describe the causes of our delight. The
leading features of the landscape, however, were
a road that fan along the shore beneath a forest,
within ten feet of the water, winding, losing itself,
and re-appearing with the sinuosities of the bank;
water, limpid as air and blue as the void of the hea
vens, unruffled and even holy in its aspect, as if it
reflected the pure space above; a mountain-side, on
the opposite shore, that was high enough to require
study to draw objects from its bosom, on the distant
heights, and yet near enough below, to seem lo
be within an arrow's flight; meadows shorn like
lawns, scattered over its broad breast; woods of
larches, to cast their gloom athwart the glades and
to deepen the shadows ; brown chalets that seemed
to rise out of the sward, at the bidding of the eye; and
here and there a cottage poised on a giddy height,
with a chapel or two to throw a religious calm over
all! There was nothing ambitious in this view,
which was rural in every feature, but it was the very
beau ideal of rustic beauty, and without a single
visible blemish to weaken its effect. It was sorae
such picture of natural objects as confiding and Iht
genuous fifteen forms of love.
We passed the night in the drum of Lungern,

SWITZERLAND. 49
and found it raining hard when vve rose the follow
ing morning. The water soon ceased to fall in tor
rents, however, changing to a drizzle, at which time
the valley, clouded in mists in constant motion, was
even more beautiful than ever. So perfect were the
accessories, so minute was every thing rendered by
the mighty scale, so even was the grass and so pure
the verdure, that bits of the mountain pasturages, or
Alps, that came into view through the openings in
Ihe vapour, appeared like highly-finished Flemish
paintings, and this the more so, because all the
grouping of objects, the chalets, cottages, &c., were
exactly those that the artist would seize upon to
embellish his own work. Indeed, vve have daily,
hourly, occasions to observe how largely the dealers
in the picturesque have drawn upon the resources of
this extraordinary country, whether the pallet, or
poetry in some other form, has been the medium of
conveying pleasure.
The garpon of the inn pointed to some mist that
was roUing along a particular mountain, and said it
was the infallible barometer of Lungern. We
might be certain of getting fair weather within an
hour. A real barometer corroborated the testimony
of the mist, but the change was slower than had
been predicted ; and we began to tire of so glorious
a picture, under an impatience to proceed, for one
does not like to swallow pleasure even, perforce.
At ten we were able to quit the inn, one half of
the party taking the bridle path, attended by twa
5*

50 SWITZERLAND.
horse-keepers, while the rest of us, choosing to use
our own limbs, were led by the guide up the moun
tains by a shorter cut, on foot. The view from the
Brunig was not as fine, as I had found it, in 1828,
perhaps because I was then taken completely by
surprise, and perhaps because ignorance of the dis
tant objects had then thrown the charm of mystery
over its back ground. We now saw the scene in
detail, too, while mounting, for, though it is better to
ascend than descend, the finest effects are produced
by obtaining the whole at once.
We joined the equestrians on the summit, where
the horses were discharged, and vve proceeded the
remainder of the distance on foot. We soon met the
Bear of Berne, and entered the great canton. The
view of the valley of Meyringen, and of the cata
racts, greeted us like an old friend, and the walk,
by a path which wound its way through the bushes,
and impended over this beautiful panorama, was of
course delightful. At length we caught a glimpse
of the lake of Brieniz, and hurrying on, reached the
village before two.
Here we ordered a gouter, and, while taking it,
the first English party we had yet seen, entered the
inn, as we were all seated at the same table. We
were this English party, ourselves, and a solitary
Frenchman, who eyed us keenly, but said nothing.
It soon appeared that some great political crisis was
at hand, for the Englishman began to cry out against
the growing democracy of the cantons. I did not

SWITZERLAND. 51
understand all his allusions, nor do I think he had
very clear notions about them himself, for he wound
up one of his denunciatory appeals, by the old cant,
of "insteadof one tyrant, they will now have many,"
which is a sort of reasoning that is not particularly
applicable to the overturning of aristocracy any
where. It is really melancholy to perceive how few\
men are capable of reasoning or feeling on political;
subjects, in any other way than that which is thought;
most to subserve their own particular interests and;
selfishness. Did we not know that the real ob- \
ject of human institutions is to restrain human ten
dencies, one would be almost disposed to give up
the point in despair, for I do affirm, that in all
my associations in different countries, I do not re
collect more than a dozen men, who have appeared
to me to entertain right notions on this subject, or
who have seemed capable of appreciating the impor
tance of any changes that were not likely materially
to affect their own pockets.
The Frenchman heard us speaking in his own
language, which we did with a view of drawing
John Bull out, and he asked a passage in the boat 1
had ordered, as far as Interlachen. Conditioning that
he should make the detour to the Giesbach, his appli
cation was admitted, and we proceeded forthwith.
This was the fourth time I had crossed the lake of
Brientz, but the first in which I visited the justly
celebrated falls, towards which we now steered, on
quitting the shore.

52 SWITZERLAND.
Our companion proved to be a merry fellow, and
well disposed to work his passage by his wit. I
have long been cured of the notion " that the name
of an American is a passport all over Europe," and
have learned to understand in its place, that, on the
contrary, it is thought to be prim,a facie evidence
of vulgarity, ignorance and conceit ; nor do I think
that the French, as a nation, have any particular re
gard for us ; but knowing the inherent dislike of a
Frenchman for an Englishman, which the new
fangled fraternity, arising out of the trading-princi
ple-government, only renders, to a disinterested
looker-on, the old antipathies more apparent, I
made an occasion, indirectly, to let our new asso
ciate understand that we came from the other side
of the Atlantic. This produced an instantaneous
change in his manner, and it was now that he began
to favour us with specimens of his humour. Notwith
standing all this facetiousness, I soon felt a suspi
cion that the man was an employe of the Carlists,
and that his business in Switzerland was connected
with political plots. He betrayed himself, at the
very moment when he was most anxious to make
us think him a mere amateur of scenery: I can
not tell you how, but still so clearly, as to strike all
of us, precisely in the same way.
The Giesbach is a succession of falls, whose
water comes from a glacier, and which are produceil
by the sinuosities of the leaps and inclined planes of
a mountain side, aided by rocks and precipices. It

SWITZERLAND. 53
is very beautiful, and may well rank as the third or
fourth cascade of Switzerland, for variety, volume
of water, and general effect. A family has estab
lished itself among the rocks, to pick up a penny
by making boxes of larch, and singing the different
ranz des vaches. Your mountain music does not
do so well, when it has an air so seriously premedi
tated, and one soon gets to be a little blaze on the
subject of entertainments, of this sort, which can
only succeed once, and then with the novice. Alas !
I have actually stood before the entrance of the
cathedral at Rouen, and the strongest feeling of the
moment, was that of surprise at the manner in
which my nerves had thrilled, when it was first
seen. I do not believe that childhood, with its un-
sophistlcation and freshness, affords the greatest plea
sures, for every hour tells me liovv much reason and
cultivation enhance our enjoyments, but there are
certainly gratifications that can be felt but once,
and if an opera of Rossini or Mayerbeer grows on
us, at each representation, or a fine poem Improves
on acquaintance, the singing of your Swiss night-.
ingales is sweeter in its first notes, than in its se
cond. After spending an hour at the Giesbach, we rowed
along the eastern, or rather the southern, shore of the
lake to Interlachen. The sight of the blue Aar re
vived old recollections, and we landed on its banks
wilh infinite pleasure. Here a few civil speeches
passed between the merry Frenchman and myself,

54 SWITZERLAND.
when we separated, he disappearing altogether, and
we taking the way to the great lodging-hou.9e, which,
like most of the other places of resort ia Switzer
land, was then nearly empty. The Grand Duchess
Anna, however, had come down from Ulfnau, her
residence on the Aar, for a tour in the Oberland,
and was among the guests. We got a glimpse of
her coming in from a drive, and she appeared to re
semble her brother the duke, more than her brother
the king.
In the morning we drove up to Lauterbrunnen,
and I am compelled to say that so completely
fickle had we become, that I believe all who had
seen this valley before, pronounced it less beautiful
than that of Lungern. By the way of proving
to you how capricious a thing is taste, I liked the
Staubbach better than in the former visit. We did
not attempt the mountains this time, but drove round
in our chars to Grindewald, where we dined and
slept. Either a new approach, or improved tastes,
or some other cause wrought another change here,
for we now preferred Grindewald to Lauterbrunnen,
as a vallej'. The vulgar astonishment was gone, and
our eyes sought details with critical nicety. We
went to the lower glacier, whose form had not ma
terially changed in four years, and we had fine views
of both of them from the windows of the inn. There
was a young moon, and I walked out to watch the
effect on the high glaciers, which were rendered
even more than usually unearthly in appearance.

SWITZERLAND. 55
under its clear bland light. These changes of cir
cumstances strangely increase the glories of the
mountains! We left Grindewald quite early next morning,
and proceeded towards Neuhaus. The road led us
through a scene of desolation that had been caused
by a rising of the waters in 1830, and we examined
the devastation with the more interest, as some of
our acquaintances had nearly perished in the torrent.
The family in question were residing temporarily
at Interlachen, when two of the ladies with a
child, attended by a black servant, drove up the
gorge of Lauterbrunnen, for an airing. They were
overtaken by a tempest of rain, and by the torrent,
which rose so rapidly as to cut off all retreat, except
by ascending the precipice, which to the eye is
nearly perpendicular. There is, however, a hamlet
on one of the terraces of the mountain, and thither
the servant was despatched for succour. The
honest peasants at first believed he was a demon, on
account of his colour, and it was not without diffi
culty they were persuaded to follow him. The ladies
eventually escaped up the rocks, but our coachman,
who had acted as the coachman on that occasion,
assured us it was with the utmost difficulty he saved
his horse.
This accident, which was neither a sac d'eau, nor
an avalanche, gives one a good idea of the sudden dan
gers to which the traveller is liable, in the midst of
a nature so stupendous. A large part of the beauti-

S6 SWITZERLAND.
ful meadows of Interlachen was laid desolate, and
the calamity was so sudden that it overtook two
young and delicate females in their morning drive!
We drove directly to the little port at Neuhaus,
and took boat for Thoun, pulling out into the lake,
with a fresh breeze directly in our teeth. The pic
turesque little chateau of Spiefz stood on its green
promontory, and all the various objects that we had
formerly gazed at with so much pleasure, were there,
fresh, peculiar and attractive as ever. At length,
after a heavy pull, we were swept within the current
of the Aar, which soon bore us to the landing.
At Thoun we breakfasted, and, taking a return
carriage, trotfed up to Berne, by the valley of which
you have already heard so much. Frangois was in
waiting for us, and we got comfortable rooms at
the Crown.
Our tastes are certainly altering, whether there be
any improvement or not. We are beginning to feel
it is vulgar to be astonished, and even in scenery, I
think we rather look for the features that fill up the
keeping, and make the finish, than those which ex
cite wonder. We have seen too much to be any
longer taken in, by your natural clap-traps, a step in
advance, that I attribute to a long residence in Italy,
a country in which the sublime is so exquisitely
blended wilh the soft, as to create a taste which
tells us they ought to be inseparable.
In this little excursion to the Oberland, while
many, perhaps most, of our old impressions are con-

SWITZERLAND. 57
firmed, its relative beauties have not appeared to be
entitled to as high praises as we should have given
them, had they not been seen a second time. We
had fine weather, were all in good spirits and happy,
and the impression being so general, I am inclined
to think it is no more than the natural effect which
is produced by more experience and greater know
ledge. I now speak of the valleys, however, for
the high Alps are as superior lo the caprices of taste,
as their magnificent dimensions and faultless outlines
are beyond change.

58 SWITZERLAND.

LETTER XVI.
Dear  ,
Soon after we reached Berne, Frangois came lo
me in a mysterious manner, to inquire if I had heard
any news of importance. I had heard nothing, and he
then told me, that many arrests had just taken place,
and that a conspiracy of the old aristocracy had been
discovered, which had a counter-revolution for its
object. I say a counter-revolution, for you ought
to have heard that great political changes have oc
curred in Switzerland since 1830, France always
giving an impulse to the cantons. Democracy is in
the ascendant, and divers old opinions, laws and in
stitutions have been the sacrifice. This, in the
land of the Burgerschaft, has necessarily involved
great changes, and the threatened plot is supposed
to be an effort of the old privileged party to regain
their power. As Frangois, notwithstanding he has
seen divers charges of cavalry against the people,
and has. witnessed two or three revolutions, is not
very clear-headed in such matters, I walked out,
immediately, to seek information from rather better
authority. The result of my inquiries was briefly as follows:
Neufchatel, whose Prince is the King of Prussia,

SWITZERLAND. 59
has receded from the Confederation on account of
the recent changes, and the leaders of the aristo
cratic party were accused of combining a plan,
under the protection and with the knowledge of the
authorities of this state, to produce a counter-revo
lution in Berne, well knowing the influence of this
canton in the confederation. This very day is said
to be the one selected for the effort, and rumour
adds that a large body of the peasants of the Ober
land were to have crossed the Brunig yesterday,
with a view to co-operate in other sections of the
country. A merry company vve should have been,
had it been our luck to have fallen in with this
escort! Now, rightfully or not, the Austrian
government and the French Carlists, are openl}"^ ac
cused of being concerned in this conspiracy, and
probably not without some cause. The suspicions
excited concerning our fellow-traveller, through his
own acts, recurred to me, and I now think it proba
ble he was in waiting for the aforesaid peasants,
most probably to give them a military direction, for
he had the air and franchise of an old French sol
dier. The plot had been betrayed, some were al
ready arrested, and some had taken refuge in flight.
The town was tranquil, but the guards were strength
ened, and the popular party was actively on the
alert. The next morning we went forth to look, once
more, at picturesque, cloistered, verdant Berne,
Nothing appeared to be changed, though the

60 SWITZERLAND.
strangers were but few, and there was, perhaps,
less movement than formerly. We crossed the Aar
and walked to la Lorraine. As vve were going
through the fields several dogs rushed out against
us, but when P  called out "Turc," the noble
animal appeared to know him, and we were per
mitted to proceed, escorted, rather than troubled, by
the whole pack. This was a good omen, and it was
grateful to be remembered, by even a dog, after an
absence of four years.
We found the same family in possession of the
farm, though on (he point of removing to another
place. Our reception in the house was still more
cordial than that given by Turk, and our gratitude
in proportion. The old abode was empty, and we
walked over it, with feelings in which pain and
pleasure were mingled, for poor W  , who was
with us, full of yoOth and spirits, when we resided
here, is now a tenant of Pere la Chaise. When
we went away, all the dogs, with Turk at their head,
escorted us to the ferry, where they stood looking
wistfully at us from the bank, until we landed in
Berne. Soon after, I met M. W  , in the streets, and,
as he had not been at home, I greeted him, inviting
him to dine with us at the Crown. The present
aspect of things, was of course touched upon, du
ring the dinner, when the worthy member of the
Burgerschaft lamented the changes, in a manner
becoming his own opinions, while I rejoiced in them,
in a manner becoming mine. He asked me if I really

SWITZERLAND. 61
thought that men who were totally inexperienced in
the affairs of government, could conduct matters
properly, an old and favourite appeal with the disci
ples of political exclusion. I endeavoured to persuade
him that the art of administering was no great art;
that there was more danger of rulers knowing too
much\ha.n of theirknowing too little, old soldierspro-
verblally taking better care of themselves than young
soldiers; that he must not expect too much, for they
that know the practices of free governments, well
know it is hopeless to think of keeping pure and
disinterested men long in office, even as men go,
there being a corrupting influence about the very
exercise of power, that forbids the hope; and that
all which shrewd observers look for in popular in
stitutions is a greater check, than common, on the
selfishness of those to whom authority is confided.
I told him the man who. courts popular favour in a
republic, would court a prince in a monarchy, the
elements of a demagogue and a courtier being
precisely the same, and that, under either system,
except in extraordinary instances, it was useless to
attempt excluding such men from authority, since
their selfishness was more active than the feelings of
the disinterested; that, in our own case, so long as
the impetus of the revolution, and the influence of
great events lasted, we had great men, in the as
cendant, but now, that matters were jogging on le-
gularly, and under their common-place aspects, we
were obliged to take up with merely clever ma-
6 *

62 SWITZERLAND.
nagers; that one of the wisest men who had ever
lived (Bacon) had said, that " few men rise lo power
in a state, without a union of great and mean quali
ties," and that this was probably as true at Berne, as it
is at Washington, and as true at Paris, as at either;
that the old system in his country savoured too much
of the policy of giving the milk of two cows to one
calf, and that he must remember it was a system that
made very ba.d as well as very good veal, whereas for
ordinary purposes it was better to have the same quan
tity of merely good veal; and, in short, thalfhe himself
would soon be surprised at discovering how soon
the new rulers would acquire all the useful habits of
their predecessors, and I advised him to look out
that they did not acquire some of their bad ones, too.
I never flattered myself wilh producing a change
of opinion in the captain, who always listened po
litely, but with just such an air of credulity as you
might suppose one born to the benefits of the Burger-.
schaft, and who had got to be fifty, would listen to
a dead attack on all his most cherished prejudices.
The next day was Sunday, and we still lingered
in our comfortable quarters a< the Crown. I walked
on ih& plat tef or m before breakfast, and got another
of those admirable vievvs of the upper Alps, which,
notwithstanding the great beauty of its position and-
immediate environs, form the principal attraction
of Berne. The peaks were draped rather than
veiled in clouds, and it was not easy to say which
was the most brilliant, the snow-white vapour that

SWITZERLAND, 63
adorned their sides, or the icy glaciers themselves.
Still they were distinct from each other, forming
some such contrast as that which exists between the
raised and sunken parts on the faces of new coin.
We went to church and listened lo some excellent
German, after which we paid our last visit to la
Lorraine. This house had been hired by king Je
rome for a short time, after his exile in 1814, his
brother Joseph occupying a neighbouring residence.
The W  s told me that Jerome arrived, accompa
nied by his amiable wife, like a king, with horses,
chamberlains, pages and all the other appliances of
royalty, and that it was curious, as well as painful,
to vVitness how fast these followers dropped off, as
the fate of the family appeared to be settled. Few
besides the horses remained at the end of ten days!
On our return from this visit we went in a body
to pay our respect to our old friends, the bears. I
believe you have already been told that the city of
Berne maintains four bears in certain deep pens,
where it is the practice to feed them with nuts,
cakes, apples, &c., according to the liberality and
humour of the visiter. The usage is very ancient,
and has some connexion with a tradition that has
given its name to the canton. A bear is also the
arms of the state. One of these animals is a model of
grace, waddling about on his hind legs like an alder
man in a ball-room. You may imagine that P 
was excessively delighted at the sight of these old
friends. The Bernese have an engraving of the

64 SWITZERLAND.
graceful bear in his upright attitudej and the stove
of our salon at the Crown, which is of painted tile,
among a goodly assemblage of gods and goddesses,
includes Bruin as one of its ornaments.
Frangois made his appearance after dinner, accom
panied by his friend, le petit Savoyard, who had
arrived from Frankfort, and came once raore to offer
his services lo conduct us to Lapland, should it be
our pleasure to travel in that direction. It would
have been ungracious to refuse so constant a suitor,
and he was ordered to be in attendance next morn
ing, to proceed towards the lake of Geneva.
In the evening we went on the platteform to
witness the sun-set, but the mountains were con
cealed by clouds. The place was crowded, and re
freshments were selling in little pavilions erected
for the purpose. We are the only Protestants who
are such rigid observers of the Sabbath, the Scotch
perhaps excepted. In England there is much less
restraint than in America, and on the continent the
Protestants, though less gay than the Catholics, very
generally consider it a day of recreation, after the
services of the church are ended. I have heard
some of them maintain that we have misinterpreted
the meaning of the word holy, which obtains its
true signification in the term holiday. I have never
heard any one go so far, however, as Hannah Moore
says was the case with Horace Walpole, who con
tended that the ten commandraents were not meant
for people of quality. No one whose mind and

SWITZERLAND, 65
habits have got extricated from the fogs of provin
cial prejudices, will deny that we have many odious
moral deformities in America, that appear in the giihrb
of religious discipline and even religious doctrine,
but which are no more than the offspring of secta
rian fanaticism, and which, in fact, by annihilating
charity, are so many blows given to the essential
feature of Christianity; but, apart from these, I still
lean to the opinion we are quite as near the great
(ruths as any other people extant,
Mr.  , the English chargd d'affaires, whom I
had known slightly at Paris, and Mr.  , who
had once belonged to the English legation in Wash
ington, were on ihe platteform. The latter told me
that Carroll of Carrollton was dead; that he had been
dead a year; and that he had written letters of con
dolence on the occasion. T assured him that the old
gentleman was alive on the 4th July last, for I had
seen one of his letters in the public journals. Here
was a capital windfall for a regular diplomate, vvho
now, clearly, had nothing to do but to hurry home
and write letters of felicitation!
The late changes in England have produced more
than the usual mutations in her diplomatic corps,
which, under ordinary circumstances, important
trusts excepted, has hitherto been considered at the
disposal of any minister. In America we make it
matter of i'eproach that men are dismissed from
office on account of their political opinions, and it is
usual lo cite England as an example of greater libe-

66 SWITZERLAND.
rality. All this is singularly unjust, because in its
spirit, like nine-tenths of our popular notions of
England, it is singularly untrue. The changes of
ministry, which merely involve the changes inci
dent on taking power from one clique of the aristo
cracy to give it to another, have not hitherto involv
ed questions of sufficient importance to render it
matter of moment to purge all the lists of the disaf
fected, but since the recent serious struggles we have
seen changes, that do not occur even in America.
Every Tory, for instance, is ousted from the lega
tions, if we except nameless subordinates. The
same purification is going on elsewhere, though the
English system does not so much insist on the
changes of employes, as that the employes them
selves should change their opinions. How long
would an English tide-waiter, for instance, keep his
place should he vote against the ministerial candi
date? I apprehend these things depend on a com
mon principle {i. e. self-interest) everywhere, and
that it makes little difference, in substance, what the
form of government may happen to be.
But of all the charges that have been brought
against us, the comparative instability of the public
favour, supposed to be a consequence of fluctuations
in the popular will, is the most audacious, for it is con^
tradicted by the example of every royal government
in Christendom. Since the formation of the present
American constitutions, there have been but two
changes of administration, that have involved changes

SWITZERLAND. 67
of principles, or changes in popular will: that which
placed Mr. Jefferson in the seat of Mr. Adams, se
nior, and that which placed Mr. Jackson in the seat
of Mr. Adams, junior; whereas, during the short
period of my visit to Europe, I have witnessed six
or seven absolute changes of the English ministry,
and more than twenty in France, besides one revo
lution. Liberty has been, hitherto, in the situation
of the lion whose picture was drawn by a man, but
which there was reason to think would receive more
favourable touches, when the lion himself should
take up the pallet.

68 SWITZERLAND,

LETTER XVII,
Dear  ,
Le Petit Savoyard was punctual, and after
breakfasting, away we rolled, along the even and
beaten road towards Morat. This man and his
team were epitomes of the voitui'ier caste and their
fixtures. He himself was a firm, sun-burned, com
pact little fellow, just suited to ride a wheeler, while
the horses were sinewy, and so lean, that there was
no mistaking their vocation. Every bone in their
bodies spoke of the weight of miladi, and her
heavy English travelling chariot, and I really
thought they seemed to be glad to get a whole Ame
rican family in place of an Englishvvoman and her
maid. The morning was fine, and our last look at
the Oberland peaks, was sunny and pleasant. There
they stood ranged along the horizon, like sentinels
(not light-houses) of the skies, severe, chiseled,
brilliant, and grand.
Another travelling equipage of the gregarious
kind, or in which the carriage as well as the horses
was the property of the voiturier, and the passen
gers mere pic nics, was before us in ascending a
long hill, affording an excellent opportunity to dis
sect the whole party. As it is a specimen of the

SWITZERLAND. 69
groups one constantly meets on the road, I will give
you some idea of the component parts.
The voiturier was merely a larger brother of
Le Petit Savoyard, and his horses, three in num
ber, were walking bundles of chopped straw. The
carriage was spacious, and I dare say convenient,
though anything but beautiful. On top there was
a rail, within which effects were stowed beneath an
apron, leaving an outline not unlike the ridges of
the Alps. The merry rogues within had chosen to
lake room to themselves, and not a package of any
sort incumbered their movements. And here I
will remark, that America, free and independent, is
the only country in which I have ever journeyed,
where the comfort and convenience of the vehicle
is the first thing considered, that of the baggage the
next, and that of the passengers the last.* Fortun
ately for the horses, there were but four passengers,
though the vehicle could have carried eight. One,
by his little green cap, with a misshapen shade for
the eyes; light, shaggy, uncombed hair; square, high
* The Americans are a sin^Iarly good-natured people, and
probably submit to more impositions, that are presented as ap
peals to the spirit of accommodation, than any other people on
earth. The writer has frequently ridden miles in torture, to
accommodate a trunk, and the steam-boats manage matters so to
accommodate every body, that every body is put to inconve
nience. AU this is done, with the most indomitable kindness and
good nature, on all sides, the people daily, naj' hourly exhibiting,
in all their public relations, the truth of the axiom "that what
is every body's business, is nobody's business."
VOL. II. 7

70 SWITZERLAND.
shoulders; a coat that appeared to be half-male
half-female; pipe and pouch, was undeniably a Ger
man student, who was travelling south to finish his
metaphysics with a few practical notions of men
arid things. A second was a Jew who had trade in
every lineapietit, and who belonged so much to the
nation, that I could not give him to any other nation
in particular. He was older, more wary, less joyous,
and probably much more experienced than either
of his companions. When they laughed, he only
smiled; when they sang, he hummed; and when they
seemed thoughtful, he grew sad. I could make no
thing out of him, except that he ran a thorough
bass, to the higher pitches of his companions' hu
mours. The third was Italian "for a ducat."
A thick, bushy, glossy, curling head of hair was co
vered by a little scarlet cap, tossed negligently on
one side, as if lodged there by chance; his eye vvas
large, mellow, black as jet, and full of fun and feel
ing; his teeth white as ivory; and the sun, the glori
ous sun, and the thoughts of Italy, towards which
he was travelling, had set all his animal spirits in
motion. I caught a few words in bad French,
which satisfied me that he and the German were
jeering eaeh other on their respective national pecu
liarities. Such is man; his egotism and vanity first
centre in himself, and he is ready to defend himself
against the reproofs of even his own mother.; then
his wife, his child, his brother, his friend is admit
ted, in succession, within the pale of his self-love, ac-

SWITZERLAND. 71
cording to their affinities with the great centre of
the system; and finally he can so far expand liis
affections as to embrace his country, when that of
another presents its pretensions in hostility. When
the question arises, as between humanity and the
beasts oflhe field, he gets to be a philanthropist!
Morat, with its walls of Jericho, soon received
us, and we drove to an inn, where chop])ed straw
was ordered for the horses, and a more substantial
gouter for ourselves. Leaving the former to discuss
their meal, after finishing our own, we walked
ahead, and waited the appearance of the little Savo
yard, on the scene of the great battle between the
the Swiss and the Burgundians. The country has
undergone v§st changes since the fifteenth century,
and cultivation has long since caused Ihe marsh, in
which so many of the latter perished, to disappear,
though it is easy to see where it must have formerly
been. I have nothing new to say concerning
Avenche, whose Roman ruins after Rome itself,
scarce caused us to cast a glance at them, and we
drove up to the door of the Ours at Payerne, with
out alighting. When we are children, vve fancy
that sweets can never cloy, and indignantly repel
the idea that tarts and sugar plums will become
matters of indifference to us ; a little later we swear
eternal constancy to a first love, and form everlast
ing friendships ; as time slips away, we marry three
or four wives, shoot a bosom friend or two, and
forg(ft the looks of those whose images were to be

72 SWITZERLAND.
graven on our hearts, for ever. You will wonder at
this digression, which has been excited by the sim
ple fact that I actually caught myself gaping, when
something was said about Queen Bertha and her
saddle. The state of apathy to which one finally
arrives, is really frightful!
We left Payerne early and breakfasted at the
"inevitable inn" of Moudon. Here it was neces
sary to decide in what direction to steer, for I had
left the charter party wilh le petit Savoyard,
open, on this essentiaLpoint. The v^'eather was so
fine, the season qf the year so nearly the same, and
most of the other circumstances, so very much like
those under which we had made the enchanting
passage along the head of the Leman, four years be
fore, that we yielded to the desire lo renew the
pleasures of such a transit, and turned our faces to
wards Vev6y.
At the point where the roads separate, therefore,
we diverged from the main route, which properly
leads to Lausanne, inclining southward. We soon
were rolling along the margin of the little blue lake
that lies on the summit of the hills, so famous for its
prawns. We knew that a few minutes would bring
us to the brow of the great declivit}', and all eyes
were busy, and all heads eagerly in motion. As for
myself, I took my station on the dickey^, determined
lo let nothing escape me in a scene that I remem
bered with so much enduring delight.
Contrary to the standing rule, in such cases, the

SWITZERLAND. 73
reality surpassed expectation. Notwithstanding our
long sojourn in Italy, and the great variety and mag
nificence of- the scenery vve had beheld, I believe
there was not a feeling of disappointment among us
all. There lay the Leman, broad, blue and tranquil;
with its surface dotted by sails, or shadowed by
grand mountains; its shores varying from the im
pending precipice, to the sloping and verdant lawn;
the solemn, mysterious and glen-like valley of the
Rhone; the castles, towns, villages, hamlets and
towers, with all the smiling acclivities loaded with
vines, villas and churches; the remoter pastures, out
of which the brown chalets rose like subdued bas
reliefs, and the back-ground of Dents, peaks and
glaciers. Taking it all together, it is one of the
most ravishing views of an earth that is only too
lovely for its evil-minded tenants; a world that bears
about it, in every lineament, the impression of its
divine Creator!
One of our friends used to tell an anecdote of the
black servant of a visiter at Niagara, who could ex
press his delight, on seeing the falls, in no other way
than by peals of laughter; and, perhaps I ought to
hesitate to confess it, but I actually imitated the
negro, as this glorious view broke suddenly upon
me. Mjne, however, vvas a laugh of triumph, for I
instantly discovered that my feelings were not quite
worn out, and that it was still possible to avvaken
enthusiasm within me, by the sight of an admirable
nature. 7*

74 SWITZERLAND.
Our first resolution was to pass a month in this
beautiful region. Pointing to a building that stood
a thousand feet below us, on a little grassy knoll
that was washed by the lake, and which had the
quaint appearance of a tiny chateau of the middle
ages, we claimed it, at once, as the very spot suited
for the temporary residence of your scenery-hunters.
We all agreed that nothing could possibly suit us
better, and we went down the descent, among vine
yards and cottages, not building "castles in the air,"
but peopling one in avalley. It vvas determined to
dwell in that house, if it could be had for love or
money, or the thing was at all practicable.
It was still early when we reached the inn in
Vev^y, and I was scarcely on the ground, before I
commenced the necessary inquiries about the little
chateauish house. As is usual in some parts of Eu
rope, I was immediately referred lo a female commis
sionaire, a sort of domestic broker of all work. This
woman supplies travelling families with linen, and, at
need, with plate; and she could greatly facilitate mat
ters, by knowing where and lo whom to apply for
all that was required; an improvement in the divi
sion of labour that may cause you to smile, but
which is extremely useful, and, on the whole, like
^11 division of labour, economical.
Thz commissionaire informed us that there were
an unusual number of furnished houses to be let, in
the neighbourhood, the recent political movements
having driven away their ordinary occupants, the

SWITZERLAND. 75
English and Russians. Some of the proprietors,
however, might object lo the shortness of the time
that we could propose for, (a month) as it was cus
tomary to let the residences by the year. There
was nothing like trying, however, and, ordering din
ner to be ready against our return, we took a carriage
and drove along the lake shore as far as Clarens, so
renowned in the pages of Rousseau. I ought, how
ever, to premise that I would not budge a foot, until
the woman assured me, over and over, that the little
antiquated edifice, under the mountain, which had
actually been a sort of chateau, was not at all habi
table for a genteel family, but had degenerated to a
mere coarse farm-house, which, in this country, like
"love in a cottage," does better in idea than in the
reality. We gave up our " castle under the hill"
with reluctance, and proceeded to Clarens, where a
spacious, unshaded building without a spark of
poetry about it, was first shown us. This vvas re
fused, incontinently. We then tried one or two
more, until the shades of night overlook us. At
one place the proprietor was chasing a covv through
an orchard, and, probably a little heated with his
exercise, he rudely repelled the application of the
commissionaire, by telling her, when he under
stood the house was wanted for only a month, that
he did not keep a maison garnie. I could not
affirm to the contrary, and we returned to the inn
discomfited, for the night.
Early next morning the search was renewed with

76 SWITZERLAND.
zeal. We climbed the mountain-side, in the rear of
the town, among vines, orchards, hamlets, terratJes,
castles, and villas, to see one of the latter, which was
refused on accountof its remoteness from the lake.
We then went to see a spot that was the very beau
id&al of an abode for people like ourselves, who
were out in quest of Ihe picturesque. It is called
the chateau of Piel, a small hamlet, immediateljr
on the shore of the lake, and quite near Vev^y,
while it is perfectly retired. The house is spacious,
reasonably comfortable, and had some fine old tow
ers built into the modern parts, a detached ruin,
and a long narrow terrace, under the windows, that
overhung the blue Leman, and which faced the
glorious rocks of Savoy. Our application for this
residence was also refused, on account of the short
ness of the time we intended to remain.*
* It is not easy for the. writer to speak of many persoi>aI
incidents, lest the motive might be mistaken, in a country where
there are so many always disposed to attach a base one if they
can; but, it is so creditable to the advanced state of European
civilization and intelligence, that, at any hazard, he will here
say, that even his small pretensions to literary reputation fre
quently were of great service to hira, and, in no instance, even
in those countries whose prejudices he bad openly opposed,
had he any reason to believe it vvas of any personal disadvan
tage. This feeling prevailed at the English custom-houses, at
tbe bureaux all over the continent, and quite frequently, even
at the inns. In one instance, in Italy, an apartment that had
been denied, was siibsequentlv offered to him on his own terms,
on this account; and, on tlie present occasion, the proprietor of
the chateau de Piel, who resided at Geneva, sent a handsome

SWITZERLAND, 77
We had in reserve, all this time, two or three re
gular maisons meublies in the town itself, and, final
ly took refuge in one called "Mon Repos," which
stands quite near the lake, and in a retired corner
of the place. A cook was engaged forthwith, and in
less than twenty-four hours after entering Vevey,
we had set up our household gods, and were to be
reckoned among them who boiled our pot in the
commune. This was not quite as prompt as the
proceedings had been at Spa, but here we had been
bothered by the picturesque, while at Spa, we con
sulted nothing but comfort. Our house vvas suffi
ciently large, perfectly clean, and, though without
carpets or mats, things but little used in Switzer
land, quite as comfortable as was necessary for a
travelling bivouac. The price was sixty dollars a
month, including plate and linen. Of course it
might have been got at a much lower rale, had we
taken it by the year.
One of the first measures, after getting possession
of Mon Repos was to secure a boat. This was soon
done, as there are several in constant attendance, at
what is called the port. Harbour, strictly speaking,
Vev^y has none, though there is a commencement
of a mole, which scarcely serves to afford shelter to
expression of his regret that his agent sliould have thought it
necessary to deny the application of a gentleman of his pursuits.
Even the cow-chaser paid a similar homage to letters. In short,
let the truth be said, the only country in which the writer has
found his pursuits a disadvantage, ia his own.

78 SWITZERLAND.
a skiff. The crafts in use on the lake are large two-
masted boats, having decks much broader than their
true beam, and which carry most of their freight
above board. The sails are strictly neither latine nor
lug, but sufficiently like the former to be .picturesque,
especially in the distance. These vessels are not
required to make good weather, as they invariably
run for the land when it blows, unless the wind
happen to be fair, and sometimes even then. No
thing can be more primitive than the outfit of one
of these barks, and yet they appear to meet the
wants of the lake. Luckily Switzerland has no
custom-houses, and the King of Sardinia appears to
be wise enough to let the Savoyards enjoy nearly as
much commercial liberty as their neighbours. Three
cantons, Geneva, which embraces its foot; Vaud,
which bounds nearly the whole of the northern
shore; Valais, which encircles the head; together
with Savoy, which lies along the cavity oflhe cres
cent, are bounded by the lake. There are also
many towns and villages on the lake, among which
Geneva, Lausanne and Vevey, are the principal.
This place lies immediately at the foot of the
Chardonne, a high retiring section of the moun
tains called the Jorat, and is completely shelter
ed from the north winds. This advantage it pos
sesses in common with the whole district between
Lausarine and Villeneuve, a distance of some fifteen
miles, and, the mountans acting as great natural
walls, the fruits of milder latitudes are successfully

SWITZERLAND. 79
cultivated, notwithstanding the general elevation of
the lake above the sea, is near thirteen hundred feet.
Although a good deal frequented by strangers, Vevey
is less a place of fashionable resort than Lausanne,
and is consequently much simpler in ils habits, and
I suppose cheaper, as a residence. It may have
four or five thousand inhabitants, and possessing one
or two considerable squares, it covers rather more
ground than places of that population usually do, in
Europe. It has no edifice of much pretension, and
yet it is not badly built.
We passed the first three or four days in looking
about us, and, on the whole, we have been rather
pleased with the place. Our house is but a stone's
throw from the water, at a point where there is what,
in the Mahattanese dialect would be called a bat
tery.* This battery leads to the mole and the great
* The manner in which the English language is becoming
con-upted in America, as well as in England, is a matter of seri
ous regret. Some accidental circumstance Induced the Man
hattanese to call a certain enclosure the Park. This name,
probably, at first was appropriate enough, as there might have
been an intention, really to form a park, though the enclosure is
now scarcely large enough to be termed a paddock. This
name, however, has extended to the enclosures in other areas,
and we have already, in vulgar parlance, St. John's Park, Wash
ington Park, and least though not last, Duane-street Park, an
enclosure of the shape of, and not much larger than, a cocked-hat.
The site of an ancient fort on the water has been converted into
a promenade, and has well enough been called the Battery.
But other similar promenades are projected, and the name is
extended to them! Thus, in the Manhattanese dialect, any en-

80 SWITZERLAND.
square. At the first corner of the latter stands a
small semi-castellated edifice, with the colours of the
canton on the window-shutters, which is now in
some way occupied for public purposes, and which
formerly was the residence of Ibe bailli, or the local
governor that Berne formerly sent to rule them in
the name of the Burgerschaft. The square is quite
large and.usually contains certain piles of boards, &c.
that is destined for the foot of the lake, lumber being
a material article in the commerce of the place. On
this square, also, is the ordinary market and several
inns. The town-house is an ancient building in a
more crowded quarter, and at the northern gate are
the remains of another structure that has an air of
antiquity, which I believe also belongs to the public.
Beyond these and its glorious views, Vevey, in itself,
has but little to attract attention. But its environs
contain its sources of pride. Besides the lake shore,
which varies in its form and beauties, it is not easy
to imagine a raore charming acclivity than that
which lies behind the town. The inclination is by
no means as great, just at this spot, as it is both far
ther east and farther west, but it admits of cultivation,
of sites for hamlets, and is much broken by inequali
ties and spacious natural terraces. I cannot speak wilh
certainty of the extent of this acclivity, but, taking
closure in a town, off the water, that is planted, is a. park, and any
similar enclosure, an the water, a battery ! The worthy aldermen
may call this English, but it will not be easy to persuade any but
their constituents to beUeve them.

SWITZERLAND. 81
the eye for a guide, I should think there is quite a
league of the inclined plane in view from the town.
It is covered with hamlets, chateaux, country-
houses, churches and cottages, and besides its vines,
of which there are many near the town, it is highly
beautiful from the verdure of its slopes, its orchards,
and its groves of nut-trees.
Among other objects that crowd this back-ground,
is a church which stands on a sharp acclivity, about
a quarter of a mile on the rear of the town. It is a
stone building of some size, and has a convenient
artificial terrace that commands, as a matter of
course, a most lovely view. We attended service
in it the first Sunday after our arrival, and found the
rites homely and naked, very much like those of our
own Presbyterians. There was a luxury about this
building that you would hardly expect to meet
among a people so simple, which quite puts the co
quetry of our own carpeted, cushioned, closet-like
places of vvorship to shame. This is the summer
church of Vevey, another being used for winter.
This surpasses the refinement of the Roman ladies,
who had their summer and their winter rings, but
were satisfied to use the same temples the year
round. After all there is something reasonable in
this indulgence ; one may love to go up to a high
place to worship, whence he can look abroad on the
glories of a magnificent nature, which always dis
poses the mind to venerate omnipotence, and, unable
to enjoy the advantage the year round, there is good
VOL. IL 8

82 SWITZERLAND.
sense in seizing such occasions as offer for the in
dulgence. I have frequently met with churches in
Switzerland, perched on the most romantic sites,
though this is the first whose distinctive uses I have
ascertained. There is a monument to the memory
of Ludlow, one of Charles' judges, in this church,
and an inscription which attributes to him civic and
moral merits of a high order.
The clergy in this canton, as in most if not all the
others, are supported by the state. There is reli
gious toleration, much as ijt formerly existed in New
England, each citizen being master of his religious
professions, but being compelled to support religion
itself. Here, however, the salaries are regulated
by a common scale, without reference to particular
congregations or parishes. The pastors at first re
ceive rather less than three hundred dollars a year.
This allowance is increased about fifty dollars at the
end of six years, and by the same sum at each suc
cessive period of six years, until the whole amounts
to two thousand Swiss, or three thousand French
francs, which is something less than six hundred
dollars. There is also a house and a garden, and
pensions are bestowed on the widows and children.
On the whole, the stale has too much connexion
with this great interest, but the system has the all-
important advantage of preventing men from pro
faning the altar as a pecuniary speculation. The
population of Vaud is about 155,000 souls, and there
are one hundred and fifty-eight Protestant pastors.

SWITZERLAND. 83
besides four Catholics, or about one clergyman to
each thousand souls, which is just about the propor
tion that exists in New York.
In conversing with an intelligent Vaudois on re
turning from the church, I found that a great deal of
interest is excited in this canton by the late conspi
racy inBerne. The Vaudois have got that attach
ment to liberty which is ever the result of a long
political dependence, and which so naturally dis
poses the inferior to resist the superior. It is not
pretended, however, that the domination of Berne
vvas particularly oppressive, though, as a matter of
course, whenever the interests of Vaud happened to
conflict with those of the great canton, the former
had to succumb. Still the reaction of a political
dependency, which lasted more than two centuries
and a half, had brought about, even previously to the
late changes, a much more popular form of govern
ment than was usual in Switzerland, and the people
here really manifest some concern on the subject of
this effort of aristocracy. As you may like to com
pare the elective qualifications of one of the more
liberal cantons of the confederation with some of our
own, I will give you an outline of those of Vaud,
copied, in the substance, from Picot.
The voter must have had a legal domicile in the
canton one year, be a citizen, twenty-five years old,
and be of the number of the three-fourths of the
citizens who pay the highest land tax, or have
three sons enrolled and serving in the militia. Do-

84 SWITZERLAND.
mestics, persons receiving succour from the parishes,
bankrupts, outlaws and convicted criminals, are per
petually excluded from the elective franchise.
This system, though far better than that of France,
which establishes a certain amount of direct taxa
tion, is radically vicious, as it makes property, and
that of a particular species, the test of power. It is,
in truth, the old English plan a little modified, and
the recent revolution that has lately taken place in
England, under the name of reform, goes to prove
that it is a system which contains in itself the seeds
of vital changes. As every political question is
strictly one of practice, changes become necessary
every where with the changes of circumstances, and
these are truly reforms; but when they become so
serious as to overturn principles, they produce the
effects of revolutions, though possibly in a mitigated
form. Every system, therefore, should be so framed
as to allow of all the alterations which are necessary
to convenience, with a strict regard lo its own per
manency as connected wilh ils own governing prin
ciple. In America, in consequence of having at
tended to this necessity from the commencement,
we have undergone no revolution in principle in
half a century, though constantly admitting of minor
changes, while nearly all the rest of Europe has,
either in theory or in practice, or in both, been
effectually revolutionized. Nor does the short pe
riod from which our independent existence dates fur
nish any argument against us, as it is not so much

SWITZERLAND. 85
time, as the changes of which time is the parent,
that tries political systems, and America has under
gone the ordinary changes, such as growth, exten
sion of interests and the other governing circum
stances of society, that properly belong to two cen
turies, within the last fifty years. America to-day,
in all but government, is less like the America of
1776, than the France of to-day is like the France
of 1600. While it is the fashion to scout our exam
ple as merely that of an untried experiment, ours is
fast getting to be the oldest political system in
Christendom, as applied to one and the same people.
Nations are not easily destroyed. They exist
under a variety of mutations, and names last longer
than things, but I now speak in reference to distin
guishing and prominent facts, without regard to the
various mystifications under which personal inte
rests disguise themselves.

86 SWITZERLAND.

LETTER XVIII.

Dear — ¦ — ,
A little incident has lately impressed me with the
great wealth of this quarter of the world in wines,
as compared with our own poverty. By poverty, I
do not mean ignorance of the beverage, or a want of
good liquors; for I believe few nations have so many
varieties, or varieties so excellent as ourselves. Cer
tainly, it is not common to meet as good Bordeaux
wines in Paris, as in New York. The other good-
liquors of France are not so common, and yet the
best Burgundy I ever drank was in America.*
This is said without reference to the different quali
ties of the vineyards — but, by poverty, I mean the
want of the vines.
Vineyards abound all over the American conti
nent, within the proper latitudes, except in the por
tions of it peopled by the colonists who have an
English origin. To this fact then, it is fair to in
fer, that we owe the general neglect of this generous
plant, among ourselves. The Swiss, German and
French emigrants, are already thinking of the vine,
while we have been in possession of the country
two centuries, without making a cask of wine. If
* since his return, the authorcan say tlie same of Bhenisb
wines, though the tavern wines of Germany, are usually much
better than the tavern wines of France.

SWITZERLAND. 87
this be not literally true, it is so nearly true, as to
render it not less a leading fact. I do not attach
exactly the same moral consequences to the want
of the vine, as is usually attributed to the circum
stance by political economists; though I am of
opinion that serious physical evils may be traced to
this cause. Men will seek some stimulus or other,
if it be attaiDable, place them in what situations you
will. Although wine is forbidden by the Koran,
the Mahomedan is often intoxicated, and my own
eyes have shown me how much drunkenness there
exists in the vine-growing countries of Europe.
On this subject, it may be well to say a word, en
passant. I came to Europe, under the impression that there
was more drunkenness among us, than in any other
country, England, perhaps, excepted. A residence
of six months in Paris, changed my views entirely.
You will judge of my surprise, when first I saw a
platoon of the royal guard, literally a whole platoon,
so far as numbers and the order of their promenade
was concerned, staggering drunk, within plain view
of the palace of their master. From this time I
became more observant, and not a day passed that I
did not see men, and even women, in the same situ
ation, in the open streets. Usually, when the fact
was mentioned to Americans, they expressed sur
prise, declaring they had never seen such a thing!
They were too much amused wilh other sights to re
gard this; and then they had come abroad with dif
ferent notions, and it is easier to float in the current

88 SWITZERLAND.
of popular opinion, than to stem it. In two or
three instances, I have taken the unbelievers with
me into the streets, where I have never failed to con
vince them of their mistake, in the course of an
hour. These experiments, too, were usually made
in the better quarters of the town, or near our own
residence, where one is much less apt to meet with
drunkenness, than in the other quarters. On one
occasion, a party of four of us went out with this
object, and we passed thirteen drunken men, during
a walk of an hour. Many of them were so far
gone, as to be totally unable to walk. I once saw,
on the occasion of a festival, three men literally
wallowing in the gutter before my window, a degree
of beastly degradation I never witnessed in any
other country.
The usual reply of a Frenchman, when the sub
ject has been introduced, was that the army of occu
pation introduced the habit into the capital. But I
have spoken lo you of M  , a man whose candour
is only equalled by his information. He laughed
at this account of the matter, saying that he had
now known France near sixty years; it is his native
country; and he says that he can not see any differ
ence, in this particular, iu his time. It is probable
that, during the wars of Najioleon, when there was
so great a demand for men of the lower classes, it
was less usual to encounter this vice in the open
streets, than now, for want of subjects; but, by all
I can learn, there never vvas a time when drunkards
did not abound in France. I do assure you that, in

SWITZERLAND. 89
the course of passing between Paris and London, I
have been more struck by drunkenness in the streets
of the former, than in those of the latter.
Not long since, I asked a labourer if he ever got
grise, and he laughingly told me — "yes, whenever
he could." He moreover added, that a good pOrr
tion of his associates did the same thing. Now I
take it, this word grise contains the essence of the
superiority of wine over whiskey. It means fud
dled, a condition from which one recovers more
readily, than from downright drunkenness, and of
which the physical effects are not so injurious. I
believe the consequences of even total inebriety
from wine, are not as bad as those which follow in-
ebrietj' from whiskey and rum. But your real
amateur, here, is no more content with wine, than
he is with us; he drinks a white brandy, that is
pretty near the pure alcohol.
The cholera has laid bare the secrets of drunken
ness, all over Europe. At first vve were astonished
when the disease got among the upper classes; but,
with all my experience, I confess I was astonished
at hearing it whispered of a gentleman, as I cer
tainly did in a dozen instances — " mais il avail
V habitude de boire trop." Cholera, beyond a
question, killed many a sober man, but it also laid
bare the fault of many a devotee of the bottle.
Drunkenness, almost as a matter of course, abounds
in nearly all, if not in all, the armies of Europe.
It is peculiarly the soldier's and the sailor's vice,
and some queer scenes have occurred directly under

90 SWITZERLAND.
my own eyes here, which go to prove it. Take
among others, the fact, that a whole guard, not long
since, got drunk in the Faubourg St. Germain, and
actually arrested people in the streets and confined
them in the guard-house. The invalids are notori
ous for staggering back to their quarters; and I pre
sume I have seen a thousand of these worthies, first
and last, as happy as if they had all their eyes, and
arms, and legs about them. The official reports
show ten thousand cases of females arrested for
drunkenness, in Paris, during the last year. — But
to return to our vineyards.
Although I am quite certain drunkenness is not
prevented by the fact that wine is within the reach
ef the mass, it is easy to see that its use iFless inju
rious, physically, than that of the stronger com
pounds and distillations, to which the people of the
non-vine-growing regions have recourse as substi
tutes. Nature is a better brewer than man, and the
pure juice of the grape is less injurious than the mix
ed and fiery beverages that are used in America. In
reasonable quantities, it is not injurious at all. Five
and twenty years since, when I first visited Europe,
I was astonished to see wine drunk in tumblers. I
did not, at first understand that half of what I had
up to that time been drinking was brandy, under the
name of wine.
While our imported wines are, as a whole, so
good, we do not always show the same discrimina-,
tion in choosing. There is very little good cham
pagne, for instance, drunk in America. A vast deal

SWITZERLAND. 91
is consumed, and we are beginning to understand
that it is properly a table-wine, or one that is to be
taken with the meats, but sparkling champagne "is
ex necessitate, a wine of inferior quality. No
wine mousses, as the French term it, that has body
enough to pass a certain period without fermentation.
My friend de V  , is a proprietor of vines at Ay,
and he tells me that the English take most of their
good wines, which are the " still champagnes," and
the Russians and the Americans the poor, or the
sparkling. A great deal of the sparkling, however,
is consumed in France, the price better suiting
French economy. But the wine-growers of Cham
pagne themselves speak of us, as consumers of their
second class liquors.
I drunk at Paris, as good "sparkling champagne"
as any body I knew, de V  having the good na
ture to let me have it, from his cellar, for the price
at which it is sold to the dealer and exporter, or at
three francs the bottle. The octroi and the
transportation bring the price up lo about three
francs and a half. This then is the cost to the
restaurateur and the inn-keeper. These sell it
again to their customers, at six francs the bottle.
Now a bottle of wine brought not, and I presume
does not, cost the American dealer any more; the
difference in favour of the duly, more than equalling
the difference against them, in the transportation.
This wine is sold in our eating-houses and taverns
at two dollars, and even at two dollars and a half
tbe bottle! In other words, the consumer pays

92 SWITZERLAND.
three times the amount of the first cost and charges.
Now, it hcppens, that there is something very like
free trade in this article, (to use the vernacular)
and here are its fruits. You also see in this fact,
the truth of what I have told you of our paying for
the want of a class of men who will be content to be
shop-keepers and inn-keepers, and who do not look
forward to becoming anything more. I do not say
that we are the less respectable for this circumstance,
but we are, certainly, as a people, less comfortable.
Champagne, Rhenish and Bourdeaux wines ought to
be sold in New York, quite as cheap as they are
sold in the great towns of the countries in which
they are made. They can be bought of the wine-
merchants, nearly as low, even as things are.
If the inn-keepers and steam-boat stewards, of
America, would buy and sell low-priced Burgundy
wines, that, as the French call it, carry water ivell,
as well as some other wines that might be named,
the custom of drinking this innocent and useful
beverage at table, would become general, attention
would then be paid to the vine, and in twenty
years we should be consumers of the products of
our own vineyards.
The idea that our winters are too severe can hardly
be just. There may be mountainous districts where
such is the fact, but, in a country that extends from
the 27th lo the 47th degrees of latitude, it is scarcely
possible to suppose the vine cannot flourish. I have
told you that wine is made on the Elbe, and it is
made in more than half the Swiss cantons. Proper

SWITZERLAND. 93
exposures and proper soil are necessary for good
wines, any where, but nothing is easier than to have
both. In America I fear, we have hitherto sought
land that was too rich; or rather land that is want
ing in the proper and peculiar richness that is con
genial to the vine. All the great vineyards 1 have
seen, and all of which I can obtain authentic ac
counts, are on thin gravelly soils; frequently, as is
the case in the Rheingau, on decomposed granite,
quartz and slenile. Slate mixed with quartz on a
clayish bottom, and with basalt, is esteemeda good
soil, as is also marl and gravel. The Germans use
rich manures, but I do not think this is the case in
France. The grape that makes good wine is rarely fit to
eat. Much care is had to reject the defective fruit,
when a delicate vine is expected, just as we cull
apples to make fine cider. A really good vineyard
is a fortune at once, and a tolerable one is as good a
disposition as can be made of land. All the fine
wines of Hockheim are said to be the produce of
only eight or ten acres. There is certainly more
land than this, in the vine, south of the village, but
the rest is not esteemed to be Hockhelmer.
Time is indispensable to fine wines, and time is a
thing that an American lives too fast to spare. The
grapes become better by time, although periodically
renewed, and the wine improves in the same way.
I have told you in these letters, that I passed a vine
yard on the lake of Zurich of which there are re-
VOL. IL 8 tt

94 SWITZERLAND.
cords to show it has borne the viae five hundred
years. Five centuries since, if historians are lo be
believed, the winters on this lake must have been as
severe as they are usually on Champlain ; they are
almost as severe, even now.
Extraordinary characters are given to some of the
vines here. Thus some of the Moselle wines, it is
said, will not make good vinegar! If this be true,
judging by my own experience, vinegar is converted
into wines of the Moselle. I know no story of this
sort, after all, that is more marvellous than one I
have heard of the grandfather of A  , and which
I believe to be perfectly true, as it is handed down
on authority that can scarcely be called in question.
A pipe of Madeira was sent to him, about the
year 1750, which proved to be so bad that, giving
it up as a gone case, he ordered it to be put in the
sun, with a bottle in its bung-hole, in order that it
might, at least, make good vinegar. His official
station compelled him to entertain a great deal, and
his factotum, on these occasions, was a negro,
whose name I have forgotten. This fellow, a capi
tal servant when sober, occasionally did as he saw
his betters do, and got drunk. Of course this
greatly deranged the economy of the government
dinners. On one occasion, particular care was taken
to keep him in his right senses, and yet at the criti
cal moment he appeared behind his master's chair,
as happy as the best of them. This matter was
seriously inquired into next day, when it was dis-

SWITZERLAND. 95
covered that a miracle had been going on out of
doors, and that the vinegar had been transformed
into wine. The tradition is that this wine was re
markable for its excellence, and that it was long
knovvn by the name of the negro, as the best wine
of a colony, where more good wine of the sort vvas
drunk, probably, than was ever known by the same
number of people, in the same time, any where else.
Now should one experimenting on a vineyard, in
America, find vinegar come from his press, he would
never have patience to let it ferment itself back into
good liquor. Patience, I conceive Is the only ob
stacle to our becoming a, great wine-growing and
a great silk-growing country.
I have been led into these remarks by observing the
vineyards here. The qualities of wines, of course,
are affected by the positions of the vineyards, for
all who can make wine do not make good wine, but
the vines of Vevey, owing most probably to their
exposure, are said to be the best of Switzerland.
The best liquor comes from St. Saphorin, a hamlet
that is quite near the town, which lies at the foot of
the acclivity, described to you in our approach to
this place. The little cA^/eaw-looking house that
so much struck our fancies, on that occasion, is, in
fact, in the immediate neighbourhood of the spot.
All these circumstances show how much depends
on minor circumstances in the cultivation of the
vine, and how much may be expected from the
plant, when care Is had to respect them.
The heat may be too great for the vineyards as

96 SWITZERLAND.
well as the cold. In Italy there is a practice of
causing the vines to run on trees, in order to dimi
nish the effect of the heat, by means of the shade
they create. But the good wines are nearly every
where, if not positively every where, produced from
short, clipped, standards. This fact has induced
me to think that vve may succeed better with the
vine in the middle, and even in the eastern, than
in the southern and western states. I take it the
cold is of no importance, provided it be not so in
tense as to kill the plant, and the season is long
enough to permit the fruit to ripen. It would be
absurd in me, who have but a very superficial
knowledge of the subject, to pretend to be very
skilful in this matter, but I cannot help thinking
that, if one had patience to try the experiment, it
would be found the common little American fox-
grape, would in time bring a fine wine.- It greatly
resembles the grapes of some of the best vineyards
here, and the fact of its not being a good eating
grape is altogether in its favour.
In short, I throw it out as a conjecture more than
as an ascertained fact, it is true, but from all I have
seen in Europe, I am induced to think that, in
making our experiments on the vine, we have been
too ambitious to obtain a fat soil, and too wary of
the higher latitudes of the country. A gravelly
hill-side, in the interior, that has been well-stirred,
and which has the proper exposure, I cannot but
think would bring good wine, in all the low coun
tries of the middle stales.

SWITZERLAND. 97

LETTER XX.
Dear  ,
Our residence at V6vey, thus far, has been fruit
ful of pleasure. The lake, with its changeful aS'
pects and movement, wears better even than the
Oberland Alps, and we have now become tho
roughly convinced of our mistake in establishing
ourselves at Berne, beautiful as is that place, in
1828. The motive was a desire lo be central, but
Switzerland is so small that the distances are of
no great moment, and I would advise all our
friends who intend to pass a summer in the can
tons, and who have need of a house, to choose
their station somewhere on the shores of the Le
man. Two steamboats ply daily in different di
rections, and it is of little consequence at which
end one may happen to be. Taking every thing
into consideration, "Mon lac est le premier," is
true; though it may be questioned if M. de Vol
taire ever saw, or had occasion to see, half of its
advantages. We never tire of the Leman, but spend two
or three hours every day in the boat. Sometimes
we row in front of the town, which literally
vot. II. 9

98 SWITZERLAND.
stands in the water, in some places, musing on the
quaint old walls, and listening to the lore of ho
nest John, who moves two crooked oars as lei
surely as a lady of the tropic utters, but who has
seen great events in his time. Sometimes even
this lazy action is too much for the humour of the
moment, and we are satisfied with drifting along
the shore, for there is generally current enough
to carry us the whole length of Vevey in half an
hour. Occasionally we are tossed about like an
egg-shell, the winds at a distance soon throwing
this part of the sheet into commotion. On the
whole, however, we have, as yet, had little be
sides calms, and, what is unusual in Switzerland,
not a drop of rain.
We have no reason to suspect the lake to be
unhealthy, for we ar^ often out until after sunset,
without experiencing any ill effects. The shores
are everywhere bold about Vevey, though the
meadows and the waters meet near the entrance
of the Rhone, some' eight or ten miles from this
place, in a way to raise the thoughts of rushes and
lilies, and a suspicion of fevers. The pure air
and excellent food of the mountains, however, have
done us all good thus far, and vve are looking ea
gerly forward to the season of grapes, which is
drawing near, and which every bpdy says makes
those who are perfectly well, infinitely better.
I have not yet spoken to you of the greatest
charm in the scenery of Vevey, and the one which
perhaps has given us the highest degree of satis-

SWITZERLAND. 99
faction. The coast of Savoy, immediately oppo
site the town, is a range of magnificent rocks, that
rises some four or five thousand feet above the sur
face of the water. In general these precipices are
nearly perpendicular, though their surfaces are
broken by huge ravines, that may well be termed
valleys. This is the region that impends over
Melllerie, St. Gingoulph and Evian, towns or ham
lets that cling to the bases of the mountains, and
form, of themselves, beautiful objects, from this
side of the lake. The distance from Vevey to the
opposite shore, agreeably to the authority of old
John, our boatman, is afeout five miles, though the
great purity of the atmosphere, and the height of
the land make it appear less. The summit of
the rocks of Savoy are broken into tbe most fan
tastical forms, so beautifully and evenly drawn,
at the same time they are quite irregular and with
out design, that I have termed them natural ara
besques. No description can give you an accu
rate idea of their beauty, for I know nothing else
in nature lo compare them to. As they lie nearly
south of us, I cannot aceount for the unusual glow
of the atmosphere behind them, atevery clear sun
set, except from the reflection of the glaciers;
Mont Blanc lying in that direction, at the dis
tance of about fifty miles, though invisible. Now
the effect of the outline of these rocks, at, or after
sunset, relieved by a soft, golden sky, is not only
one of the finest sights of Switzerland, but, in its
way, is just the most perfect spectacle I have ever

100 SWITZERLAND.
beheld. It is not so apt to extort sudden admira
tion, as the rosy tints and spectral hues of the high
Alps, at the same hour; but it wins on you, in the
way the lonely shadows of the Appennines growon
the affections, and, so far from tiring or becoming
satisfied with their view, each successive evening
brings greater delight than the last. You may get
some idea of what I mean, by imagining vast ara
besques, rounded and drawn in a way that no art
can equal, standing out huge, and dark, and grand,
in high relief, blending sublimity with a bewitch
ing softness, against a sky, whose light is slow
ly passing from the glow of fiery gold, to the
mildest tints of evening. I scarcely know when
this scene is most to be admired; when the rocks
appear distinct and brown, showing their materi
al, and the sky is burnished; or when the first are
nearly black masses, on whose surfaces nothing
are visible, and the void beyond is just pregnant
with sufficient light to expose their exquisite forms.
Perhaps this is the perfection of the scene, for the
gloom of the hour throws a noble mystery overall.
These are the sights, that form the grandest fea
tures in Swiss scenery. That of the High Peaks
cut off from the earth by the clouds, is perhaps
the most extraordinary of them all; but I think
this of the rocks of Savoy the one that wins the ¦
m6st on the affections, although this opinion is
formed from a knowledge of ihe general fact that
objects which astonish so greatly at first, do not,
as a rule, continue the longest to afford pleasure^

SWITZERLAND. 101
for I never saw the former spectacle but twice,
and on one of those occasions, imperfectly. No
dilettanti were ever more punctual at the opening
of the orchestra, than we are punctual at this even
ing exhibition, which, very much like a fine and
expressive harmony, grows upon us at each repe
tition. All this end of the lake, as we float lazi
ly before the town, with the water like a mirror,
the acclivity behind the town gradually darken^
ing upvvard under the retiring light, the remote
Alpine pastures just throwing out their chalets,
the rocks of Savoy and the sublime glen of the
Rhone, with the glacier of Mont Velan in its
depths, raising its white peak into the broad day
long after evening has shadowed every thing be
low, forms the most perfect natural picture I have
ever seen.
You can easily fancy how much we enjoy all
this. Jean and his boat have been in requisition
nearly every evening since our arrival, and the
old fellow has dropped so readily into our hu
mours, that his oars rise and fall in a way to pro
duce a melancholy ripple, and little else. The
sympathy between us is perfect, and I have al
most fancied that his oars dally grow more crook
ed and picturesque.
We are not alone, however, in the possession
of so much natural beauty. No less than seven
American families, including ourselves, are either
temporarily established on or quite near this lake,,
or are leisurely moving around its banks. The
9*

102 SWITZERLAND.
fame of the beauty of the women has already
reached our ears, though, sooth lo say, a reputa
tion of that sort is not very difficult of attainment
in this part of the world. With one of these fa
milies we were intimate in Italy, the tie of coun
try being a little increased by the fact that some
of their connexions were also ours. They hurried
from Lausanne to meet us, the moment they
were apprized of our arrival, and the old relations
have been re-established between us. Since this
meeting excursions have been planned, and it is
probable that I may have something to communi
cate, in reference to them.
A day or two since I met a VSvasian on the
public promenade, with whom business had led
to a slight acquaintance. We saluted, and pur-
,sued our walk together. The conversation soon
turned on the news from America, where nulli
fication is, just now, menacing disunion. The
Swiss are the only people, in Europe, who appear
to me to feel any concern in what has heen ge
nerally considered to be a crisis in our affairs. I
do not wish to be understood as saying that indi
viduals of other nations do not feel the same
friendly interest in our prosperity, for perhaps a
million such might be enumerated in the different
nations of Europe, the extreme liberals every
where looking to our example as so much autho
rity in favour of their doctrines; but, after ex
cluding the mass, who have too much to do to
live, to trouble themselves with concerns so re-

SWITZERLAND. 103
mole, so far as my knowledge extends, the great
majority on this side the Atlantic, without much
distinction of country, Switzerland excepted, are
waiting with confidence and impatience, for the
knell of the Union. I might repeat to you many
mawkish and unmeaning declarations to the con
trary of all this, but I deem them to be mere
phrases of society, to which no one, in the least
acquainted with the world, can attach any im
portance; and which, as they have never deceived
me, I cannot wish should be made the means of
deceiving you. Men generally hesitate' to avow
in terms, the selfishness and illiberality that regu
late all their acts and wishes, and he who is cre
dulous enough to mistake words for deeds, or even
thoughts, in this quarter of the world will soon
become the dupe of more than half of those he
meets. I believe I never mentioned to you an anec
dote of Sir James Mackintosh, which bears di
rectly on this subject. It vvas at a dinner given by
Sir  , that some one inquired if he (Sir
James Mackintosh) had ever discovered the au
thor of a certain libellous attack on himself.
"Not absolutely, though I have no doubt that
 was the person. I suspected him at once,
but meeting him in Pall Mall, soon after the ar
ticle appeared, he turned round and walked the
whole length of the street with me, covering me
with protestations of admiration and esteem, and
then I felt quite sure of my man!"
My V6vasian made many inquiries as to the

104 SWITZERLAND,
probable result of the present struggle, and ap
peared greatly gratified vphen I told him that 1
apprehended no serious danger to the republic. I
made him laugh by mentioning the opinion of the
witty Abbe Correa, who said, " The Americans
are great talkers on political subjects ; you would
think they were about to fly to their arms, and just
as you expect a revolution, ihey go koine and drink
tea." My acquaintance was anxious to know if
our government had sufficient strength to put down
nullification by force, for he had learned there was
but a single sloop of war, and less than a battal
ion of troops, in the disaffected part of the coun
try, I told him we possessed all the means
that are possessed in other countries to suppress
rebellion, although we had not thought it necessa
ry to resort to the same system of organization.
Our government vvas mild in principle, and did not
wish to oppress even minorities ; but I made no
doubt of the attachment of a vast majority to the
Union, and, when matters really came to a crisis,
if rational compromise could not effect the object,
I thought nine men in ten would rally in its de
fence, I did not believe that even civil war was
to produce results in America difierent from what
it produced elsewhere. Men would fight in a re
public as they fought in monarchies, until they
were tired, atid an arrangement would follow. It
was not common for a people of the same origin,
of similar habits, and contiguous territory, to dis
member an empire by civil war, unless violence

SWITZERLAND. lOS
had been used in bringing them together, or con
quest had first opened the way to disunion. 1 did
not know that we were always to escape the evils
of humanity any more than others, or why they
were to fall heavier on us, when they proceeded
from the same causes, than on our neighbors. As
respects the small force in Carolina, 1 thought it
argued our comparative strength, rather than our
comparative weakness. Here were loud threats
of resistance, organized and even legal means to
effect it, and yet the laws were respected, when
sustained by only a sloop of war and two compa
nies ofartillery. If France were to recall her bat
talions from la Vendee, Austria her divisions from
Italy, Russia her armies from Poland, or England
her troops from India or Ireland, we all know that
those several countries would be lost, in six months,
to their present possessors. As we had our force
in reserve, it really appeared to me that either our
disaffection was very different from the disaffection
of Europe, or that our institutions contained some
conservative principle that did not usually exist in
this hemisphere. My Vevaisan was curious to
know to which of these circumstances I ascribed
the present quiet in Carolina. I told him to both.
The opposition in that state, as a whole, were ho
nest in their views ; and, though some probably
meant disunion, the greater part did not. It
was a governing principle of our system to seek
redress by appeals to the source of power, and the
majority were prohably looking still, to that quar-

106 SWITZERLAND.
ter, for relief. ,Under other systems, rebellion,
nine limes in ten, having a different object, would
not be checked by this expectation.
The Swiss listened to all this attentively, and
remarked that America had been much misrepre
sented in Europe, and that the opinion was then
getting to be general in his country, from impro
per motives. He told me, that a great deal had
been said about the proceedings in the case of
Rovi'land Stephenson, and he frankly asked me to
explain them ; for, being a commercial man, he
admitted that injurious impressions had been made
even on himself, in relation lo that affair. This
was the third Swiss who had alluded to this sub
ject, the other two instances occurring at Rome.
In the latter cases, I understood pretty distinctly
that there were reports current, that the Ameri
cans were so desirous of obtaining rich emigrants,
that they had rescued a criminal in order to reap
the benefit of his gold 1
Of course I explained the matter, by simply
stating the facts, adding, that the "case was an ad
mirable illustration of fhe treatment America had
received from Europe, ever since 1776. An Eng
lishman, a member of Parliament, by the way, had
absconded from his own country, taking shelter in
onrs, by the mere accident of meeting at sea a
Swedish brig bound thither. A reward was of
fered for his arrest, and certain individuals had
taken on themselves, instigated by whom I know
not, to arrest him an a retired road, in Georgia

SWITZERLAND. 107
and to bring him covertly within the jurisdiction of
New- York, with the intention to send him clandes
tinely on board a packet bound to Europe. Now
a grosser abuse than an act like this, could not well
be committed. No form of law was observed,
and the whole proceeding was a violation of jus
tice, and of the sovereignty of the two states inte
rested. It is true, the man arrested was said to
be guilty of gross fraud ; but where such practices
obtain, guilt will soon cease to be necessary, in
order to commit violence. The innocent may be
arrested wrongfully, too. As soon as the circum
stances became known, an application was made
to the proper authorities for relief, which was
granted on a principle that obtained in all civil
ized countries, where right is stronger than might.
Had any one been transferred from Canada to Eng
land, under similar circumstances, he would have
been entitled to the same relief, and there is not a ju
rist in England who does not know the fact; and yet,
this transaction, which, if it redound to the discre
dit of either nation at all (an exaggerated opinion,
I admit) must redound to the discredit of that
which produced the delinquent, and actually pre
ferred him to one of its highest legislative stations,
has been so tortured all over Europe, as to leave
an impression unfavorable to America ! Now I tell
you, dear  , as I told my Vevaisan, that this
case is a very fair example of the manner in
which, for seven years, I have now been an at
tentive observer of the unworthy arts used to bring

108 SWITZERLAND.
us into disrepute^ The power to injure, in order
to serve their own selfish views, which old estab
lished and great nations possess, over one like our
own, is not fully appreciated in America, nor do we
attach sufficient importance to the consequences.
I am not conscious of a disposition to shut my eyes
to our own peculiar national defects, more espe
cially since the means of comparison have ren
dered me more sensible of their nature and exis
tence, but nothing can be more apparent to any
man of ordinary capacity, who has enjoyed the
opportunities necessary to form a correct judg
ment, than the fact that the defects usually im
puted to us here, sucl;i as the want of morals, ho
nesty, order, decency, liberality, and religion, are,
in truth, as the world goes, the strong points of
American character ; while some of those on
which we are a little too apt to pride ourselves,
intelligence, taste, manners, and education, for in
stance, as applied to all beyond the base of society —
are, in truth, those on which it would most become
us to be silent. Others may tell you differently,
especially those who are under the influence of the
" trading humanities," a class that is singularly ad
dicted to philanthropy or "vituperation, as the ba
lance sheet happens to show variations of profit and
loss. I told my Swiss that cne of the reasons why
Europe made so many blunders in her predictions
about America, was owing to the fact that she
sought her information in sources ill qualified,

SWITZERLAND. 109
and, perhaps, ill disposed to impart it. Most of
the information of this nature that either entered
or left America, came, like her goods, through
two or three great channels, or sea-ports, and
these were thronged with the natives of half the
countries of Europe; commercial adventurers, of
whom not one in five ever got to feel or think
like Americans. These men, in some places, pos
sess even a direct influence over a portion of the
press, and by these means, as well as by their ex
tended correspondence, they disseminate errone
ous notions of the country, abroad. The cities
themselves, as a rule, or rather the prominent act
ors in the towns, do not represent the tone of the
nation, as is proved on nearly every distinctive
political question that arises, by the towns almost
uniformly being found in the minority, simply
because they are purely trading communities, fol
low the instinct of their varying interests, and are
ready to shout in the rear of any leader vvho may
espouse them. Now these foreign merchants, as a
class, are always found on the side which is the
most estranged from the regular action of the insti
tutions of the country. In America, intelligence is
not confined to the towns, but, as a rule, there is
less of it there than among the rural population. As
a proof of the errors which obtain, on the subject
of America, in Europe, I instanced the opinion
which betrayed itself in England, the nation which
ought to know us best, during the war of 1812.
Feeling a commereia'l jealousy itself, its govern-
VOL. II. 10

110 BWITZEHLAND.
ment naturally supposed her enemies were among
the merchants, and that her friends were to be
found in the interior. The fact would have exact
ly reversed this opinion, an opinion whose exist
ence is betrayed in a hundred ways, and espe
cially in the publications of the day. It was un
der this notion that our invaders made an appeal
to the. Kentuckians for support! Now there was
not, probably, a portion of the earth where less
sympathy was to be found for England than in
Kentucky; or, in short, along the whole western
frontier of America, where, right or wrong, the
' people attribute most of their Indian wars to the
instigation of that power. Few foreigners took
sufficient interest in the country to probe such a
feeling, and England, being left to her crude con
jectures, and to theories of her own, had, proba
bly been thus led into one of the most absurd of
all the blunders of this nature, that she could pos
sibly have committed. I believe that a large pro
portion of the erroneous notions which exist in
Europe, concerning American facts, proceed from
the prejudices of this class oflhe inhabitants.*
• This was the opinion of the writer, while in Europe. Since
his return, he has seen much reason to confirm it. Last year,
in a free conversation with a foreign diplomatic agent, on the
itate of public feeling, in regard to certain political measures,
the diplomate affirmed that, according to his expei-ience, the
talent, property, and respectability of the counti-y, were all
against the government. This is the worn out cant of England;
and, yet, when reform has been brought to the touchstone, it«
greatest opponents have been found among the parvenus. On

SWITZERLAND. Ill
In order to appreciate the influence of such a.
class of men, it is necessary to recollect their
numbers, wealth, and union. It has often been a
source of mortification to me to see the columns
of the leading journals of the largest town of the
republic, teeming with reports of the celebrations
of English, Irish, German, French and Scotch
societles;^and in which the sentiments promul
gated, half of the time, are foreign rather than
American. Charitable associations, as charities,
may be well enough, but the institutions of the
country, so generous and liberal in themselves,
are outraged by every factitious attempt to over
shadow them by these appeals to the prejudices
and recollections of another state of society. At
least, we might be spared the parade in the jour
nals, and the offensive appearance of monopolizing
the land, which these accounts assume. Intelli
gent travellers observe and comment on these
things, and one of them quaintly asked me, not
long since, " if really there were no Americans
being requested to mention individuals, the diplomatic man, in
question, named three New York merchants, all of whom are
foreigners by birth, neither of whom can speak good English,
neither of whom could influence a vote, neither of whom had,
probably, ever read the constituUon, or could understand it if
he had read it, and ueitljer of whom lyas, in principle, any more
than an eyery-day common-place reflection of the antiquated
notions of the class to which he belonged in other nations, and,
in which he ha4( been educated, and under the influence of
fvbict^ he bad arrived here.

112 SWITZERLAND.
in America?" Can it be matter of surprise that
when the stranger sees these men so prominent
in print and in society, (in many instances quite
deservedly,) that they mistake their influence, and
attach an importance to their opinions they do not
deserve? That Europe has been receiving false
notions of America from some source, during the
present century, is proved by the results so com
pletely discrediting her open predictions; and,
while I knowthat many Americans have innocent
ly aided in thedeception,! have llttledoubtthat the
foreign merchants established in the country, have
been one of the principal causes of the errors.
It is only necessary to look back within our
own time, to note the progress of opinion, and to
appreciate the value of those notions that some
still cherish, as containing all that is sound and
true in human policy. Thirty years ago, the opi
nion that it was unsafe to teach the inferior classes
to read, " as it only enabled them lo read back
books," was a common and favorite sentiment of
, the upper classes in England. To-day, it is a part
of the established system of Austria to instruct
her people! I confess that I now feel mortified
and grieved when I meet with an American gen
tleman who professes any thing but liberal opi
nions, as respects the rights qf his fellow crea
tures. Although never illiberal, I trust, I do not
pretend that my own notions have not undergone
changes, since, by being removed from the pres-

SWITZERLAND. 113
sure of the society in which I was born, my po
sition, perhaps, enables me to look around, less
influenced by personal considerations than is usu
al; but one of the^strongest feelings created by an
absence of so many years from home, is the con
viction that no American can justly lay claim to
be, what might be and ought to be the most ex
alted of human beings, the milder graces of the
christian character excepted, an American gentle
man, without this liberality entering thoroughly
into the whole composition of his mind. By li
beral sentiments, however, I do not mean any of
the fraudulent cant that is used, in order to delude
the credulous, but the generous manly determi
nation to let all enjoy equal political rights, and
to bring those to whom authority is necessarily
confided, as far as practicable, under the control
of the community they serve. Opinions like
these have little in common with the miserable
devices of demagogues, who teach the doctrine
that the people are infallible; or that the aggrega
tion of fallible parts, acting, too, with diminished
responsibilitieSj^rm an infallible whole; which
is a doctrine' almost as absurd as that which
teaches us to believe " the people are their own
worst enemies;" a doctrine, which, if true, ought
to induce those who profess it, to forbid any man
from managing his own affairs, but compel him
to confide them to the management of others,
since the elementary principle is the same in com-
10*

114 SWITZERLAND.
munities and individuals, and, as regards interests,
neither would go wrong unless deceived.
I shall not conceal from you the mortification
and regret I have felt at discovering, from this dis
tance, and it is more easily discovered from a dis
tance than when near by, how far, how very far, the
educated classes' of America are, in opinion, (in my
poor judgment, at least,) behind the fortunes of
the country. Notions are certainly still enter
tained at home, among this class, that are frankly
abandoned here, by men of any capacity, let their
political sect be what it may; and I have frequent-
lyseen assertions and arguments used, in Congress,
that, I think, the dullest tory would now hesitate
about using in Parliament. I do not say that cer
tain great prejudices are not yet prevalent in Eng
land, that are exploded with us, but my remark
applies to some of the old and cherished theories
of government, which have been kept alive as
theories in England, long after they have ceased
to be recognised in practice, and some of which,
indeed, like that of the doctrine of a balance be
tween different powers in the state, never had any
other than a theoretical existence, at all. The ab
surd doctrine just mentioned has many devout be
lievers, at this moment, in America, when a mo
ment's examination must show its fallacy. The
democracy of a country, in the nature of things,
will possess its physical force. Now give to the
physical force of a community an equal political

SWITZERLAND, 115
power, and the moment it finds itself gravely in
terested in supporting or defeating any measure,
it will fall back on its strength, set the other
estates at defiance, and blow your boasted balance
of power to the winds! There never has been an
active democratical feature in the government of
England; nor have the commons, since they have
enjoyed any thing like independence, been aught
but an auxiliary to the aristocracy, in a modified
form. While the king vvas strong, the two bo
dies united to put him down, and, as he got to be
weak, they gradually became identified, to reap
the advantages,- What is to come remains to be
seen.

116 SWITZERLAND,

LETTER XXI.
Dear  ,
We have had a touch of the equinox, and the
Leman has been in a foam, but its miniature an
ger, though terrible enough at times, to those who
are embarked on its waters, can never rise to the
dignity of a surf and a rolling sea. The rain
kept me housed, and old John and I seized the
occasion to convert a block of pine into a Leman
bark, for P  . The next day proving fair, our
vessel, fitted .with two latine sails, and carrv'lng a
weather helm, was committed to the waves, and
away she went, on a wind, toward the opposite
'shore. P  , of course, was delighted, and
clapped his hands, until, perceiving that it was
getting off the land, be compelled us to enter the
boat and give chase. A chase it was, truly; for
the little thing went skipping from wave to wave,
in such a business-like manner, that I once thought
it would go all the way to Savoy. Luckily a
flaw caused it to tack, when it soon became our
prize. We were a long distance off when the

SWITZERLAND. 117
boat was overtaken, and I thought the views be
hind the town finer, at that position, than when
nearer in. I was particularly struck with the ap
pearance of the little chateau of Bionay, which is
still the residence of a family of the same name,
that has been seated, for more than seven centu
ries, on the same rocky terrace. I vvas delighted to
hear that its present owner is a liberal, as every an
cient gentleman should be. Such a man ought to
be cautious, how he tarnishes his lineage with un
just or ungenerous sentiments.
The equinoxial blow returned the next day,
and the lake became really fine, in a new point
of view ; for, aided by the mouniains, it succeeded
in getting up a very respectable appearance of fury.
The sail-boats vanished, and even the steamers
went through it with a good deal of struggling
and reluctance.
As soon as the weather became better, we went
to Lausanne, preferring the road, wilh a view to
see the country. It is not easy to fancy any thing
prettier than this drive, which ran, nearly the
whole distance, along the foot of hills, that
would be mountains any where else, and quite
near the water. The day was beautiful, and we
had the lake with its varying scenery and move
ment, the whole time in sight; while the road, an
excellent solid wheel-track, wound between the
walls of vineyards, and was so narrow as scarcely
to admit the passage of two carriages at a time.
At a short distance from Lausanne, we left the

118

SWITZERLAND.

margin of theJake, and ascended to the level of
the town, through a wooded and beautifully or
namented country.
We found our friends established in one oflhe
numberless villas that dot the brdken land around
the place, with their windows commanding most
of that glorious view that I have already described
to you. Mont Benon, a beautiful promenade, was
close at hand, and, in the near view, the eye ranged
over fields, verdant and smooth lawns, irregular in
their surfaces, and broken by woods and country
houses. A long attenuated reach of the lake
Stretched away towards Geneva, while the upper
end terminated in its noble mountains and the mys
terious, glen-like, gorge of Valais. We returned
from this excursion in the evening, delighted with
the exterior of Lausanne, and more and more con
vinced that, all things considered, the shores of
this lake unite greater beauties, with better advan
tages as a residence, than any other part of Swit
zerland. After remaining at Vevey a day or two longer,
I went to Geneva, in the Winkelried, which had
got a new commander; one as unaffected as his
predecessor had been fantastical. Our progress
was slow, and, although we reached the port early
enough to prevent being locked out, with the ex
ception of a passage across Lake George, in which
the motion seemed expressly intended for the lo
vers of the picturesque, I think this the most de
liberate run, or rather icalk, I ever made by
steam.

SWITZERLAND. 119
I found Geneva much changed, for the better,
in the last four years. Most of the hideous sheds
had been pulled down from the fronts of the
houses, and a stone-pier is building, that puts the
mighty port of New York, with her commercial
energies, to shame. In other respects, I saw no
material alterations in ihe place. The town was
crowded, more of the travellers being French, and
fewer English, than common. As for the Rus
sians, they appear to have vanished from the earth,
to my regret; for, in addition to being among the
most polished people one meets, (I speak of those
who travel) your Russian uniformly treats the
American kindly. I have met with more perso
nal civilities, conveyed in a delicate manner, from
these people, and especially from the diplomatic
agents of Russia, than from any others in Europe,
and, on the whole, I have cause, personally, to com
plain of none; or, in other words, I do not think
that personal feeling warps my judgment, in this
matter. M. Pozzo di Borgo, when he gave
large entertainments, sent a number of tickets to
Mr. Brown to be distributed among his country
men, and I have heard this gentleman say, no
other foreign minister paid him this attention. All
this may be the result of policy, but it is some
thing to obtain civil treatment in this world, on
any terms. You must be here, to understand how
completely we are overlooked.
Late as we were, we were in time for dinner,
which I took at a table d^hote that was well

120' SWITZERLAND.
crowded with French. I passed as an English
man, as a matter of course, and had reason to be
much amused with some of the conversation.
One young Frenchman very coolly affirmed that
two members had lately fought with pistols in
the hall of Congress, during the session, and his
intelligence vvas received with many very pro
per exclamations of horror. The young man re
ferred to the rencontre which took place on the ter
race of the capitol, in which the party assailed was
a member of Congress; but I have no doubt he
believed all he said, for such is the desire to
blacken the American name, just now, that every
unfavorable incident is seized upon and exagger
ated, without shame or remorse. I had a strong
desire to tell this young man that the affair to
which he alluded, did not differ essentially from
that of M. Calemard de la Fayette,* with ihe ex
ception that no one was slain at Washington; but
I thought it wiser to preserve my incognito.
The next day our French party was replaced
by another, and the master of the house promoted
me to the upper end of his table, as an old board
er. Here I found myself, once more, in compa
ny with an Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotch-
• This unfortunate gentleman was no relation of the family
of La Fayette, his proper appellation being that of M. CA6-
mar<l. Fayette, so far as I can discover, is an old French word,
or perhaps a provincial word, that signifies a sort of hedge, and
has been frequently used as a territorial appellation, like de la
Hai'e.

SWITZERLAND. 121
man. l^e'twb former sat opposite to me, and
the last at toy side. The civilities of the table
passed between us, especially between the Scotch
man and myself, with whom I^fell into discourse.
After a little while, my neighbor, a sensiBre
shrewd fellow enough, by the way of illustrating
Tiis epinion, and to get the better of me, cited
some English practice, in connexion with "you
in England," I told him I was no Englishman.
"No Englishman! — yoU are not a Scotchman?"
"Certainly not" "Still less an Irishman!"
"No." My companion now looked at me as
hard as a well-bred man might, and said earnest
ly, "Where did you learn to speak English, so
well?" "At home, as you did — I am an Ame
rican." " Unjph!" and a silence of a minute; fol
lowed by abruptly putting the question of —
"What is the reason that your duels in America
are so bloody — I allude particularly to some fought
in the Mediterranean by your naval officers. We
'get along, with less vindictive fighting." As this
was rather a sharp and sudden shot, I thought it
best to fire back, and I told him, " that as to the
Mediterranean, our officers were oT opinion they
"were ill-treated, till they began to shoot those
who inflicted the injuries^ since whidhlime all had
gone on more smoothly. According to their expe
rience, their own mode of fighting was much the
most efficacious, in that instance at least." As
he bore this good-naturedly, thinking perhaps k&
VOL. II. 11

122 SWITZERLAND.
abrupt question merited a sautsy answer, we soon
became good friends. He made a remark or
two, in better taste than the last, on the facts of
America, and I assured him he was in error,
showing him wherein his error lay. He then
asked me why some of our own people did not
correct the false impressions of Europe, on the
subject of America, for the European could only
judge by the information laid, before. him. He
then mentioned two or three American writers,
who he thought would do. the worid a service by
giving it a book, or two, on the subject. I told him
that if they wrote honestly, and frankly, Europe
would not read their books, for prejudice was not
easily overcome, and no favorable account of us
would be acceptable. It would not be enough for
us to confess our real faults, but we should be re
quired to confess the precise faults that, according
to the notions of this quarter of the world, we are
morally, logically and politically bound to pos
sess. This he would not admit, for what man
is eyer willing to confess that his own opinions
are prejudiced?
I mention thjs little incident,. jbecause its spirit,
in my deliberate judgment, forms the rule, in the
case of the feeling of allBritish sujbjeets, and Lam
sorry to say the subjects of most other Europeaij
countries, .and the mawkish sentiment and honeyed
words that sometimes appear, in toasts, tavern din
ners, and public speeches, the exception, 1 may be
wrong, as well as another, but this, I repeat for

SVVlT^B^LjfND. 123
the twentieth tiiiie, is ihe fesult of my oWn ob
servations; yOU know under what opportunities
these ObservEttions have been 'made, and how far
they ^re' likely to be irifluenced by personal consi
derations. In the evening I accompanied a gentleiiiari,
whose acq'Uciintance I had madfe at Rortie, to thfe
(Country house of a femily'thlat I had also had the
pTeastire of meeting during their winter's residencfe
in that town. We passed out by the gate of Sa
voy, and walked a mile or two, amOng country
houses and pleasant alleys of trees, to a dwelling
not unlike One of our own, on the Island of Man
hattan, though furnished with more taste and com
fort than it is usual to meet in America. M, and
Mad, N  were engageid to pass the evening at
the house of a connexion hear by, and they frankly
proposed that We should be of the party. Of course
we assented, leaving them to be the judges of what
was proper.
At 'this second dwellihg, a stone's throw from
the other. We foutlll a small party Of sensible and
ii'eU-bred peOp^e, who received me as a stranger,
with marked politeness, but with great simplicity,
I was struck with the repast, which was exactly
like vi^hat a country tea is, or perhaps I ought to
say, Used ' to be, in f'espeictable families, at hohie,
v^ho have riot, or had hot much Of the habits df
(he world. We all iat round a large table,, ancf,
ahiOng' Other' gOod things that were Served, was ah
excellettt ftUit tatt I I could almost fancy ihJ^selC

1184 SWITZERLAND.
iji New England, where I remember a judge of a
supreme court once gave me cttslards, at. a similar
entertainment. The family "we hadf gone to see,
were perhaps ajitlle tooelegant for. such a set-oirt,
for I had seen them in Rome,, with mi-Zorrfi a^d
monsignori, at their six o'clock dinners;, but the
quiet good sense with which every body dropped
into their own distinctive habits at home, caused
me to make a. comparison between them and our
selves, much to the disadvantage of the latter. I
do not mean that usages ought not to change, but
that usages should be consistent with themselves,
and based on their general fitness and convenience
for the society for which they are intended. This
is good sense, which is commonly not only good-
Ijreeding, but high-breeding.
The Geneveses are French in their language, in
their Hterature, and consequently in many of their
notions. Still they have independence enough to
have hours, habits, and rules of intercourse that
they find suited to their own particular condition.
The fashions of Paris, beyond the point of reason,
would scarcely influence them, and the answer
would probably be, were a discrepancy between
the customs pointed out, " that the usage may suit
Paris, but it does not suit Geneva." How is it
with us T Our women read in novels and maga
zines, that are usually written by those who have
no access to the- society they write about, and
which they oftener caricature than describe, that
people of quality in England go late to parties ; ani

SWITZERLAND. 135
they go late to parties, too, to be like English
people of quaUty. Let me make a shOi't compari
son, by way of illustration. The English woman
df quality, in town, rises at any hour between nine
and twelve. She is dressed by her maid, and if
there are Children, they are brought to her by a
child's maid. Nourishing them herself is almost
out of the question. Her breakfast is eaten be
tween eleven and one. At three or four she may
lunch. At four she drives out; at half past seven she
dines. At ten she begins to think of the evening's
amusement, and is ready for it, whatever it maybe,
unless it should happen to be the opera, or the the
atre, (the latter being almost proscribed as vulgar)
when she necessarily forces herself to hours a little
earlier. She- returns home, between one and feur,
is undressed by her maid, and sleeps until teti or
even one, according to circumstances. These are
late hours, certainly, and in some respects unwise ;
but they have their peculiar advantages, and,' at
all events, they are consistent with themselves-.
In New-York, the house is opened for mornihg
visits at twelve, and with a large straggling town,
bad attendance al the door, and" a total want'of
eonvenience in public vehicles, unless one travels
in a stage-coach, yclept an omnibus, it is closed at
three, for dinner. Sending a card would be little
short of social treason. We are too country-bred'
for such an impertinence. After dinner, there is an
interval of three hours, when tea is served, and th©;
mistiess,of the, house is at a loss for employmeufe
11*

Ii36 SWITZERLAND.
until ten, when she goes into the world,;in order
visit at the hour she has heard, or. read, that
.fashion prescribes such visits ought to be made, in
other countries^ England in particular. Here she
remains until one or two, returns home, undresses
herself, passes a, sleepless morning, perhaps, on ac
count of a cross child, and rises at seven to make
her, husband's cofiee at eight !
There is no exaggeration in this, for such is the
dependence and imitation of a country that has not
sufficient tone to think and act for itself, in still
graver matters, that the case might even be made
stronger, with great truth. The men are no wiser.
When invited, they dine at six ; and at home, as a
rule, they dine between three and 'four.- A man
who is much in society, dines out at least half his
time, and consequently he is eating one day at four
and the next at six, all winter !
The object of this digression is to tell you that,
so far as my observation goes, we are, the only
people who do not think and act for ourselves, in
these, matters. French millinary may pass current
throughout Christendom, for mere modes of dress
are habits scarce worth resisting; but in Germany,
Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, or. wherever we have
resided, I have uniformly found that,~in all essen
tials, the people have hours and usages of their
own, founded on their own governing peculiarities
of condition. In America, there is a constant
struggle between the force of things and imitation,
and the former often proving the strongest, it ,fre-

SWITZERLAND* 127
quently lenders the latter lame, and, of course, un-
graceful.*^ In consequence of this fact, social in
tercourse with n^ is attended with greater personal .
sacrifices, and returns less satisfaction, than most
other countries. There are other causes, beyond
a doubt, to assist in producing such a result ; more
especially.ina town ;like New-York, that doubles
its population in less than twenty years ; but the
want of independence, and the weakness of not
adapting our- usages to our peculiar condition,
ought to be ranked among the first. In some cases,
necessity compels us to be Americans, but when
ever there?is a tolerable chance, we endeavor to
become "second chop English."
In a fit of gallantry, I entered a jeweller's shop,
next day, and bought a dozen or fifteen rings, with
a view to distribute them, on my return, among
my young countrywomen at Vevey, of whom there
were now not less than eight or ten, three families
having met at that place. It may serve to make
the ladies of your family smile, when I add, that,
though I was aware of the difTerence between a
European and an American foot and hand,* every
one of my rings, but three, had to be cut, in order
to be worn ! It will show you how little one part
of mankind know the other, if I add, that I have
often met with allusions in this quarter of the
world to the females of Americaj in which the
writers have evidently supposed them.to be coarse
and masculine ! The country is .deemed vulgar, ,
* The southern parts of Europe form an exception. .

128 SWITZERLAND.
and by a very obvious association, it has been as
sumed that the women of such a country must
have the same physical peculiarities as the coarse
and vulgar here. How false this notion is, let the
rings of Geneva testify; for when Ipresented my
ofierings, I was almost laughed out of counte
nance. A wind called the 6«*e had been blowing for the
last twenty-four hours, and when we left Vevey
the gale was so strong, that the steam-boat had
great difficulty in getting ahead. This is a north
wind, and it forces the water, at times, into the
narrow pass at the head of the lake, in a way to
cause a rise of some two or three feet We had
taken a large empty bark in tow, but by the time
we reached Nyon, where the lake widens sud
denly, the boat pitched and struggled so hard, as
to render it advisable to cast ofi" the tow, after
which we did much better. The poor fellow, as
he fell 08" broadside to the sea, which made a fair
breach over him, and set a shred of sail, reminded
me of a man who had been fancying himself in
luck, by tugging at the heels of a prosperous friend,
but who is unexpectedly cut adrift; when he is
found troublesome. Idid not understand his phi
losophy, for, instead of hauling in for the nearest
anchorage, he kept away before it, and run down
for Geneva, as straight as a bee that is humming
towards its hive.
The lake gradually grew more tranquil as. vve
proceeded north, and from Lausanne to Vev6y,,

SWITZERLAND. 139 '
we-actually had smooth water. I saw vessels be-
calm«d^ or: with baffiing winds, unde? this shore,
while the 6ise was blowing stiff,^ fewleag,ues far
ther down the lafce. When I gothome I was sur
prised to hear that the family hstd been boating
the previous evening, and that there, had scarcely
been any, wind during, the day. This difference
was owing to the sheltered" position of Vev6y, ,
of which the fact may serve to give you a better
notion, than a more labored description.
The following morning was mariet-day, and I
walked upon the promenade early,, to, witness the
arrival of the boats. There was not a breath ,of
wind, even to leeward, for the bise had blown it--
self out of breath. The bay of Naples, in a calm,
scarcely presents a more pictufesqueiview, than
the head of the lake did, on this occasion. I cour)t-
ed more than fifty boats in sight; jail steering to
wards Vev&y, stealing along the water, some cross
ing from Savoy, in converging lines, some coming.
down, and others up the; sheet, from different points
on the Swiss side. The great square was soon
crowded, and I walked .among, the < peasants, to
observe their costumes and listen, to their langu.age.
Neither, however^ was remarkable, ,all" speaking
French, and, at need^ all I believe using a p4tQi^,
which does^notvary essentially from that of Vaud.
There was a good deal ,of fruit, some of whiph
was pretty good, though it did not appear, ini.the
abundance we had been taught to expect. The
grapes were, coming in, and they promised to.be..

"I30 SW'iTZfiRLAND.
fine. Though it is still eSrly for'them, v\fe have
them served at breakfast, regulariy, for they are
said to be particularly 'healthful when'eaten with
the morning dew On them. We try to believe
xiuriselves the better for a regimen thatis tOo agree
able to be lightly dropped. Among Other things
in -the market, I observed the iritler husks of
Indian corn, that had been dried in a kiln or
oven, rubbed, and which were now offered for
sale as the stuffing of beds. It struck me that this
was a great improv^ement on straw.
I had received a visit the 'day 'before from a
principal inhabitant of Vev^y, with an invitation
to breakfast at his country house, on the heights.
This gratuitous '¦divility Was not to be declined,
thoUgh it was our desire to be 'qUiet,'as we con
sidered the residence at Vev6y, asort of villagia-
tttra,'SLfter Paris. Accordingly, I got into a char,
and climbed the mountain for a mile and a half,
through beautiful pastures and orchards, by nar
row winding lanes, that, towards the' end, got to
be of a very primitive character. Without this
little excursion, I should have formed no just
idea of the variety in the environs of 'the place,
and Should have lost agood deal of their beauty.
I have told you that this acclivity rises behind the
town, for a distance exceeding a mile, but I am
how persuaded it would have been nearer the
truth had I said a league. The majesty of Swiss
nature constantly deceives the eye, and it requires
great care and much expedience to prevent falling

SWJtTZERLAJaD.. 131
into these mistakes. The house I aought^ stood
on a little natural terrace, a speck on the broad
breast of the.mountain,, or what would be called
a mountajo,.were it not for the granite piles in its
neigliborhood, and was beautifully surrounded by
woods,. pastures,, and orchards., We were above,
the vine.
A small party, chiefly females, of good manners
and, great good sense, were assembled, and our
entertainment was very, much what it ought to be,
simple, good,, and without fuss. After I had been
formally presented, to the rest of the company, a
young man approached, and was introduced as a
countryman. It was a lieutenant of the navy,
who had found his way, up from the Mediterra^
nean squadron, to this spot.. It is so unusual to
meet Americans under such circumstances, that
his presence was an agreeable surprise. Our peo
ple abound in the taverns and public conveyances,
but it is quite rare that they are met in European
society at all..
One of the guests to-day recounted an anecdote
of Carnbaclres, which was in keeping with a good
banquet. He and the, arch chancelier were re
turning from a breakfast in the country, together,
when he made a remark, on the unusual silence
of his companion. The answer was, 'f .ft digtre,"
We walked through the grounds, which were
prettily disposed, and had several good look-outs.
From, one of the, latter we got a commanding
yiew of all the: adjacent district. This acclivity

1 3S SWiTSfERLANb.
¦is rieither a c3^6, as the French call them, nbr a
Iiili-side, nor'yet a mountain, but a region.! Its
breadth is sufficien'tly great to contain 'haftnlets, as
yoii already know, afid, seen from this point, the
town of "Vevey came into the view, as a mere par
ticle. The head of the lake lay ¦deep in thedis-
'tance, and, it was only when the eye rose to the
fpiniiacles of rock, hoary with glaciers above, that
one could at all conceive he was not already.
perched on a magnificent Alp. The different
guests pointed out their several residences, which
were visible at the distance of miles, perhaps, all
seated on the same verdant acclivity.
I decended on foot, the road being too precipi
tous in places, to render even a cAar pleasant On
rejoining the domestic circle, w& took boat and
pulled towards the littlfe chdteau-]6oking dwell
ing, on a narrow verdant peninsula, which, as you
may remember,'had ^rst caught my eye on jip-
proaching Vev^y, as the very spot that a hunter
-of the picturesque would like for a temporary re
sidence. The distance was about a mile, and, the
condiUon of the house excepted, a nearer view
-confirmed all our first irnpressions. It had been
a small chdteau, and was -called Glayrole. It
stands near the hamlet of St Saphorin, which, both
Frangois and Jean maintain, produces the best
wines of Vaud, and, though now reduced to the
condition of a dilapidated farm-house, has still
some remains of its ancient state. There is a ceil
ing, in the Hitter Saal, that can almost yie with

SWITZERLAND. 133
that of the castle of Habsburg, though it is less
smoked. The road, more resembling the wheel-
track of a lawn, than a highway, runs quite near
the house on one side, while the blue and limpid
lake washes the foot of the little promontory.

VOL, IL IS

134 SWITZERLAND.

LETTER XXII.
Dear  ,
After spending a few more days in the same
delightful and listless enjoyments, my friend
C  came over from Lausanne, and we em
barked in the Winkelried, on the afternoon of the
25th September, as she hove-to off our mole, on
her way up the lake. We anchored off Villeneuve
in less than an hour, there being neither port, nor
wharf, nor mole at that place. In a few minutes
we were in a three-horse conveyance, called a
diligerice, and were trotting across tbe broad
meadows of the Rhone, towards Bex, where we
found one of our American families, the T  's,
on their way to Italy.
C  and myself ate some excellent quails, for
supper, in the public room. An Englishman was
taking the same repast, at another table, near us,
and he inquired for news, wishing particularly to
know the state of things about Antwerp. This
led to a little conversation, when I observed that,
had the interests of France been consulted at the
revolution of 1S30, Belgium would have been re
ceived into the kingdom. Our Englishman grunt-

SWITZERLAND. 135
ed at this, and asked me what Europe would hare
said to it My answer was, that when both
parties were agreed, I did not see what Europe
had to do wilh the matter; and that, at all events,
the right Europe could have to interfere was
founded in might, and such was the state of south
western Germany, Italy, Savoy, Spain, and even
England, that I was of opinion Europe would
have been glad enough to take things quietly.
At all events, a war would only have made the
matter worse for the allied monarchs. The other
stared at me in amazement, muttered an audible
dissent, and, I make no doubt, set me down as a
most disloyal subject; for, while extending her
empire, and spreading her commercial system,
(her Free Trade a 1' Anglalse!) over every nook
and corner of the earth, where she can get foot
ing, nothing sounds more treasonable to the ears
of a loyal Englishman than to give the French
possession of Antwerp, or the Russians posses
sion of Constantinople. So inveterate become his
national feelings on such subjects, that, I am per
suaded, a portion of his antipathy lo the Ameri
cans arises from a disgust at hearing notions that
have been, as it were, bred in and in, "through his
own moral system, contemned in a language that
he deems his own peculiar property. Men, in
such circumstances, are rarely very philosophical
or very just.
We were off in a char with the 'dawn. Of
course you will understand that we entered the

136 SWITZERLAND.
Valais, by its famous bridge, and passed St Mau
rice, and the water-fall d, la Teniers, for you have
already travelled along this road with me. I saw
no reason to change my opinion of the Valais,
which looked as chill and repulsive now, as it did
in 1828, though we were so early on the road as
to escape the horrible sight of the basking critins,
most of whom were still housed. Nor can I tell
you how far these people have been elevated in
the scale of men, by an increasing desire for
riches. At Martigny we breakfasted, while the inn
keeper sent for a guide. The canton has put
these men under a rigid police; the prices being
regulated by law, and the certificate of the tra*
veller becoming important to them. This your
advocate of the absurdity called Free Trade will
look upon as tyranny, it being more for the inte
rest of human intercourse that the traveller who
arrives in a strange country should be cheated by
a hackney-coachman, or the driver of a cart, or
stand higgling an hour in the streets, than to
violate an abstraction that can do no one any
good I If travelling will not take the minor points
of Free Tradeism out of a man, I hold him to be
incorrigible. But such is humanity ! There can
not be even a general truth, that our infirmities do
not lead us to push it into falsehood, in particular
practice. Men are no more fitted to live under
a system that should carry out the extreme doc
trines of this theory, than they are fitted to live

sWlTZteRLAND. 137
without law, and the legislator who should at
tempt the thing, in practice, would soon find him
self in the condition of Don Quixotte, after he had
liberated the galley slaves from their fetters:
in other words, he would be cheated, the first
moment circumstances compelled him to make a
hard bargain with a stranger. Were the canton
of Valais to say, you shall be a guide, and such
shall be your pay, the imputation of tyranny
might lie; but saying you may be a guide, and
sueh must be your pay, it merely legislates for
an interest that calls for particular protection in a
particular way, to prevent abuses.
Our guide appeared with two mules harnessed
to a char h banc, and we proceeded. The frag
ment of a village which the traveller passes for
Martigny, on his way to Italy, is not the true
hamlet of that name, but a small collection of
houses that has sprung up since the construction
of the Simplon road. The real place is a mile
distant, and of a much more rural and Swiss cha
racter. Driving through this hamlet, we took our
way along the winding bank of a torrent called
the Drance, the direction, at first, being south.
The road was not bad, but the valley had dwin
dled to a gorge, and, though broken and wild, was
not sufficiently so to be grand. After travelling
a few miles, we reached a point where our own
route diverged from the course of the Drance,
which came in from the east, while we journeyed
south. This Drance is the stream that produced
12*

138 SWITZERLAND.
the terrible inundation a few years since. The
calamity was produced by an accumulation of ice
higher in the gorges, which formed a temporary
lake. The canton made noble efforts to avert the
evil, and men were employed as miners, to cut a
passage for the water, through the ice, but their
labour proved useless, although they had made a
channel, and the danger was greatly lessened. Be
fore half the water had escaped, however, the ice
gave way, and let the remainder of the lake down
in a fiood. The descent was terrific, sweeping be
fore it every thing that came in its way, and al
though so distant, and there was so much space,
the village of Martigny was deluged, and several
of its people lost their lives. The water rose to
the height of several feet on the plain of the
great valley, before it could disgorge itself into
the Rhone.
The ascents now became more severe, though
we occasionally made as sharp descents. The
road lay through a broken valley, the mountains
retiring from each other a little, and the wheel-
track was very much like those we saw in our own
hilly country, some thirty years since, though less
obstructed by mud. At one o'clock we reached
Liddes, a crowded, rude, and dirty hamlet, where
we made a frugal repast Here we were com
pelled to quit the char, and to saddle the mules.
The guide also engaged another man to accompa
ny us with a horse, that carried provender for

SWITZERLAND. 1 39
himself, and for the two animals we had brought
with us. We then mounted, and proceeded.
On quitting Liddes, the road, or rather path,
for it had dwindled to that, led through a valley
that had some low meadows, after which the as
cents became more decided, though the course had
always been upward. The vegetation gradually
grew less and less, the tree diminishing to the
bush, and finally disappearing altogether, while
the grasses became coarse and wiry, or were en
tirely superseded by moss. We went through a
hamlet or two, composed of stones stained appa
rently with iron ore, and, as the huts were covered
with the same material, instead of lending the land
scape a more humanized air, they rather added to
its appearance of sterile dreariness. There were
a few tolerably good bits of savage mountain
scenes, especially in a wooded glen or two, by the
way-side; but, on the whole, I thought this the
least striking of the Swiss mountains I had
ascended. We entered a sort of mountain basin, that was
bounded on one side by ihe glacier ot Mont Vilan;
that which so beautifully bounds the view up the
Valais, as seen from Vevey. I was disappoint
ed in finding an object which, in the distance, was
so white and shining, much disfigured and tar
nished by fragments of broken rock. Still the
summit shone, in cold and spotless lustre. There
was herbage for a few goats here, and some one
had commenced the walls of a rude building that

140 SWITZERLAND.
was intended for an inn. No one was-at work
near it, a hut of stone, for the shelter Of the goat
herds, being all that looked like a finished hu
man habitation.
Winding our way across and out of this val
ley, we came to a turn in the rocks, and beheld
two more stone cabins, low and covered, so as to
resemble what in America are called root-houses.
They stood a little from the path, on the naked
rock. Crossing to them, we dismounted and
looked into the first It was empty, had a little
straw, and was intended for a refuge, in4he event
of storms. Thrusting my head into the other, after
the eye had got a little accustomed to the light, I
saw a grinning corpse seated against the remotest
side. The body looked like a mummy, but the
clothes were still on it, and various shreds of gar
ments lay about the place. The remains of other
bodies, that had gradually shrunk into shapeless
masses, were also d i mly visible. Hu man banes, too,
were scattered around. It is scarcely necessary to
add that this was one of the dead-houses, or places
in which the bodies of those who "perish on the
mountain are deposited, to waste away, or to be
claimed, as others may or may not feel an interest
in their remains. Interment could only be effect
ed by penetrating the rock, for there was no
longer any soil, and such is the purity of the
atmosphere that putrescence never occurs.
I asked the guide if he knew any thing of the
man, whose body still retained some of the sem-

SWITZERLAND. 141
blance of iiumanity. He told me he remembered
him well, having been at the convent in his com
pany. It was a poor mason, who had crossed the
col, from Piferaont, in quest of work, failing of
which, he had left Liddes, near nightfall, in or
der to enjoy the unremitting hospitality of the
monks on his return, about a fortnight later. His
body was found on the bare rock, quite near the
refuge, on the following day. The poor fellow
had probably perished in the dark, within a few
yards of shelter, without knowing it Hunger
and cold, aided, perhaps, by that refuge of the
miserable, brandy, had destroyed him. He had
been dead now two years, and yet his remains
preserved a hideous resemblance to the living
man. Turning away from this melancholy spectacle,
I looked about me with renewed interest. The
sun had set, and evening was casting its shadows
over the valley below, which might still be seen
through the gorges of our path. The air above,
and the brown peaks that rose around us like
gloomy giants, were still visible in a mellow sad
dened light, and I thought I had never witnessed
a more poetical, or a more vivid picture of the ap
proach of night Following the direction of the
upward path, a track that was visible only by the
broken fragments of rock, and which now ascend
ed suddenly, an opening was seen between two
dark granite piles, through which the sky beyond
still shone, lustrous and pearly. This opening ap-

142 SWITZERLAND.
peared to be but a span. It was the col, or the
summit of the path, and gazing at it, in that pure
atmosphere, I supposed it might be half a mile
beyond and above us. The guide shook his head
at this conjecture, and told me it was still a weary
league! At this intelligence we hurried to bestride our
mules, which, by this time, were fagged, and as
melancholy as the mountains. When we left the
refuge there were no traces of the sun on any of the
peaks or glaciers. A more sombre ascent cannot
he imagined. Vegetation had absolutely disap
peared, and in its place lay scattered the frag
ments of the ferruginous-looking rocks. The hue
of every object was gloomy as desolation could
make it, and the increasing obscurity served to
deepen the intense interest we felt. Although con
stantly and industriously ascending towards the
light, it receded faster than we could climb. After
half an hour of toil, it finally deserted us to the
night. At this moment the guide pointed to a
mass that I had thought a fragment of the living
rock, and said it was the roof of a building. It
still appeared so near, that I fancied we had ar
rived; but minute after minute went by, and this
too, was gradually swallowed in ihe gloom. At
the end of another quarter of an hour, we came
to a j)lace, where, the path, always steep since
quitting the refuge, actually began to ascend by a
flight of broad steps formed in the living rock, like
that already mentioned on the Righi, though less

SWITZERLAND. 143
precipitous. My weary mule seemed, at times, to
be tottering beneath my weight, or hanging in sus
pense, undecided, whether or not to yield lo the
downward pressure. It was quite dark, and I
thought it wisest to trust to his instinct and his re
collections. This unpleasant struggle between
animal force and the attraction of gravitation, in
which the part I played was merely to contribute
to the latter, lasted nearly a quarter of an hour
longer, when the mules appeared to be suddenly
relieved. They moved more briskly for a minute,
and then stopped before a pile of rock, that a se
cond look in the dark enabled us to see was made
of stone, thrown into the form of a large, rude
edifice. This was the celebrated convent of the
Great St. Bernard!
I bethought me of the Romans, of the marauders
of the middle ages, of the charity of a thousand
years, and of Napoleon, as throwing a leg over the
crupper my foot first touched the rock. Our ap
proach had been heard, for noises ascend far through
such a medium, and we were met at the door by a
monk in a black gown, a queer Asiatic-looking
cap, and a movement that was as laical as that of
agarfon de cafL He hastily inquired if there
were any ladies, and I thought he appeared dis
appointed when we told him no. He shewed us
very civilly, however, into a room that was
warmed by a stove, and which already contained
two travellers, who had the air of decent trades
men that were crossing the mountain on business.

144 SWITZERLAND.
A table was set for supper, and a lamp or two
threw a dim light around.
The little community soon assembled, the pri
or excepted, and the supper was served. I had
brought a letter for the clavier, a sort of caterer,
who is accustomed to wander through the valleys
in quest of contributions, and this appeared to be
a good time for presenting it, as our reception had
an awkward coldness that was unpleasant The
letter was read, but it made no apparent diffe
rence in the warmth of our treatment, then or af
terwards. I presume the writer had unwittingly
thrown the chill, which the American name al
most invariably carries with it, over our recep
tion. By this time seven of the Augustines were in
the room; four of whom were canons, and three
novices. The entire community is composed of
about thirty who are professed, with a suitable
number who are in their noviciate, but only
eight, in all, are habitually kept on the mountain,
the rest residing in a convent in the bourg, as
the real village of Martigny is called. It is said
that the keen air of the col affects the lungs
after a time, and that few can resist its influence
for a long continued period. You will remem
ber that this building is the most elevated perma
nent abode in Europe, if not in the old world,
standing at a height of about 8,000 English feet
above the sea.
As soon as the supper was served, the superior,

SWITZERLAND. 145
or prior, entered. He had a better air than most of
his brethren, and was distinguished by a gold chain
and cross. The others saluted him by removing
their caps, and, proceeding to the head of the ta
ble, he immediately commenced the usual offices
in Latin, the responses being audibly made by
the monks and novices. We were then invited
to take our places at table, the seats of honour be
ing civilly left for the. strangers. The meal was
frugal, without tea or coffee, and the wine none
of the best. But one ought to be too grateful for
getting any thing in such a place, to be fastidious.
During supper there was a free general conver
sation, and we were asked for news, the move
ments in la Vendie being evidently a subject of
great interest with them. Our French fellow-
traveller on the lake of Brientz, had been warm
in his eulogiums on this community, and, coupling
his conversation with the present question, the
suspicion that they were connected by a tie of
common feeling, flashed upon me. A few remarks
soon confirmed this conjecture, and I found, as
indeed was natural for men in their situation, that
these religious republicans* took a strong interest
• Your common-place logicians argue from these sentiments
that distinctions are natural, and ought to be maintained. These
philosophers forget that human laws are intended to restrain
the natural propensities, and that this argument would be just
as applicable to the right of a strong man to knock down a
weak one, and to take the bread from his mouth, as it is to the
institution of exclusive political privileges.
TOL. IL 13

146 SWITZERLAND.
in the success of the Carlists. Men may call
themselves what they will, live where they may,
and assume what disguises artifice or necessity
may impose, political instincts, like love, or any
other strong passion, are sure to betray themselves
to an experienced observer. How many of our
own republicans, of the purest water, have I seen
sighing for ribands and stars, ay, and men too,
who appear before the nation, as devoted to the
institutions and the rights of the mass. The Ro-
- mish church is certain to be found in secret on
the side of despotic power, let its pretensions to
liberty be what it may, its own forra at govern
ment possessing sympathies with that of political
power too strong to be effectually concealed.- I will
not take on myself to say, that the circumstance
of our being Americans caused the fraternity to
manifest for us less warmth than common, but I
will say that our Carlist, of the lake of Brientz,
eloquently described the warm welcome and ear
nest hospitality oi les bonsplres, as he called them,
in a way that was entirely inapplicable to their
manner towards us. In short, the only way we
could excite any warmth in them, was by blowing
the anthracite coal, of which we had heard they
had discovered a mine on the mountain. This
was a subject of great interest, for you should
know that, water excepted, every necessary of
life is to be transported, for leagues, to this place,
up the path we came, on the backs of mules, and
that about 8,000 persons cross the mountain an-

SWITZERLAND. 147
nually; all, or nearly all, of whom lodge, of ne^
cesslty, at the convent. The elevation renders
fires constantly necessary for comfort, to say no
thing of the cooking, and a mine of gold could
scarcely be as valuable to such a community, as
one of coal. Luckily, C  > like a true Penn-
sylvanian, knew something about anthracite, and
by making a few suggestions, and promising far
ther intelligence, he finally succeeded in throwing
one or two of the community into a blaze.
A little before nine, we were shown into a plain
but comfortable room, with two beds loaded with
blankets, and were left to our sjumbers. Before
we fell asleep, C  and myself agreed, thaf,
taking the convent altogether, it was a rum place,
and that it required more imagination than either
of us possessed, lo throw about it the poetry of
monastic seclusion, and the beautiful and simplp
hospitality of the patriarchs^

148 SWITZERLAND.

LETTER XXIIL

Bear

The next morning we arose betimes, and on
thrusting my head out of a window, I thought, by
the keen air, that we had been suddenly transferred
to Silesia. There is no month without frost, at
this great elevation, and as we had now reached
the 27th September, the season was essentially
beginning to change. HuiTying our clothes on,
and our beards off, we went into the air to look
about us.
Monks, convent, and historical recollections
were, at first, all forgotten, at the sightof the sublime
desolation that reigned around. The col is a narrow
ravine, between lofty peaks, which happens to ex
tend entirely across this point of the upper Alps,
thus forming a passage several thousand feet
lower than would otherwise be obtained. The
convent stands within a few yards of the northern
verge of the precipice, and precisely at the spot
where the lowest cavity is formed, the rocks be
ginning to rise, in its front and in its rear, at very

SWITZERLAND. 149
short distances from ths buildings. A little south
of it, the mountains recede sufficiently to admit the
bed of a small, dark, wintry-looking sheet of water,
which is oval in form, and may cover fifty or sixty
acres. This lake nearly fills the whole of the level
part of the col, being bounded north by the site of
the convent, east by the mountain, west by the
path, for which there is barely room between the
water and the rising rocks, and south, by the same
path, which is sheltered on its other side, by a sort
of low wall of fragments, piled some twenty or
thirty feet high. Beyond these fragments, or iso
lated rocks, was evidently a valley of large dimen
sions. We walked in the direction of this valley, de
scending gradually from the door of the convent,
some thirty feet to the level of the lake. This we
skirted, by the regular path, rock smoothed by the
hoof of horse and foot of man, until we came near
the last curve of the oval formation. Here was
the site of a temple erected by the Romans in
honour of Jupiter of the Snows, this passage of
the Alps having been frequented from the most re
mote antiquity. We looked at the spot with blind
reverence, for the remains might pass for those
of a salad bed of the monks, of which there was
one enshrined among the rocks hard by,_and
which wa.s ahout as large, and, I fancy, about as
productive, as those that are sometimes seen on the
quarter-galleries of ships. At this point we en
tered Italy ! 13*

150 SWITZERLAND.
Passing from the frontier, we still followed the
margin of the lake, until we reached a spot where
its waters trickled, by a low passage, southward.
The path took the same direction, pierced the
barrier of low rocks, and came out on the verge
of the southern declivity, which was still more pre
cipitous than that on the other side. For a short
distance the path ran en corniche along the margin
of the descent, until it reached the remotest point
of what might be called the col, whose southern
edge is irregular, and then it plunged, by the most
practicable descent which could be found, towards
its Italian destination. When at this precise point,
our distance from the convent may have been half
a mile, which, of course, is the breadth of the col.
We could see more than half a league down the
brown gulf below, but no sign of vegetation was
visible. Above, around, beneath, wherever the eye
rested — the void of the heavens, the distant peaks
of snow, the lake, the convent and its accessories
excepted — was dark, frowning rock, of the colour
of iron rust As all the buildings, even to the roofs,
were composed of this material, they produced
little to relieve the dreary monotony.
The view from the col, is in admirable keeping
with its desolation. One is cut off completely from
the lower world, and, beyond its own immediate
scene, nothing is visible, but the impending arch of
heaven, and heaving mountain tops. The water
did little to change this character of general and
savage desolation, for it has the chill and ¦wintry

SWITZERLAND. 151
air of all the little mountain reservoirs that are so
common in the Alps. If any thing, it rather added
to the intensity of the feeling, to which the other
parts of the scenery gave rise.
Returning from our walk, the convent and its
long existence, the nature of the institution, its
present situation, and all that poetical feeling could
do for both, were permitted to resume their influ
ence, but, alas! the monks were common-place, their
movements and utterance wanted the calm dignity
of age and chastened habits, the building had loo
much of the machinery, smell, and smoke of the
kitchen, and, altogether, we thought that the cele
brated convent of St. Bernard was more picturesque
on paper, than in fact. Even the buildings were
utterly tasteless, resembling a 6arwis/i-looking ma
nufactory, and would be quite abominable, but for
the delightfully dreary appearance of their material.
It is a misfortune, that vice so often has the best
of it, in outward appearance. Although a little
disposed to question the particular instance of taste,
in substance, I am of the opinion of that religionist
who was for setting his hymns to popular airs, in
order " thaf the devil might not monopolize all the
good music," and, under this impression, I think it
a thousand pities that a little better keeping, be
tween appearances and substance, did not exist on
the great St Bernard.
The convent is said to have been established by a
certain Bernard de Menthon, an Augustine of Aoste,
in 962, who was afterwards canonized for his holi-

152 SWITZERLAND.
ness. In that remote age, the institution must have
been eminently useful, for posting and McAdam-
ized roads across the Alps, were not thought of It
even does much good now, as nine-tenths who stop
here are peasants that pay nothing for their en
tertainment. At particular seasons, and on cer
tain occasions, they cross in great numbers, my
guide assuring me, he had slept at the convent
when there were 800 guests ; a story, by the way,
that one of the monks confirmed. Some fair, or
festival, however, led to this extraordinary migra
tion. Formerly, the convent vvas rich, and able to
bear the charges of entertaining so many guests,
but since the revolution, it bas lost most of its pro
perty, and has but a small fixed income. It is
authorized, however, to make periodical queles in
the surrounding country, and obtains a good deal
in that way. All who can pay, moreover, leave
behind them donations, of greater or less amount,
and by that means the charity is still maintained.
As many perish annually on the mountain, and
none are interred, another dead-house stands quite
near the convent, for the reception of the bodies.
It is open to the air, and contained forty or fifty
corpses in every stage of decay, apart from putre-
scency, and was a most revolting spectacle. When
the flesh disappears entirely, the bones are cast
into a small enclo^re near by, in which skulls,
thigh bones, and ribs, were lying in a sort of waltz
like confusion.
Soon after our return from the walk into Italy,

SWITZERLAND.

153

a novice opened a little door in the outer wall of
the convent, and the famous dogs of St. Bernard
rushed forth like so many rampant tigers, and
most famous fellows they certainly were. Their
play was like that of elephants, and one of them
rushing past me, so near as to brush my clothes,
gave me to understand that a blow from him
might be serious. There were five of them in
all ; long-legged, powerful mastiffs, with short
hair, long bushy tails, and of a yellowish hue. I
have seen very similar animals in America. They
are trained to keep the paths, can carry cordials
and nourishment around their necks, and fre
quently find bodies in the snow, by the scent
But their instinct and services have been greatly
exaggerated, the latter principally consisting in
showing the traveller the way, by following the
paths themselves. Were one belated in winter,
on this pass, I can readily conceive that a dog of
this force, that knew him, and was attached to
him, would be invaluable. Some pretend that
the ancient stock is lost, and that their successors
show the want of blood of all usurpers.
We were now shown into a room where there
was a small collection of minerals, and of Roman
remains found about the ruins of the temple. At
seven we received a cup of coffee and some bread
and butter, after which the prior entered, and in
vited us to look at the chapel, which is of mode
rate dimensions, and of plain ornaments. There
is a box attached to a column, with tronc pour

154 SWITZERLAND.
les pauvres, and as all the poor in this mountain
are those who enjoy the hospitality of the con
vent, the hint was understood. We dropped a
few francs into the hole, while_the prior was look
ing earnestly the other way, and it then struck
us we were at liberty to depart The body of
Desaix lies in this chapel, and there is a small tab
let in it, erected to his memory.
It would be churlish and unreasonable to com
plain of the fare, in a spot where food is to be
had with so much difficulty; and, on that head, I
shall merely say, in order that you may under
stand the fact that we found the table of St Ber
nard very indifferent As to the deportmentof
the monks, cerlainly, so far as we were concerned,
it had none of that warmth and hospitality th^t
travellers have celebrated; but, on the contrary,
it struck us bolh, as cqld and constrained, strong
ly reminding me, in particular, of the frigidity of
the ordinary American manner.* This might
* The peculiar coldness of our raannere, which are too apt
to pass suddenly from the repulsive to the familiar, has often
been commented on, but can only be appreciated by those who
have been accustomed to a different. Two or three days after
tbe return of the writer from his journey in Europe, (which
had lasted nearly eight years,) a public dinner was given, in
New York, to a distinguished naval officer, and he was in
vited to attend it, os a guest. Here he met a crowd, one half
of whom, he knew pereonally. Without a single exception,
those of his acquaintances wlio did speak to lum, ftwo-thirds
did not,) addressed him as i( they had seen him the week be
fore, and so cold and constrained did every man's manner seem,
tbAt he had gregt difficulty in persuading himself there was nQt

SWITZERLAND.

155

be discipline; it might be the consequence of ha
bitual and incessant demands on their attentions
and services; it might be accidental; or it might
be prejudice against the country from which we
came, that vvas all the stronger for the present ex
cited state of Europe.
Our mules were ready, and we left the col im
mediately after breakfast A ridge in the rock,
just before the convent, is the dividing line for
the flow of the waters. Here a little snow still
lay, and there were patches of snow, also, on the
northern face of the declivity, the remains of the
past winter.
We chose to walk the first league, which brought
us to the refuge. The previous day, the guide had
given us a great deal of gossip; and, among other
things, he mentioned having been up to the con
vent lately, with a family of Americans, whom he
described as a people of peculiar appearance, and
peculiar odour. By questioning him a little, we
discovered that he had been up with a party of
coloured people, from St. Domingo. His head
was a perfect Babel, as it respected America,
which was not a hemisphere, but one country,
one government, and one people. To this we
were accustomed, however; and, finding that we
passed for English, we trotted the honest fellow,
something wrong. He could not believe, however, that he was
especially invited to be neglected, and he tried to revive his
old impressions; but the chill was so thorough, that he found it
impossible to sit out the dinner.

156 SWITZERLAND.
a good deal on the subject of his nasal sufferings,
from, travelling in such company. On the descent
we knew that we should encounter the party left
at Bex, and our companion was properly prepared
for the interview. Soon after quitting the refuge,
the meeting took place, to the astonishment of the
guide, who gravely affirmed after we had parted,
that there must be two sorts of Americans, as
these we had just left, did not at all resemble
those he had conducted to the convent. May this
little incident prove an entering wedge to some
new ideas in the Valais, on the subject of the
'•twelve millions."
The population of this canton, more particular
ly the women, were much more good-looking on
the mountain than in the valley. We saw no
critins, after leaving Martigny; and soft linea
ments, and clear complexions, were quite com
mon in the other sex.
You will probably wish to know something of
the celebrated passage of Napoleon, and of its
difficulties. As far as the ascent was concerned,
the latter has been greatly exaggerated. Armies
have frequently passed the great St. Bernard.
Aulus CoBclnna led his barbarians across in 69;
the Lombards crossed in 547; several armies in
the time of Charlemagne, or about the year 1000;
and in the wars of Charles le Tkmeraire, as well
as at other periods, armies made use of this pass.
Near the year 900, a strong body of Turkish cor^
sairs, crossed from Italy, and seized the pass of

SWITZERLAND. 157
St Maurice. Thus history is full of events to
suggest the idea of crossing.
Nor is this all. From the time the French en
tered Switzerland in 1796, troops occupied, ma-
nceuvred, and even fought on this mountain.
The Austrians having succeeded in turning the
summit, contended an entire day with their ene
mies, who remained masters of the field, or rather
rock. Ebel estimates the nuraber of the hostile
troops who were on this pass, between the years
1798 and 1801, at 150,000, including the army
of Napoleon, which vvas 30,000 strong.
These facts of themselves, and I presume they
cannot be contested, give a totally different co
louring, from that which is commonly enter
tained, to the conception of the enterprise of the
first Consul, so far as .the difficulties of the ascent
were concerned. If the little community can
transport stores for 8.000 souls to the convent,
there could be no great difficulty in one, who had
all France at his disposal, in throwing an army
across the pass. When we quilted Martigny I
began to study the difficulties of the route, and
though the road as far as Liddes, has probably
been improved a little within thirty years, taking
its worst parts, I have often travelled, in my boy
hood, during the early settlement of our country,
in a heavy, high, old-fashioned coach over roads
that were quite as bad, and, in some places, over
roads that were actually more dangerous than any
part of this, as far as Liddes, Even a good deal
VOL. II. 14

158 SWITZERLAND.
of the road after quitting Liddes, is not worse
than that we formerly travelled, but vfheels are
nearly useless for the last league or twov As we
rode along this path, C  asked me in what
manner I would transpwrt artillery up such an
ascent. Without the least reflection I answered,
by making sledges of the larches, which is an ex
pedient that I think would suggest instantly itself,
to nineteen men in twenty. I have since under
stood the due de  , who was an aide of Napo
leon, on the occasion of the passage, that it vvas
precisely the expedient adopted. Several thou
sand Swiss peasants were employed in drawing
the logs, thus loaded, up the precipices. I do not
think it absolutely impracticable to take up guns
limbered, but the other plan would be much the
easiest, as well as the safest. In short, I make no
doubt, that so far as mere toij and physical diffi
culties are concerned, that a hundred marches
have been made througli the swamps and^ forests
of America, in every one of which, mile for mile,
greater natural obstacles have been overcome
than those on this celebrated passage. The French,
it will be remembered, were unresisted, and had
possession of the col,^ garrison having occupied
the convent for more than a year.
The great merit of the First Consul, was in the
surprise, the military manner in which the march
was effected, and the brilliant success of his sub
sequent movements. Had he been defeated, T
fancy few would have thought so much of the

SWITZERLAND. 159
simple passage of the mountain, unless to reproach
him for placing the rocks between himself and a
retreat. As he was not defeated, the audace of
the experiment, a great military quality some
times, enters, also, quite properly, into the esti
mate of his glory.
The guide pointed to a place where, according
to his account of the matter, the horse of the First
Consul stumbled and pitched him over a pre
cipice, the attendants catching him by his great
coat, assisted by a few bushes. This may be true,
for the man affirmed he had heard it from the
guide who was near Napoleon at the time, and a
mis-step of a horse might very well produce such
a fall. The precipice was both steep and high,
and had the First Consul gone down it, it is not
probable he would ever have gone up the St Ber-
pard. At Liddes we re-entered the char and trotted
down to Martigny in good time. Here we got
another conveyance, and pushed down the valley,
through St Maurice, across the bridge, and out
of the gate of the canton, again, reaching Bex a
little after dark.
The next morning we were off early for Ville
neuve, in order to reach the boat. This was hand
somely effpctedj and heaving-to abreast of Vevey,
we succeeded in eating our breakfast at Mon Re
pos.

160 SWITZERLAND.

LETTER XXIV.
Dear  ,
It is a besetting error with those who write of
America, whether as travellers, political econo
mists, or commentators on the moral features of
ordinary society, to refer nearly all that is peculiar
in the country, to the nature of its institutions. It
is scarcelv exaggerated to say that even its physi
cal phenomena' are ascribed to its democracy. Re
flecting on this subject, I have been struck by the
fact that no such flights of the imagination are
ever indulged in by those who speak of Switzer
land. That which is termed the rudeness of liber
ty and equality, with us, becomes softened down
here into the frankness of mountaineers, or the
sturdy independence of republicans ; what is vul
garity on the other side of the Atlantic, is un-
sophistication on this, and truculence in the States
dvnndles to be earnest remonstrances in the can
tons r
There undeniably exist marked points of diffe
rence between the Swiss and the Americans. Ths

SWITZERLAND. 161
dominion of a really popular sway is admitted no
where here, except in a few unimportant moun
tain cantons, that are but little known, and which,
if known, would not exercise a very serious influ
ence on any but their own immediate inhabitants.
With us, the case is different. New York and
Pennsylvania and Ohio, for instance, with a united
population of near five millions of souls, are as
pure democracies as can exist under a representa
tive form of government, and their trade, produc
tions, and example, so far connect them with the
rest of Christendom, as to render them objects of
deep interest to all who look beyond the present
moment, in studying the history of man.
We have States, however, in which the franchise
does not materially differ from those of many of the
cantons, and yet we do not find that strangers make
any material exceptions even in their favour. Few
think of viewing the States in which there are
property qualifications, in a light different from
those just named, nor is a disturbance in Virginia
deemed to be less the consequence of democratic
effervescence, than it is in Pennsylvania.
There must be reasons for all this. I make no
doubt they are to be found in the greater weight
of the example of a large and growing communi
ty, of active commercial and political habits, than
in one like this, which is satisfied with simply main
taining a quiet and secure existence ; in our total
rejection of the usual aristocratical distinctions^
distinctions which still exist, more or less, all over
14*

162 SWITZERLAND.
Switzerland ; in the jealousy of commercial and
maritime power, and in the recollections which are
inseparable from the fact, that the parties once
stood tp each other, in the relation of principals
and dependants. . This latter feeling, an unavoid
able consequence of metropolitan sway, is more
general than you may imagine, for, as nearly all
Europe once had colonies, the feelings of superiori
ty they uniformly excite, have as naturally led to
jealousy of the rising importance of our hemisphere.
You may smile at the suggestion, but I do not re
member a single European in whom, under proper
opportunities, I have not been able to trace some
lingering feeling of the old notion of the moral and
physical superiority oflhe man of Europe over the
man of America. I do not say that all I have met
have betrayed this prejudice, for in not one case
in ten, have I had the means to probe them, but
such, I think, has uniformly been the case, though
in very different degrees, whenever the opportuni
ty has existed.:
Though the mountain, or the purely rural popu
lation, here, possess more independence and frank
ness of manner, than those who inhabit the towns
and advanced valleys, neither has them in so
great a degree, as to leave plausible grounds fop.
believing that the institutions are very essentially
connected with the traits. Institutions may depress
men ieiqwvfhat may be termed _,the natural level
of feeling, in this respect, as. in the case of slavery,
Uut,iq ja civilized society, where property has its in-

SWITZERLAND. 163
fluence, I much question if any political regulations
can raise them above it After allowing for the
independence of manner and feeling that are coin
cident to easy circurnstances, and which is the re
sult of obvious causes, I know no part of America
in which this is not also the fact. The employed
is, and will be every where, to a certain point, de
pendent on his employer, and the relations, between;
the two cannot fail to bring forth a degree of autho-;
rity and submission, that will vary according to the
character of individuals and the circumstances of
the moment.
I infer from this that the general aspects of so
ciety, after men cease to be serfs and slaves, can
never be expected to vary essentially from each
other, merely on account of the political institu
tions, except, perhaps, as those institutions them
selves, may happen to affect their temporal condi
tion. In other words, I believe that we are to
look more to property and to the absence or pre
sence of facilities of, living, for effects of this na
ture, than to the breadth or narrowness of con
stituencies. The Swiss, as is natural from their greater anti
quity, richer recollections, and perhaps from their
geographical position, are more national than
the Americans. With us national pride, and na
tional character exist chiefly in the classes that lie
between the yeomen and the very bottom of the
social scale, whereas, here, I think the higher one
ascends, the stronger the feeling becomes. The

164 SWITZERLAND.
Swiss moreover is pressed upon by his wants, and
is often obliged to tear himself from his native
soil, in order to find the means of subsistence; and
yet very few of them absolutely expatriate them
selves. The emigrants that are called Swiss in Ame
rica, either come from Germany, or are French
Germans, from Alsace and Lorrain. I have never
met with a migration of a body of true Swiss,
though some few cases probably have existed. It
would be curious to inquire how far the noble na
ture of the country has an influence in producing
their strong national attachments. The Neapoli
tans love their climate, and would rather be Laz-
.zaroni beneath their sun, than gentlemen in Hol
land, or England. This is simple enough, as
it depends on physical indulgence. The charm
that binds the Swiss to. his native mountains, must
be of a higher character, and is moral in its es
sence. The American character 's#ffers from the con
verse of the very feeling which has an effect so be
neficial on that of the Swiss. The. migratory habits
of the country prevents the formation of the in
tensity of interest, to which the long residence of
a faraily in a particular spot gives birth, and which
comes at last, tO love a tree, or a hill, or a rock,
because they are the S£(me tree, and hill, and rock,
that have b^en loy,ed by our fathers before us.
These are attachments that depend on sentiment
rather than on interest, and which are as much

SWITZERLAND. .165
purer and holier, as virtuous sentiment is purer
and holier than worldly interestedness. In this
moral feature therefore, we are inferior to all old
nations, and to the Swiss in particular, I think, as
their local attachments are both quickened and
heightened, by the exciting and grand objects
that surround them. The Italians have the same
local affections, in a still stronger degree, for with
a nature equally, or even more winning, they have
still prouder and more remote recollections.
I do not believe, the Swiss, at heart, are a bit
more attached to their institutions than we are
ourselves ; for, while I complain of the tone of so
many of our people, I consider it, after all, as the
tone of people who, the means of comparison having
been denied them, neither know that which they
denounce, nor that which they extol. Apart
from the weakness of wishing for personal dis
tinctions, however, I never met with a Swiss gen
tleman, who appeared to undervalue his insti
tutions. They frequently, perhaps generally,
lament the want of greater power in the con
federation ; but, as between a monarchy and a
republic, so far as my observation goes, they are
uniformly Swiss. I do not believe there is such
a thing, in all the cantons, as a man, fqr instance,
who pines for the Prussian despotism 1 They
will take service under kings, be their soldiers,
body-guards — real Dugald Dalgettys — but when
the cjuestion comes to Switzerland, one and all

166 SWITZERLAND.
appear to think that the descendants of the com
panions of Winkelried and Stauffer, must be re
publicans. Now, all this may be because there
are few in the condition of gentlemen, in the de
mocratic cantons, and the gentlemen of the other
parts of the confederation prefer that things should
be as they are (or rather, so lately were, for the
recent changes have hardly had time to make an
impression,) to putting a prince in the place of the
aristocrats. Self is so prominent in every thing of
this nature, that I feel no great faith in the gene
rosity of men. Still I do believe that time and
history, and national pride, and Swiss mourge have
brought about a state of feeling that would indis
pose them to bow down to a Swiss sovereign.
A policy is observed by the other states of Eu
rope towards this confederation, very different frogi^
that which is, or perhaps it would be better to say,
has been observed towards us. As respects our
selves, I have already observed it was my opinion,
there would have been a political crusade got up
against us, had not the recent changes taken place
in Europe, and had the secret efforts to divide the
union failed. Their chief dependence, certainly,
is on our national dissensions, but as this would pro-,
bably fail them, I think we should have seen some
pretence for an invasion. The motive would be
the strong necessity which existed for destroying
the example of a republic, or rather of a demo
cracy, that was getting to be too powerful.

SWITZERLAND. 167
Strange as you may think it, I believe our chief
protection in such a struggle would have been
Russia. We hear and read a great deal about the " Rus
sian bear," but it will be our own fault if this bear
does us any harm. Let the Edinburgh Review,
the advocate of mystified liberalism, prattle as
much as it choose, on this topic, it becomes us to
look at the subject Uke Americans. There are
more practical and available affinities between
America and Russia, at this very moment, than
there is between America and any other nation in
Europe. They have high common political ob
jects to obtain, and Russia has so little to appre
hend from the example of America, that no jea
lousy of the latter need interrupt their harmony.
You see the counterpart of this in the present con
dition of France and Russia. So far as their gene
ral policy is concerned, they need not conflict, but
rather ought to unite, and yet the mutual jealousy
on the subject of the institutions keeps them alien
ated, and almost enemies. Napoleon, it is true,
said that these two nations, sooner or later, must
fight for the possession of the east, but it was the
ambition of the man, rather than the interests of
his country, that dictated the sentiment The
France of Napoleon, and the France of Louis Phi
lippe, are two very different things.
Now, as I have told you, Switzerland is re
garded by the powers who would crush America,

168 SWITZERLAND.
with other eyes. I do not believe that a congress
of Europe would convert this republic into a mo
narchy, if it could, to-morrow. Nothing essential
would be gained by such a measure, while a great
deal might be hazarded. A king must have fami
ly alliances, and these alliances would impair the
neutrality it is so desirable to maintain. The can
tons are equally good, as outworks, for France,
Austria, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Lombardy, Sardi
nia, and the Tyrol. All cannot have them, and
all are satisfied to keep them as a defence against
their neighbors. No one hears, in the war of opi
nions, that is going on here, the example of the
Swiss quoted on the side of liberty ! For this pur
pose, they appear to be as totally out of view, as if
they bad no existence,

SWITZERLAND. 169

LETTER XXIV.

Dear  ,
YoTj may have gathered from my last letters, that
I do not rank the path of the Great St Bernard
among the finest of the Swiss mountain passes.
You will remember, however, that we saw but little
of the Italian side, where the noblest features and
grandest scenes on these roads, are usually found.
The Simplon would not be so very extraordinary,
were it confined to its Swiss horrors and Swiss mag
nificence, though, by the little I have seen of them,
I suspect that both the St. Gothard and the Splugen
do a little better on their northern faces. The pass
by Nice is peculiar, being less wild and rocky than
any other, while it possesses beauties entirely its
own, (and extraordinary beauties they are,) in the
constant presence of the Mediterranean, with its
vast blue expanse, dotted with sails of every kind
that the imagination can invent. It has always ap
peared to me, that poets have been the riggers of
that sea.
C  and myself were too mountaineer is h
after this exploit, to remain contented in a valley,
however lovely it might be, and the next day we
sallied forth on foot, to explore the hill-side behind
Vevey. The road led at first through narrow lanes,
VOL. IL 15

170 SWITZERLAND.
lined by vinyards, but emerging from these we
soon came out into a new world, and one that I can
compare to no other I have ever met with. I
should never tire of expatiating on the beauties of
this district, which really appear to be created ex
pressly to render the foreground of one of the sub-
limest pictures on earth, worthy of the rest of the
piece. It was always mountain, but a mountain so gra
dual of ascent, so vast, and yet so much like a broad
reach of variegated low land, in its ornaments, cul
tivation, houses, villages, copses, meadows and vines,
that it seemed to be a huge plain canted into a par
ticular inclination, in order to give the spectator a
better opportunity to examine it in detail, and at his
leisure, as one would hold a picture to the proper
light Some of the ascents, nevertheless, were suf
ficiently sharp, and more than once we were glad
enough to stop to cool ourselves, and to take breath.
At length, after crossing some lovely meadows, by
the margin of beautiful woods, we came out, at the
spot which was the goal we had aimed at from the
commencement of the excursion. This vvas the
castle of Bionay, of whose picturesque site and
pleasant appearance I have already spoken in my
letters, as a venerable hold that stands about a league
from the town, on one of the most striking positions
of the mountain.
The family of Bionay has been in possession of
this place for seven hundred years. One branch of
it is in Sardinia, but I suppose its head is the occu-

SWITZERLAND. 171
pant of the house, or castle. As the building was
historical, and the de Blonays of unquestionable
standing, I was curious to examine the edifice, since
it might give me some further insight into the con
dition of the old Swiss nobility. Accordingly we ap
plied for admission, and obtained it without difficulty.
The Swiss castles, with few exceptions, are built
on the breasts, or spurs, of mountains. The imme
diate foundation is, usually, a rock, and the sites
were generally selected on account of the difficul
ties of the approach. This latter peculiarity, how
ever, does not apply so rigidly to Bionay, as to
most of the other holds of the country, for the rock
which forms its base serves for little else than a
solid foundation. I presume one of the requisites
of such a site, was the difficulty or impossibility of
undermining the walls, a mode of attack that existed
long before gunpowder was known.
The buildings of Bionay are neither extensive
nor very elaborate. We entered by a modest gate
way, in a retired corner, and found ourselves, at
once, in a long, narrow, irregular court. On the
left was a corps de batiment, that contained most
of the sleeping apartments, and a few of the otherSj
with the offices ; in front was a still older wing, in
which was the knight's hall, and one or two oth^r
considerable rooms ; and on the right was the keep,
an old solid tower, that was originally the nu
cleus and parent of all the others, as well as a wing
that is now degraded to the duties of a store-house.
These buildings form the circuit of the court, and

172 SWITZERLAND.
complete the edifice ; for the side next the moun
tain, or that by which we entered, had little besides
the ends of the two lateral buildings and the gate.
The latter was merely a sort of chivalrous back
door, for there was another between the old tower
and the building of the knight's hall, of more pre
tension, and which was much larger. The great
gate opens ou a small elevated terrace, that is beau
tifully shaded by fine trees, and which commands a
view second, I feel persuaded, to but few on earth.
I do not know that it is so perfectly exquisite as
that we got from the house of Cardinal Rufo, at
Naples, and yet it has many admirable features that
were totally wanting to the Neapolitan villa. I es
teem these two views, as much the best that it has
ever been my good fortune to gaze at from any
dwelling, though the beauties of both are, as a mat
ter of course, more or less shared by all the houses in
their respective neighbourhoods. The great car
riage road, as great carriage roads go on such a
mountain-side, comes up to this gate ; though it is
possible to enter also by the other.
Bionay, originally, must have been a hold of no
great importance, as neither the magnitude, strength,
nor position of the older parts, is sufficient to ren
der the place one to be seriously assailed, or obsti
nately defended. Without knowing the fact, I infer
that its present interest arises from its great anti
quity, coupled with the circumstance of its having
been possessed by. the same family for so long a pe
riod. Admitting a new owner for each five-and-

SWITZERLAND. 173
twenty years, the present must be somewhere about
the twenty-fifth de Bionay who has lived on this
spot !
A common housemaid showed us through the
building, but unfortunately, to her it was a house
whose interest depended altogether on the number
of floors there were to be scrubbed, and windows to
be cleaned. This labour-saving sentiment destroys a
great deal of excellent poetry and wholesome feel
ing, reducing all that is venerable and romantic, to
the level of soap and house-cloths. I dare say
one could find many more comfortable residences
than this, within a league of Vevey ; perhaps Mon
Repos has the advantage of it, in this respect : but
there must be a constant, quiet and enduring satisfac
tion, with one whose mind is properly trained, in
reflecting that he is moving,dailyand hourly, through
halls that have been trodden by his fathers, for near
a thousand years ! Hope is a livelier, and, on the
whole, a more useful, because a more stimulating,
feeling, than that connected with memory ; but there
is a solemn and pleasing interest clinging about the
latter, that no buoyancy of the first can ever equal.
Europe is fertile of recollections ; America is
pregnant with- hope. I have tried hard, aided by
the love which is quickened by distance, as well as
by the observations that are naturally the offspring
of comparison, to draw such pictures of the latter
for the future, as may supplant the pictures of the
past that so constantly rise before the mind in this
quarter of the world ; but, though reasonably inge-
15*

174 SWITZERLAND.
nious in castle-building, I have never been able to
make it out. I believe laziness lies at the bottom of
the difficulty. In our .moments of enjoyment we
prefer being led to racking the brain for invention.
The past is a fact-; while, at the best, the future is
only conjecture. In this case the positive prevails
over the assumed, and the imagination finds both
an easier duty, and all it wants, in throwing around
the stores of memory, the tints and embellishments
that are wanting to complete the charm. I know
little of the history of Bionay, beyond the fact of
its great antiquity, nor is it a chdteau of remarka
ble interest as a specimen of the architecture and
usages of its time ; and yet, I never visited a mo
dern palace, with half the intense pleasure with
which I went through this modest abode. Fancy
had a text, in a few unquestionable facts, and it
preached copiously on their authority. At Caserta,
or St. Cloud, we admire the staircases, friezes, *«-
Ions and marbles, but I never could do any thing
with your kings, who a"re so much mixed up with
history, as to leave little to the fancy ; while here,
one might -imagine not only time, but all the various
domestic and retired usages, that time brings forth.
The Rltter Saal, or Knight's Hall, of Bionay has
positive interest enough to excite the dullest mind.
Neither the room nor its ornaments are very pecu
liar of themselves, the former being square, simple,
and a good deal modernized, while the latter was
such as properly belonged to a country gentleman
of limited means. But the situation and view form

SWITZERLAND. 175
its great features ; for all that has just been said of
the terrace, can be better said of this room. Owing
to the formation of the mountain, the vvindows are
very high above the ground, and at one of them is
a balcony, which, I am inclined to think, is posi
tively without a competitor in this beautiful world
of ours. Cardinal Rufo has certainly no such bal
cony. It is le balcon des balcons.
I should despair of giving you a just idea of the
mingled magnificence and softpess of the scene that
lies stretched before and beneath the balcony of
Blonays. You know the elements of the view al
ready', — for they are the same mysterious glen, or
valley, the same blue lake, the same cotes, the same
solemn and frowning rocks, the same groupings of
towers, churches, hamlets, qpd castles, of which I
have had such frequent occasion to speak in these
letters. But the position of Bionay has about it that
peculiar nicetj', which raises every pleasure to per
fection. It is neither too high, nor too low ; too
retired, nor too much advanced ; too distant, nor too
near. I know nothing of M. de Bionay beyond the
favourable opinion of the. observant Jean, the boat
man, but he must be made of flint, if he can daily,
hourly, gaze at the works of the Deity as they are seen
from this window, without their producing a sensi
ble and lasting effect on the character of his mind.
I can imagine a man so far blazi, as to pass through
the crowd of mites, who are his fellows, without
receiving or imparting much ; but I cannot conceive
of a heart, whose owner can be the constant ob-

176 SWITZERLAND.
server of such a scene, without bending in rever
ence to the hand that made it. It would be just as
rational to suppose one might have the Communion
of St. Jerome hanging in his drawing-room, without
ever thinking of Domenichino, as to believe one can
be the constant witness of these natural glories with
out thinking of God.
I could have liked, above all things, to have been
in this balcony during one of the fine sunsets of this
season of the year. I think the creeping of the sha
dows up the acclivities, the growing darkness below,
and the lingering light above, with the exquisite
arabesques of the rocks of Savoy, must render the
scene even more perfect than we found it
Bionay is surrounded by meadows of velvet, the
verdure reaching its V^ry walls, and the rocks that
occasionally do thrust their heads above the grass,
aid in relieving rather than in lessening their soft
ness. There are just enough of them to make a
foreground that is not unworthy of the rocky belt
which encircles most of the picture, and to give a
general idea of the grand geological formation of the
whole region.
We left Bionay with regret, and not without lin
gering some time on its terrace, a spot in which re
tirement is better blended with a bird's eye view of
men and their haunts, than any other I know. One
is neither in nor out of this world at such a spot ;
near enough to enjoy its beauties, and yet so remote
as to escape its blemishes. In quitting the castle,
we met a young female of simple lady-like carriage

SWITZERLAND. 177
and attire, whom I saluted as the Lady of Bionay,
and glad enough were we to learn from an old de
pendant, whom we afterwards fell in with, that the
conjecture was true. One bows with reverence to
the possessor of such, an abode.
From Bionay vve crossed the meadows and or
chards, until we hit a road that led us towards the
broad terrace that lies more immediately behind
Vev6y. We passed several hamlets, which lie on
narrow stripes of land raore level than common, a
sort of shelves on the broad breast of the mountain,
and which were rural and pretty. At length we
came to the object of our search, a tolerably spacious
modern house, that is called a chdteau, and whose
roofs and chimneys had often attracted our eyes
from the lake. The place was French in exterior,
though the grounds were more like those of Ger
many than those of France. The terrace is irregu
lar but broad, and walks wind prettily among woods
and copses. Altogether, the place is quite modern
and much more extensive than is usual in Switzer
land. We did not presume to enter the house, but,
avoiding a party that belonged to the place, we in
clined to the left, and descended, through the vines,
to the town.
The true mode to move ahout this region is on
horseback. The female in particular, who has a good
seat, possesses a great advantage over most of her sex,
if she will only improve it ; and all things consider
ed, I believe a family could travel through the can
tons in no other manner so pleasantly ; always

178 SWITZERLAND.
providing that the women can ride. By riding,
however, I do not mean sticking on a horse, by dint
of rein and clinging, but, a seat in which the fair
one feels secure and entirely at her ease. Otherwise
she may prove to be the gazee instead of the gazer.
On my return home, I went to a reading-room
that I have frequented during our residence here,
where I found a good deal of feeling excited by the
news from America. The Swiss, I have told you,
with very few exceptions, wish us well, but I take
it nothing would give greater satisfaction to a large
majority of the upper classes in most of the other
countries of Europe, than to hear that the American
republic was broken up : if buttons and broad-clothes
could be sent after us, it is not too much to add,
or sent to the nether world. This feeling does not
proceed so much from inherent dislike to us, as to
our institutions. As a people, I rather think we are
regarded with great indifference by the mass, but
they who so strongly detest our institutions and
deprecate our example, cannot prevent a little per
sonal hatred from mingling with their political
antipathies. Unlike the woman who was for be
ginning her love "with a little aversion," they
begin with a little philanthropy, and end with a
strong dislike for all that comes from the land they
hate. I have known this feeling carried so far as
to refuse credit even to the productions of the earth !
I saw strong evidences of this truth, among several
of the temporary habituis of the reading-room in
question, most of whom were French. A speedy

SWITZERLAND. 179
dissolution of the American Union was proclaimed
in all the journals, on account of some fresh intelli
gence from the other side of the Atlantic ; and I dare
say that, at this moment, nine-tenths of the Euro
peans, who think at all on the subject, firmly and
honestly believe that our institutions are not worth
two years' purchase. This opinion is very natural,
because falsehood is so artfully blended with truth,
in what is published, that it requires a more intimate
knowledge of the country to separate them, than
a stranger can possess. I spent an hour to-day
in a fruitless attempt to demonstrate to a very sen
sible Frenchman that nothing serious was to be
apprehended from the present dispute, but all my
logic was thrown away, and nothing but time will
convince him of that which he is so strongly predis
posed not to believe. They rarely send proper
diplomatic men among us, in the first place; for a
novel situation like that in America, requires a fer
tile and congenial mind, — and then your diplomatist
is usually so much disposed to tell every one that
which he wishes to hear ! We mislead, too, our
selves, by the exaggerations of the opjiosition.
Your partizan writes himself into a fever, and talks
like any other man whose pulse is unnatural. This
fact ought to be a matter of no surprise, since it is
one of the commonest foibles of man to dislike
most the evils that presses on him most ; although
an escape from them to any other might even entail
destruction. It is the old story of King Log and
King Stork. As democracy is in the ascendant

180 SWITZERLAND.
they revile democracy, while we all feel persuaded
we should be destroyed, or muzzled, tinder any
other form of government. A few toad-eaters and
court butterflies excepted, I do not believe there is
a man in all America who could dwell five years in
any country in Europe, without being made sensible
of the vast superiority of his own free institutions
over those of every other Christian nation.
I have been amused of late, by tracing, in the
publicalions at home, a great and growing admiration
for the Prussian polity 1 There is something so ab
surd, in an American's extolling sucha system, that it
is scarcely possible to say where human vagaries are
to end. The Prussian government is z despotism;
a mode of ruling that one would think the world
understood pretty well by this time. It is true that
the government is mildly administered, and hence
all the mystifying that we hear and read about it
Prussia is a kingdom compounded of heterogenous
parts ; the north is Protestant, the south Catholic ; the
nation has been overrun in our own times, and the
empire dismembered. Ruled by a king of an amiable
and paternal disposition, and one who has been chast
ened by severe misfortunes, circumstances have con
spired to render his sway mild and useful. No one
disputes, that the government which is controlled by
a single will, when that will is pure, intelligent, and
just, is the best possible. It is the government of the
universe, which is perfect harmony. But men with
pure intentions, and intelligent and just minds, are
rare, and more rare among rulers, perhaps, than any

SWITZERLAND. ISl
other class of men. Even Frederic II., though
intelligent enough, was a tyrant He led his sub
jects to slaughter for his own aggrandizement His
father, Frederic William, used to compel tall men to
marry tall women. The time for the latter descrip
tion of tyranny may be past, but oppression has
many outlets, and the next king may discover some
of them. In such a case his subjects would probably
take refuge in a revolution and a constitution,
demanding guaranties agains|t this admirable system,
and blow the new model-government to the winds !
Many of our people are like children who, having
bawled till they get a toy, begin to cry to have it
taken away from them. Fortunately the heart and
strength of the nation, its rural population, is sound
and practical, else we might prove ourselves to be
insane as well as ridiculous.

VOL. II. 16

182 SWITZERLAND.

LETTER XXV.

Dear  ,
The recent arrivals from America have brought
a document that has filled me with surprise and
chagrine. You may remember what I have already
written you on the subject of a controversy at Paris,
concerning the cost of government, and the manner
in which the agents of the United States, past and
present, wrongfully or not, were made to figure in
the affair. There is a species of instinct in matters of
this sort, which soon enables a man of common
sagacity, who enjoys the means of observation, to
detect the secret bias of those with whom he
is brought in contact. Now, I shall say, without
reserve, that, so far as I had any connexion with
that controversy, or had the ability to detect the
feelings and wishes of others, the agents of the
American government were just the last persons in
France, to whom I would have applied for aid or
information. The minister himself stood quoted by
the Prime Minister of France in the tribune, as
having assured him (M. Perier) that we were the
wrong of the disputed question, and that the wri
ters of the French government had truth on their
side. This allegation remains before the world
uncontradicted to the present hour. It was made

SWITZERLAND. 183
six months since, leaving ample time for a knowledge
of the cireumstance to reach America, but no in
structions have been sent to Mr. Rives to clear the
matter up ; or, if sent, they have not been obeyed.
With these unquestionable facts before my eyes,
you will figure to yourself my astonishment at find
ing in the papers, a circular addressed by the De
partment of State to the different governors of the
Union, formally soliciting official reports that may
enable us to prove to the world, that the position
taken by our opponents is not true ! This course is
unusual, and, as the Federal government has no
control over, or connexion with, the expenditures
of the States, it may even be said to be extra-con
stitutional. It is formally requesting thaf, which the
Secretary of State had no official right to request.
There was no harm in the proceeding, but it ^;vtmiu
be undignified, puerile and unusual, for so grave a
functionary to take it, without a commensurate
object Lest this construction should be put on his
course, the Secretary has had the precaution to ex
plain his own motives. He tells the different
governors, in substance, that the extravagant
pretension is set up that freedom is more costly
than despotism, and that what he requests may
be done, will be done in the defence of liberal
institutions. Here then we have the construction
that has been put on this controversy by our own
government, at Aowie, through one of its highest and
ablest agents. Still the course of its agents abroad,
remains unchanged ! Here the American function-

184 SWITZERLAND.
aries are understood to maintain opinions, which a
distinguished functionary at home has openly de
clared to be injurious to free institutions.
It may be, it must be, that the state of things
here, is unknown at Washington. Of this fact I
have no means of judging positively ; but when I
reflect on the character and intelligence of the
cabinet, I can arrive at no other inference. It has
long been known to me that there exists, not only
at Washington, but all through the republic, great
errors on the subject of our foreign relations ; on the
influence and estimation of the country abroad ; and on
what we are to expect from others, no less than what
they expect from us. But these are subjects which,
in general, give me little concern, while this matter
of the finance controversy has become one of strong
pefsonal interest.
The situation of the private individual, who, in a
foreign nation, stands, or is supposed to stand,
contradicted in his facts, by the authorized agents of
their common country, is anything but pleasant
It is doubly so in Europe, where men fancy those
in high trusts are better authority, than those vvho
ane not. It is true that this supposition, under in
stitutions like ours, is absurd, but it is not an easy
thing to change the settled convictions of an entire
people. In point of truth, other things being equal,
the American citizen who has been passing his
time in foreign countries, employed in diplomacy,
would know much less of the points mooted in this
discussion, than the private citizen who had been

SWITZERLAND. 185
living at home, in the discharge of his ordinary
duties ; but this is a fact not easily impressed on
those who are accustomed to see not only the power,
but all the machinery of government in the hands
of a regular corps of employes. The name of Mr.
Harris was introduced into the discussion, as one
thus employed and trusted by our government. It
is true he was falsely presented, for the diplomatic
functions of this gentleman were purely accidental,
and of very short continuance, but there would have
been a littleness in conducting an argument that was
so strong in its facts, by stooping to set this matter
right, and it was suffered to go uncontradicted by me.
He therefore possessed the advantage, the whole
time, of appearing as one who enjoyed the confidence
of his own government. We had this difficulty to
overcome, as well as that of disproving his argu
ments, if, indeed, the latter could be deemed a diffi
culty at all.*
The private individual, like myself, who finds
himself in collision with the agents of two govern
ments, powerful as those of France and America, is
pretty sure to get the worst of it. It is quite probable
that such has been my fortune in this affair, (I believe
it to be so in public opinion, both in France and at
home) but there is one power of which no political
combination can deprive an honest man, short of
muzzling him : — that of telling the truth. Of this
* The American government, soon after the date of this letter,
appointed Mr. Harris to be charge d'affaires at Paris !
16*

186 SWITZERLAND.
power I have now availed myself, and the time will
come, when they who have taken any note of the
matter, may see reason to change their minds.
Louis Philippe sits on a throne, and wields a fearful
force, but thanks to him of Harlem (or of Cologne, I
care not which) it is still within my reach to pror
mulgate the facts. His reign will, at least, cease
with his life, while that of truth will endure as long
as means can be found to disseminate it. It is probable
the purposes of the French ministers are answered,
and that they care little now about the controversed
points at all, but their indifference to facts can have
no influence with me.
Before dismissing this subject entirely, I will add
another word on that of the tone of some of our
agents abroad. It is not necessary for me to say,
for the tenth time, that it is often what it ought not to
be ; the fact has been openly asserted in the European
journals, and there can, therefore, be no mistake as
to the manner in which their conduct and opinions
are viewed by others. Certainly every American
has a right to his opinions, and, unless under very
peculiar circumstances, a right to express them ; but,
as I have already said to you in these letters, one
who holds a diplomatic appointment, is under these
peculiar circumstances. We are strangely, not to
say disgracefully, situated, truly, if an American
diplomate is to express his private opinions, abroad,
on political matters, only when they happen to be
adverse to the systera and action of his own govern
ment ! I would promptly join in condemning the

SWITZERLAND. ' 187
American agent who should volunteer to unite
against, or freely to give his opinions, even in society,
against the political system of the country to which
he is accredited. Discretion and delicacy both tell
him to use a proper reserve, on a point that is of so
much importance to others, while it is no affair of his;
and by meddling with which he may possibly de
range high interests, that are entrusted to his especial
keeping and care. All this is very apparent, and
quite beyond discussion. Still circumstances may
arise, provocations may be given, which will amply
justify such a man, in presenting the most unquali
fied statements, in favour of the principles he is sup
posed to represent. Like every other accountable
being, when called to speak at all, he is bound to
speak the truth. But, admitting in the fullest ex
tent, the obligations and duties of the diplomatic
man towards the country to which he is seut, is
there nothing due to that from which he comes ?
Is he to be justified in discrediting the principles,
denying the facts, or mystifying the results of his
own system, in order to ingratiate himself with those
with whom he treats ? Are rights thus to be pur
chased by concessions so unworthy and base ? I
will not believe that vve have yet reached the de
graded state that renders a policy so questionable, or
a course so mean, at all necessary. It really ap
pears to me, that the conduct of an American min
ister, on all these points, ought to be governed by a
very simple rule. He should in effect tell the other
party, " gentlemen, I wish to maintain a rigid neu-

188 SWITZERLAND.
trality, as is due to you ; but I trust you will mani
fest towards me the same respect and delicacy ; if
not on my own account, at least on account of the
country I represent If you drag me into the affair,
in any way, I give you notice that you may expect
great frankness on my part, and nothing but the
truth." Such a man would not only get a treaty
of indemnity, but he would be very apt to get the
money into the bargain.
The practice of naming attacMs to our lega
tions, leads to great abuses of this nature. In the
first place the Constitution is violated, for without a
law of Congress to that effect (and I believe none
exists) not even the President has a right to name
one, without the approval of the Senate. In no
case can a minister appoint one legally, for the Con
stitution gives him under no circumstances any
such authority ; and our system does not admit of the
constructive authority that is used under other go
vernments, unless it can be directly referred to an ex
pressly delegated power. Now the power of appoint
ment to office is expressly delegated ; but it is to an
other; or rather to another through Congress, should
Congress choose to interfere. This difficulty is got
over by saying an attacM is not an officer. If not
an officer of the government he is nothing. He is
at all events deemed to be an officer of the govern
ment in foreign countries, and enjoys immunities as
such. Besides, it is a dangerous precedent to name
to any situation, under a pretence like this, as the
practice may become gradually enlarged. But I care

SWITZERLAND. 189
nothing as to the legality of the common appoint
ments of this nature, the question being as to the tone
of the nominees. You may be assured that I shall
send you no idle gossip, but there is more impor
tance connected with these things, than you may be
disposed, at first, to imagine. Here, these young
men are believed to represent the state of feeling at
home, and are listened to with more respect than
they would be as simple travellers. It would be far
better not to appoint them at all, but if this is an in
dulgence that it would be ungracious to withhold,
they should at least be made to enter into engage
ments not io deride the institutions they are
thought io represent ; for to say nothing of princi
ple, such a course can only re-act, by discrediting the
national character.
In writing you these opinions, I wish not to do
injustice to my own sagacity. I have not the small
est expectation, were they laid to-morrow before
that portion of the American public which com
prises the reading classes, that either these facts, or
these sentiments would produce the least effect
on the indomitable selfishness, in which nine men in
ten, or even a much larger proportion, are intrench
ed. I am fully aware that so much has the little
national pride and national character created by the
war of 1812, degenerated, that more of this class,
will forgive the treason to the institutions, on ac
count of their hatred of the rights of the mass, than
will feel that the republic is degraded by the course
and practices of which I complain. I know no coun-

1 90 SWITZERLAND.
try that has retrogaded in opinion, so much as our
own, within the last five years. It appears to me to
go back, as others advance. Let me not, therefore,
be understood as expecting any immediate results,
were it in my power to bring these matters prompt
ly and prominently before the nation. I fully know
I should not be heard, were the attempt made;
for nothing is more dull than the ear of him wJio
believes hiraself already in possession of all the
knowledge and virtue of his age, and peculiarly en
titled, in right of his possessions, to the exclusive
control of human affairs. The most that I should
expect from thera, were all the facts published to
morrow, would be the secret assent of the wise and
good, the expressed censure of the vapid and ignor
ant (a pretty numerous clan by the way), the surprise
of the mercenary and the demagogue, and the secret
satisfaction of the few who will come after me, and
who may feel an interest in my conduct or my name.
I have openly predicted bad consequences, in apoliti
cal light, froih the corapliance of our agents here,
and we shall yet see how far this prediction may
prove true.*
• Has it not ? Have we not been treated by France, in the
a^ir of tbe treaty, in a manner she would not have treated any
eecond-rste power of Europe'!

SWITZERLAND. 191

LETTER XXVI.

Dear  ,
The season is giving warning, for all intruders to
begin to think of quitting the cantons. We have
not been driven to fires, as in 1828, for Vev6y is not
Berne ; but the evenings are beginning to be cool,
and a dash of rain, with a foaming lake, are taken to
be symptoms, here, as strong as a frost would be there.
Speaking of Berne, a little occurrence has just re
called the Burgerschaft, which, shorn of its glory
as it is, had some most praiseworthy regulations.
During our residence near that place, I hired a
Bernois as a footman, discharging the man, as a
matter of course, on our departure for Italy. Yes
terday I got a doleful letter from this poor fellow,
informing me, among a series of other calamities,
that he had had the misfortune to lose his livret, and
begging I would send him such testimonials of char
acter, as it might suit my^ sense of justice to bestow.
It will be necessary to explain a little, in order that
you may know what this livret is.
The commune, or district, issues to the domestics,
a small certified blank book {livret), in which all
the evidences of character are to be- entered. • The
guides have the same, and in many instances, I be
lieve, they are rendered necessary by law. The

192 SWITZERLAND.
free trade system, I very well know, would play
the deuce with these regulations, but capital regula
tions they are, and I make no doubt, that the estab
lished fidelity of the Swiss, as domestics, is, in some
measure owing to this excellent arrangement. If
men and women were born servants, it might a little
infringe on their natural rights to be sure, but as even
a von Erlach, or a de Bonestetten would-have to
respect the regulation, were they to don' a livery, I
see no harm in a livret. Now, by means of this little
book, every moment of a domestic's time might be
accounted for, he being obliged to explain what he
was about in the Interregnums. All this, to be sure,
might be done by detached certificates, but neither
so neatly, nor so accurately ; for a man would pre
tend, at need, that he had lost a single certificate,
oftener than he would pretend that he had lost those
he really had, or in other words, his book. Besides,
the commune gives some relief, I believe, when
such a calamity can be proved, as proved it probably
might be. In addition, the authorities will not issue
a livret to any but those who are believed to be
trustworthy. Of course I sent the man a character,
so far as I was concerned, for he had conducted
himself perfectly well during the short time he was
in my service.
A regulation like this could not exist in a very
large town, without a good deal of trouble, certainly ;
and yet what is there of more moment to the com
fort of a population, than severe police regulations,
on the subject of servants ? America is almost the

SWITZERLAND. 193
one of the — perhaps the* only — civilized country in
which the free trade system is fully carried out in this
particular, and carried out it is with a vengeance.
We have the let-alone policy, in puris natural-
ibus, and everything is truely let alone, but the pro
perty of the master. I do not wish, however, to
ascribe effects to wrong causes. The dislike to being
a servant in America, has arisen from the prejudice
created by our having slaves. The negroes being
of a degraded caste, by insensible means their idea
is associated with service; and the whites shrink
from the condition. This fact is sufficiently proved
by the circumstance that he, who will respectfully
and honestly do your bidding in the field, be a
farm servant, in fact, will not be your domestic
servant There is no particular dislike in our peo
ple to obey, and to be respectful and attentive to their
duties, as journeymen, farm-labourers, day-labourers,
seamen, soldiers, or any thing else, domestic ser
vants excepted, which is just the duties they have
been accustomed to see discharged by blacks and
slaves. This prejudice is fast weakening, whites
taking service more readily than formerly, and it is
found that, with proper training, they make capital
domestics, and are very faithful. In time the preju
dice will disappear, and men will come to see it
is more creditable to be trusted about the person,
and house, than to be turned into the fields.
It is just as difficult to give a minute account of
the governments of the different cantons of Switzer
land, as it is to give an account of the different state
VOL. II. 17

194 SWITZERLAND.
governments of America. Each differs, in some
respect, from all the others, and there' are so many
of them in both cases, as to make it a subject proper
only for regular treatises. I shall therefore con
fine the remarks I have to make on this subject lo
a few general facts.
Previously to the recent changes there were
twenty-two cantons ; a number that the recent se
cession of Neufchatel has reduced to twenty-one.*
Until the French revolution, the number was not
so great, many of the present cantons being then
associated less intimately with the confederation,
as allies, and some of them being held as political
dependants, by those that were cantons. Thus
Vaud and Argovie were both provinces, owned and
ruled by Berne.
The system is that of a confederation, which
leaves each of its members to do prettj^ much as it
pleases, in regard to its internal affairs. The cen
tral government is conducted by a Diet, very much
as our affairs were formerly managed by the old
Congress. In this Diet, each Canton has one vote.
The executive power, such as it is, is wielded by a
committee, or council. Its duties do not extend
much beyond being the organ of communication
between the Diet and the Cantons, the care of the
* Berne, Soleure, Zurich, Lucerne, Schweitz, tJnterwalden,
Uri, Glarus, Tessino, Valais, Vaud, Geneva, Basle, Schaffhausen,
Argovie, Thourgovie, Zug, Fribourg, St. Gall, Appenzell and the
Orisons. They are named here without reference to their rank,
or antiquity.

SWITZERLAND. 195
treasury, (no great matter) and the reception of, and
the treating with, foreign ministers. The latter duty,
however, and indeed all other acts, are subject to a
revision by the Diet
Although the cantons themselves are only known
to the confederation, as they are enrolled on its
list, many of them are subdivided into local gov
ernments that are perfectly independent of each
other. Thus there are two Unterwaldens in fact,
though only one in the Diet ; two Appenzells, also ;
and I may add, half a dozen Grisons and Valais.
In other words, the two Unterwaldens are absolutely
independent of each other, except as they are con
nected through the confederation, though they unite
to choose common delegates to the Diet, in which they
are known as only one canton, and possess but one
vote. The same is true of Appenzell, and will soon,
most probably, be true of Schweitz and Basle ; in
both of which there are, at this moment, serious
dissensions that are likely to lead to internal sepa
rations.'^ The Grisons is more of a consolidated
canton, than these examples, but it is subdivided
into leagues, which have a good many strong fea
tures of independence. The same is true of Valais,
where the subdivisions are termed dizains. The
Diet does little beyond controlling the foreign re
lations of the republic. It makes peace and war,
receives ambassadors, forms treaties and enters into
* Basle is now divided into what are called "Basle town" and
" Basle country ;'' or the city population and the rural. Before the
late changes, the former ruled the latter.

196 SWITZERLAND.
alliances. It can only raise armies, however, by
calling on the cantons for their prescribed contin
gents. The same is true as respects taxes. This,
you will perceive, is very much like our own reject
ed confederation, and has most of its evils ; though
external pressure, and a trifling commerce, render
them less here, than they were in America. I be
lieve the confederation has some control over the
public mails, though I think this is done, also,
through the cantons. The Diet neither coins
money, nor establishes any courts, beyond its own
power to decide certain matters that may arise be
tween the cantons themselves. In short, the gov
ernment is a very loose one, and it could not hold
together in a crisis, were it not for the jealousy of
its neighbours,
I have already told you that there exists a strong
desire, among the intelligent, to modify this system.
Consolidation, as you know from my letters, is
wished by no one, for the great difference between
the town and the rural populations, cause both to
wish to remain independent. Three languages
are spoken in Switzerland, without including the
Rhetian, or any of the numerous pdtois. All the
north is German. Geneva, Vaud, and Valais are
French, as are parts of Berne ; while Tessino, lying
altogether south of the Alps, is Italian. I have
been told, that the states which treat with Switzer
land, for mercenaries, condition that none of them
shall be raised in Tessino ! But the practice of treat
ing for mercenaries is likely to be discontinued alto-

SWITZERLAND. 197
gether, though the republic has lately done some
thing in this way for the Pope. The objection is to
the Italian character, which is thought to be less con
stant than that of the real Swiss.
Men, and especially men of narrow habits and
secluded lives, part reluctantly with authority. No
thing can be more evident than the fact, that a com
mon currency, common post-offices, common cus
tom-houses, if there are to be any at all, and various
other similar changes, would be a great improve
ment, on the present system of Switzerland. But a
few who control opinion in the small cantons, and
who would lose authority by the measure, oppose
the change. The entire territory of the republic
is not as great as that of Pennsylvania, nor is the
entire population much greater than that of the
same state. It is materially less than the population
of New York. On the subject of their numbers, there
exists a singular, and to me an inexplicable, sensi
tiveness. It is not possible to come at the precise
population of Switzerland. That given in the tables
of the contingents is thought to be exaggerated,
though one does not very well understand the
motive. I presume the entire population of the
country is somewhere between 1,500,000, and
1,900,000. Some pretend, however, there are
2,000,000. Admitting fhe latter number, you will
perceive that the single state of New York consider
ably surpasses it* More than one-third of the en-
* The population of New York, to-day, is about 2,200,000,
or not greatly inferior to that of Scotland ; and superior to that of
17*

198 SWITZERLAND.
tire population of Switzerland is probably in the
single canton of Berne, as one-seventh of that of the
United States is in New York. The proportion be
tween surface and inhabitants, is not very different
between New England and Switzerland, if Maine
be excluded. Parts of the cantons are crowded with
people, as Zurich for instance, while a large part is
uninhabitable rocks and ice.
The Swiss have most of the physical peculiarities
of the different nations that surround them. The
German part of the population, however, are, on the
whole, both largei" and better looking than the true
Germans. All the mountaineers are fresher, and
have clearer complexions, than those in the lower
portions of the country, but the difference in size
is not very apparent. Nowhere is there such a
population as in our south-western states ; indeed, I
question if large men are as common in any other
country. Scotland, however, may possibly form
an exception.
The women of Switzerland are better looking than
those of France or Germany, but beauty, or even
extreme prettiness, is rare. Light, flexible, graceful
forms are quite uncommon. Large hands and feet
are met with everywhere, those of our women
Hanover, or Wurtemberg, or Denmark, or Saxony, all of which
are kingdoms. The increase of population in the United States,
at present, the immigration included, is not far from 500,000
souls annually, which is equal to the addition of an average state
each year ! The western speculations find tlieir solution, in this
fact.

SWITZERLAND. 199
being miraculous in comparison. But the same
thing is true nearly all over the north of Europe.
Even our men — meaning the gentlemen — I think,
might be remarked for the same peculiarities in this
part of the world. The English have some absurd
notions on this subject, and I have often enjoyed a
malicious pleasure in bringing my own democratic
paws and hoofs (no prodigies at home), in contrast
with their aristocratic members. Of course, the
climate has great influence on all these things.
I scarcely think the Swiss women of the moun
tains entitled to their reputation for beauty. If
strength, proportions on a scale that is scarcely
feminine, symmetry that is more anatomically than
poetically perfect, enter into the estimate,one certain
ly sees, in some of the cantons, female peasants who
may be called fine women. I remember in 1828,
to have met one of these in the Grisons, near the
upper end of the valley of the Rhine. This woman
had a form, carriage, and proportions that would
have made a inagnificent duchess in a coronation
procession ; but the face, though fresh and fair, did
not correspond with the figure. The women of
our own mountains excel them altogether, being
a more true medium between strength and coarse
ness. Even Mrs. Trollope admits that the American
women, (perhaps she ought to have said the girls,)
are the most beautiful in the world, while they
are the least interesting. Mrs. Trollope wrote a
vast deal of nonsense, putting cockneyisms into the
mouths of Americans, and calling them American-

200 SWITZERLAND.
isms, but she also wrote a good many truths. 1 will
not go as far as to say she was right in the latter
part of this charge, but if our girls would cultivate
neater and more elegant forms of expression ; equally
avoiding vulgar oh's and ah's ! and set phrases ; be
more careful not to drawl ; and not to open the
mouth, so as to call " hot," " haut ;" giggle less ;
speak lower ; have more calmness and more dignity
of manner, and think Instead of pulsating, I would
put them, for all .in all, against any women in the
world. They lose half of these defects when they
marry, as it is ; but the wisdom of Solomon would
come to our ears with a diminished effect, were it
communicated through the medium of any other than
a neat enunciation. The great desideratum in fe
male education, at home, is to impart a graceful,
quiet, lady-like manner of speaking.
Were it not for precisely this place, Vevfey, I
I should add, that the women of America speak
their language worse than the women of any other
country I ever was in. We all know, that a calm,
even, unemphatic mode of speaking, is almost a test
of high breeding ; that a clear enunciation is, in short,
an indispensable requisite, for either a gentleman or
a lady. One may be a fool, and utter nonsense
gracefully ; but aphorisms lose their force when
conveyed in a vulgar intonation. As a nation,
I repeat, there is more of this fault in America,
perhaps, than among an equal portion of educated
people any where else. Contrary to the general
rule too, the men of America speak better than the

SVVITZERLAND. 201
women, though the men, as a class, speak badly.
The peculiar dialect of New England, which pre
vails so much all over the country, is derived
from a provincial mode of speaking, in England,
which is just the meanest in the whole island, and
though it is far more intelligible, and infinitely better
grammar is used with us, than in the place whence
the pdtois came, I think we have gained little on
the score of elegance. I once met in England a dis
tinguished man, who vvas one of the wealthiest
commoners of his county, and he had hardly opened
his mouth before I was struck with this peculiarity.
On inquiry, I learned that he came from the west
of England. It is by no means uncommon to meet
with bad grammar, and an improper use of words as
relates to their significations, among the highest
classes in England, though I think not as often as
in America, but it is rare, indeed, that a gentleman
or a lady does not express himself, so far as utter
ance, delivery, and intonation go, as a gentleman
and lady should. The fault in America arises from
the habits of drawling, and of opening the mouth too
wide. Any one knows that, if he open the stop of
an organ, and keep blowing the bellows, he will
make any thing but music. We have some extraor
dinary words too ; who, but a Philadelphian, for in
stance, would think of calling his mother a mare !
But I am digressing; the peculiar manner of speak
ing which prevails at Vev6y having led me
from the main subject. These people absolutely
sing, in their ordinary conversation, more especially

202 SWITZERLAND.
the women. In the simple expression of " Bon
jour, Madame" each alternate syllable is uttered
on an octave higher than the preceding. This is
not a pdtois at all, but merely a vicious and un
graceful mode of utterance. It prevails more among
the women than among the men ; and, as a matter
of course, more among -the women of the inferior,
than among those of the superior classes. Still it
is more or less general. To ears that are accustomed
to the even, unemphatic, graceful enunciation of
Paris, it is impossible to describe to you, in words,
the ludicrous effect it produces. We have frequently
been compelled to turn away, in the shops, to avoid
downright laughter.
There exists the same sensitiveness, on the sub
ject of the modes of speech, between the French
Swiss and their French neighbours, as is to be
found between us and the English. Many intelli
gent men here have laboured to convince me that the
Genevese, in particular, speak purer French than
even the Parisians. I dare say a part of this preten
sion may be true, for a great people take great liber
ties with every thing; but if America, with her
fifteen millions, finds it difficult to maintain her
self in such matters, even when in the right, against
the influence of England, what can little Geneva
look for, in such a dispute with France, but to be
put down by sheer volubility. She will be out-
talked as a matter of course, clever as her citizens are.
On the subject of the prevalent opinion of Swiss
cupidity, I have very little to say; the practice of

SWITZERLAND. 203
taking service as mercenaries in other countries,
has probably given rise to the charge. As is usual
ly the case in countries where the means of obtain
ing a livelihood are not easy, the Swiss strike me
as being more influenced by money than most of their
neighbours, though scarcely more so than the com
mon classes of France. To a man who gains but
twenty in a day, a sous is of more account than
to him who gains forty. I presume this is the
whole amount of the matter. I shall not deny,
however, that the honorarium was usually more
in view, in a transaction with a Swiss, than in a
transaction with a Frenchman, though I think the
first the most to be depended on. Notwithstanding,
one or two instances of roguery that I have encoun
tered, I would as soon depend on a Swiss, a clear
bargain having been made, as on any other man I
know.

204 SWITZERLAND.

LETTER XXVII.
Dear  ,
Notwithstanding all the poetry of our situa
tion, we found some of the ills of life in it. A few
light cases of fever had occurred among us, which
gave reason to distrust the lake shore at this late
season, and preparations were accordingly made to
depart. Watching an opportunity, the skiff of hon
est Jean was loaded with us and our effects to the
water's edge, and we embarked in the Leman, as
she lay-to, in one of her daily trips, bidding a final
adieu to Vevfey, after a residence of about five
weeks. The passage down the lake was pleasant, and
our eyes rested on the different objects with me
lancholy interest, for we knew not that they would
ever be again looked upon by any among us. It
is an exquisite lake, and it grows on us in beauty
each time that we look at it, the surest sign of perfec
tion. We reached Geneva early, and took lodgings at
l'Ecu,in season for the ladies to make some purchases.
The jewellery of this town is usually too tempting
to be resisted by female self-denial, and when we
met at dinner, we had a course of ear-rings, chains-
and bracelets served up, by a succession of shop
men, who understand, as it were by instinct, the
caprices of the daughters of Eve. One of the party

SWITZERLAND. 205
had taken a fancy to a pair of unfinished brace
lets, and had expressed her regrets that she could
not carry them with her. "Madame goes to Paris ?"
" Yes." " If she will leave her address, they shall be
sent to her in a month." As we were strangers in
France, and the regulation which prevented travel
lers from buying articles of this sort for their
personal use, however necessary ;^ has always ap
peared to me inhospitable, I told the man that if
delivered in Paris, they should be received, and
paid for. The bargain was made, and the jewels
have already reached us. Of course I have asked no
questions, and am ignorant whether they came by a
balloon, in the luggage of an ambassador, or by the
means of a dog.
The next day it rained tremendously, but having
ordered horses, we left Geneva in the afternoon, taking
the road to Fern6y. Not an individual of the whole
party had any desire to visit the chdteau, however,
and we drove through the place on a gallop. We took
French post horses, at the foot of the Jura, where we
found the first post house, and began to climb the
mountains. Our party made a droll appearance, just at
that moment The rain was falling in torrents, and
the carriage was dragging slowly through the mud,
up the long winding ascent. Of course the windows
were shut, and we were a sort of full dress party
within, looking ridiculously fine, and, from time to
time, laughing at our silly appearance. Every body
was in travelling dresses, jewellery excepted. The
late purchases, however, were all on our persons,
VOL. II. 18

206 SWITZERLAND.
for we had been told they would certainly be seized
at the custom-houses, if left in their boxes in the
trunks. The douaniers could tell a recent purchase,
by instinct. Accordingly, all our fingers were bril
liant with rings, brows glittered with ferronitres,
ear-rings of the newest mode were shining beneath
travelling caps and hats, and chains abounded. I
could not persuade myself that this masquerade
would succeed, but predicted a failure. It really ap
peared to me, that so shallow a distinction could
avail nothing against harpies who denied the right of
strangers to pass through their country, with a few
purchases of this nature, that had been clearly
made for their own use. But, while the sumptuary
laws of the custom-houses are very rigid, and set
limits to the wants of ^travellers without remorse,
like quarantine regulations, they have some rules
that seem framed expressly to defeat their own
ordinances. The road led up the mountain, where a view that
is much praised exists. It is the counterpart of
that which is seen everywhere, when one touches
on the eastern verge of the Jura, and first gets sight
of Switzerland proper. These views are divided
into that which embraces the valley of the Aar,
and the Oberland range, and this which comprises
the basin of the Leman, and the mountains that
surround it Mont Blanc, of course, is included in
the other. On the whole, I prefer the first, al
though the last is singularly beautiful. We got clear
weather near the summit, and stopped a few min
utes to dissect the elements of this scene. The view

SWITZERLAND. 207
is very lovely beyond a question, but I think it
much inferior to that which has been so often
spoken of between us, above Vev6y, notwithstand
ing Mont Blanc enters into this, as one of its most
conspicuous objects. I have, as yet, nowhere seen
this mountain to so much advantage. In size, as
compared with the peaks around it, it is a hay
stack among haycocks, with the advantage of being
a pile of shining ice, or frozen snow, while every
thing else near it is granite. By insulating this
mountain, and studying it by itself, one feels its
mild sublimity, but still, as a whole, I give the
preference greatly to the other view. From this
point, the lake is too distant, the shores of Savoy
dwindle in the presence of their mightier neigh
bour, and the mysterious-looking Valais, which in
its peculiar beauty has scarcely a rival on earth,
is entirely hid from sight. Then the lights and
shades are nearly lost from the summit of the
Jura, and after all it is these lights and shades, the
natural chiaro scuro, that finishes the picture.
We reached the first custom-house a little before
sun-set, but as there was a reasonably good inn op
posite, I determined to pass the night there, in
order to be able to defend my rights against the
myrmidons of the law, at leisure, should it be
necessary. The carriage was driven to the door
of the custom-house, and we were taken into sepa
rate rooms to be examined. As for myself I have
no reason to complain, but the ladies were indig
nant at being subjected to a personal examination

208 SWITZERLAND.
by a female harpy, who was equally without po
liteness and propriety. Surely France — polished,
refined, intellectual France — cannot actually need
this violation of decorum, not to say of decency!
This is the second time that similar rudeness has
been encountered by us, on entering the country ;
and to make the matter worse, females have been the
sufferers. I made a pretty vigorous remonstrance,
in very animated French, and it had the effect of
preventing a repetition of the rudeness. The men
pleaded their orders, and I pleaded the rights of
hospitality and propriety, as well as a determination
not to submit to the insults. I would have raade a
dStour of a hundred leagues, to enter at another
point, in preference.
In the course of the conversation that succeeded,
the officers explained to me the difficulties they had
to contend with, which certainly are not trifiing. As
to station, they said that made no great difference ;
your duehess being usually an inveterate smuggler.
Travellers are not content to supply their own wants,
but they purchase for all their friends. This I knew
to be true, though not by experience, you will per
mit me to say, the Ambassador's bags, half the time,
containing more prohibited articles than despatches.
But, notwithstanding this explanation, I did not
deem the case of one who bought only for himself,
the less hard. It is so easy to conceal light articles,
that, except in instances where there is reason for dis-*
trust, it were better to confide in character. If any

SWITZERLAND. 209
thing could induce me to enter seriously into the
contraband, it would be such treatment.
The officers explained to me the manner in which
smuggling is conducted. The usual mode is to
cross the fields in the night ; for when two custom
houses are passed, the jewelry may be put iu a com
mon trunk, and sent forward by the diligence, un
less there is some particular grounds of suspicion.
They know perfectly well, that bargains are con
stantly made in Geneva, to deliver purchases in
Paris; but, with all their care and vigilance, the
smugglers commonly succeed.
On a recent occasion, however, the officers had
been more successful. A cart loaded^ with split
wood (larch) had boldly passed the door of the
douane. The man who drove it was a peasant, and
¦ altogether he appeared to be one driving a very com
mon burthen to his own home. The cart, however,
was stopped and the wood unloaded; while reloading,
for nothing but wood was found, one stick attracted
attention. It was muddy, as if it had fallen into the
road. The mud, however, had a suspicious malice
prepense air about it ; it seemed as if it were smeared
on, and by examining it closely, two seams were dis
covered, which it had been hoped the mud would
conceal. The billet had been split in two, hollowed,
and reunited by means of pegs. The mud was to
hide these pegs and the seams, as I have told you,
and in the cavity were found seventy gold watches!
I saw the billet of wood, and really felt less resent
ment at the old virago, who had offended us. The
18*

210 SWITZERLAND.
officers caught relenting in my eyes and inquired
what I thought of it, and I told them that we were
not muddy logs of larch.
The next morning we were off betimes, intending
to push through the mountains and thecUstom-houses,
that day. The country was wild and far frora fruit
ful, though there were bits of naked mountain through
which the road wound in a way to recall, on a great
ly diminished scale however, that peculiar charra of
the Appenines. The villages were clean but dreary,
and nowhere, for leagues, did we see a country that
was genial, or likely to reward agriculture. This
passage of the Jura is immeasurably inferior to that
by Salins and Neufchatel. At first I was afraid it
vvas my worn out feelings that produced the impres
sion, but, by close comparisons, and by questioning
my companions, some of whom scarcely recollected
the other road, 1 feel certain that such is the fact.
Indeed it would be like comparing a finished paint
ing to an esquisse.
We had not much trouble at the second custom
house, though the officers eyed our ornaments with
a confiscating rapacity. For my part I took my re
venge, by showing off the only ornament I had, to
the utmost A  had made rae a present of a
sapphire-ring, and this I flourished in all sorts of
ways, as it might be in open defiance. One fellow
had an extreme longing for a T^retty ferroniere, and
there was a private consultation about it, among them,
I believe ; but after some detention, and a pretty close
examination of the passports, we were permitted to

SWITZERLAND. 211
proceed. If Frangois smuggled nothing, it must
have been for want of funds, for speculation is his
hobby, as well as his misfortune, entering into every
bone of his body.
We were all day busy in those barren, sterile and
unattractive mountains — thrice unattractive after
the God-like Alps — and were compelled to dip in
to the night, in order to get rid of them. Once or
twice on looking back, we saw the cold, chiseled
peak of Mont Blanc, peering over our own nearer
ridges ; and, as the weather vvas not very clear, it
looked dim and spectral, as if sorry to lose us. It
vvas rather late, when we reached a small town, at
the foot of the Jura, and stopped for the night.
This was France again, — France in cookery, beds,
tone and thought. We lost the Swiss simplicity, (for
there is still relatively a good deal of it left) and
Swiss directness, in politeness, flnesse and manner.
We got " monsieur sail — monsieur peuse — mon
sieur fera" — for " que voulez-vous, monsieur ?"
We had no more to do with mountains. Our
road next morning was across a wide plain, and
we plunged at once into the undeviating mono
tony of French agriculture. A village had been
burned, it was thought, to excite political com
motion, and the postillions began to manoeuvre
with us, to curtail us of horse flesh, as the road
was full of carriages. It now became a matter of
some moment to push on, for " first come, first
served," is the law of the road. By dint of bribes,
and threats, we reached the point where the two great

212

SWITZERLAND.

routes unite a little east of D&le, before a train of
several carriages, which we could see pushing for
the point of junction with the same object as our
selves, came up. No one could pass us, on the same
road, unless we stopped, and abandoning all idea of
eating, we drove up to the post-house in Dole, and
preferred our claim. At the next moment, four
other carriages stopped, also. But five horses were in
the stable, and seventeen were needed ! Even these
five had just arrived, and were bating. Four of tbem
fell to my share, and we drove off with many hand
some expressions of regret at being obliged to leave
but one for the four other carriages. Your travel
ling is an epitome of life, in which the lucky look
upon the unlucky with a supercilious compassion.
A league or two beyond D81e, we met two ear
riages coming the other way, and exchanged
horses ; and really I had some such generous feel
ings on the occasion, as those of a rich man who
hears that a poor friend has found a bank note.
The carriage with which we exchanged was En
glish, and it had an earl's coronet. The pair with
in were man and wife ; and some fine children,
with an attendant or two, were in the one that
followed. They were Scotch at a glance : the
master himself wearing, besides the stamp of his
nation on his face, a bonnet with the colours of his
clan. There is something highly respectable in
this Scotch nationality, and I have no doubt it has
greatly contributed towards making the people
what they are. If the Irish were as true to them
selves, English injustice would cease in a twelve-

SWITZERLAND. 213
month. But, as a whole, the Irish nobles are a
band of mercenaries, of English origin, and they
prefer looking to the flesh-pots of Egypt, to falling
back sternly on their rights, and sustaining them
selves by the proud recollections of their forefa
thers. Indeed half of them would find their fore
fathers among the English speculators, when they
found them at all. I envied the Scotchman his
cap and tartan, though I dare say both he and his
pretty wife had all the fine feelings that such an
emblem is adapted to inspire. Your earldoms
are getting to be paltry things ; but it is really
something to bo the chief of a clan !
You have travelled the road between Dole and
Dijon with me once, already, and I shall say no
more than that we slept at the latter town. The
next morning, with a view to vary the route, and to
get off the train of carriages, we took the road
towards Troyes. Our two objects were effected,
for we saw no more of our competitors for post-
horses, and we found ourselves in an entirely new
country ; but, parts of Champagne and the Ar
dennes excepted, a country that proved to be the
most dreary portion of France, we had yet been
in. While trotting along a good road, through
this naked, stony region, we came to a little valley
in which there was a village that was almost as
wild in appearance, as one of those on the Great
St. Bernard. A rivulet flowed through the vil
lage, and meandered by our side, among the half
sterile meadows. It was positively the only

214 SWITZERLAND.
agreeable object that we had seen for some hours.
Recollecting the stream at Tuttlingen, A  de
sired me to ask the postillion, if it had a name.
" Monsieur, cette petite riviire s'appele la
Seine." We were, then, at the sources of the
Seine ! Looking back, I perceived, by the form
ation of the land, that it must take its rise a short
distance beyond the village, among some naked
and dreary-looking hills. A little beyond these,
again, the streams flow towards the tributaries of
the Rhone, and we were consequently in the high
region where the waters of the Atlantic and the
Mediterranean di_vide. Still there were no other
signs of our being at such an elevation, exrcept in
the air of sterility that reigned around. It really
seemed as if the river, so notoriously affluent in
mud, had taken down with it all the soil.

SWITZERLAND. 215

LETTER XXVIII.
Dear 
I HAVE little to say of the next two days' drive,
except that ignorance, and the poetical conceptions
of a postillion, led us into the scrape of passing a
night in just the lowest inn we had entered in
Europe. We pushed on after dark to reach this
spot, and it was too late to proceed, as all of the party
were excessively fatigued. To be frank with you,
it was an auberge aux charritiers. Eating was
nearly out of the question ; and yet I had faith to the
last, in a French bed. The experience of this
night, however, enables me to say all France does
not repose on excellent wool matrasses, for we
were obliged to put up with a good deal of straw.
Art yet the people were assiduous, anxious to
please, and civil. The beds, moreover, were tidy ;
our straw being clean straw.
The next night we reached a small town, where
we did much better. Still one can see the great
improvements that travellers are introducing into
France, by comparing the taverns on the better
roads with those on the more retired routes. At
this place we slept well, and a la Fran^aise. If
Sancho blessed the man who invented sleep after
a nap on Spanish earth, what would he have thought
of it, after one enjoyed on a French bed !

216 SWITZERLAND.
The drums beat through the streets after break
fast, and the population crowded their doors, listen
ing, with manifest interest, to the proclamation of
the crier. The price of bread was reduced ; an
annunciation of great interest at all times, in a
country where bread is literally the staff of life.
The advocates of free trade prices ought to be told
that France would often be convulsed, literally
from want, if this important interest were left to
the sole management of dealers. A theory will
not feed a starving multitude, and hunger plays
the deuce with argument. In short, free trade,
as its warmest votaries now carry out their doc
trines, approaches suspiciously near a state of
nature : a condition which might do well enough,
if trade were a principal, instead of a mere incident
of life. With some men, however, it is a principal
— an all in all — and this is the reason we fre
quently find those who are notoriously the advo
cates of exclusion and privileges in government,
maintaining the doctrine, as warmly as those who
carry their liberalism, in other matters, to extremes.
There was a small picture, in the manner of
Watteau, in this inn, which the landlady told
me had been bought at a sale of the effects of a
neighbouring chateau. It is curious to discover
these relics, in the shape of furniture, pictures, por-
celane, &c., scattered all over France, though most
of it has found its way to Pai'is. I offered to pur
chase the picture, but the good woman held it to
be above price.

SWITZERLAND. 217
We left this place immediately after breakfast,
and soon quitted the great route to strike across
the country. The chemins vicinaux, or cross
roads of France, are pretty much in a state of
nature ; the public, I believe, as little liking to
work them, as it does at home. Previously to the
revolution, all this vvas done by means of the corvSe;
a right which empowered the seigneur to oblige
his tenants to perform a certain amount of labour,
without distinction, on the highways of his estate.
Thus, whenever M. le Marquis felt disposed to
visit the chdteau, there was a general muster, to
enable him and his friends to reach the house in
safety, and to amuse themselves during their resi
dence ; after which the whole again reverted to
the control of nature and accident. To be frank,
one sometimes meets with by-roads in this old
country, which are positively as bad as the very
worst of our own, in the newest settlements. Last
year I actually travelled post for twenty miles on
one of these trackless ways.
We were more fortunate, however, on the pre
sent occasion ; the road we took being what is
called a route dipartementale, and little, if any,
inferior to the one we had left. Our drive was
through a slightly undulating country that was
prettily wooded, and in very good agriculture. In
all but the wheel-track, the traveller gains by
quitting the great routes in France, for nothing
can be more fatiguing to the eye than their straight,
undeviating monotony. They are worse than any
VOL. II. 19

218 SWITZERLAND.
of our Own air-line turnpikes ; for in America the
constant recurrence of small isolated bits of wood,
greatly relieves the scenery.
We drove through this country sorae three or
four leagues, until we at length came to an estate
of better arrangements than common. On our left
was a wood, and on our right a broad reach of
meadow. Passing the wood, we saw a wide, park
like lawn, that was beautifully shaded by copses',
and in which there were touches of landscape
gardening, in a taste altogether better than was
usual in France. Passing this, another wood raet
us, and turning it we entered a private road — you
will remember the country has neither fence nor
hedge, nor yet scarcely a wall — which wound
round its margin, describing an irregular semi
circle. Then it ran in a straight line for a short
distance, among a grove of young evergreens,
towards two dark picturesque towers covered with
ivy, crossed a permanent bridge that spanned a
ditch, and dashing through a gate-way, in which
the grooves of the portcullis are yet visible, we
alighted in the court of la Grange f
It was just nine, and the family was about as
sembling in the drawing-room. The " Le Giniral
sera charme de vous voir. Monsieur," of the
faithful Bastien, told us we should find his master
at home ; and on the great stairs, most of the ladies
met us. In short, the patriarch vvas under his own
roof, surrounded by that family which has so long
been the admiration of thousands — or, precisely as
one would most wish to find him.

SWITZERLAND. 219
It is not necessary to speak of our reception,
where all our country are welcome. We were
soon in the drawing-room, which I found covered
with American newspapers, and in a few minutes
I was made acquainted with all that was passing
on the other side of the Atlantic. Mr. Rives had
sailed for home ; and as M. Perier was dead. Ge
neral La Fayette had not explained in the Cham
bers the error into which that minister had per
mitted himself to fall, agreeably to a tardy authority
to that effect received from Mr. Rives. The mi
nistry was on the point of dissolution in France ;
and it was said the doctrinaires were to come in
— and the nullification strife ran high at home.
On the latter subject. La Fayette spoke with a re
serve that was unusual on subjects connected with
America, though he strongly deprecated the
existence of the controversy.
There is great weakness in an American's be
traying undue susceptibility on the score of every
little unpleasant occurrence that arises at home.
No one of the smallest intelligence can believe that
we are to be exempt from human faults, and we
all ought to know that they will frequently lead to
violence and wrongs. Still there is so much
jealousy here on this subject, the votaries of mo
narchies regard all our acts with so much malevo
lence, and have so strong a desire to exaggerate
our faults, that it is not an easy matter at all times
to suppress these feelings. I have often told our
opponents that they pay us the highest possible

220 SWITZERLAND.
compliment, in their constant effort to compare the
results of the system with what is purely right in the
abstract, instead of comparing its results with those
of their own. But the predominance of the hostile
interests are so great here, that reason and justice
go for nothing in the conflict of opinions. If a
member of congress is flogged, it is no answer to
say that a deputy or a member of parliament has
been murdered. They do not affirm, but they
always argue as if they thought we ought to be
better than they ! If we have an angry discussion
and are told of it, one would think it would be a
very good answer, so far as comparative results
are concerned, to tell them that half-a-dozen of
their provinces are in open revolt ; but to this they
will not listen. They expect us never to quarrel !
We must be without spot in all things, or we are
worse than they. All this La Fayette sees and
feels ; and although it is impossible not to detect
the unfairness and absurdity of such a mode of
forming estimates of men, it is almost equally im
possible, in the present situation of Europe, for
one who understands the influence of American
example, not to suffer these unpleasant occurrences
to derange his philosophy.
Before breakfast the General took me into his
library, and we had a long and a much franker
conversation on the state of South Carolina. He
said that a separation of the Union would break
his heart " I hope they will at least let me die,"
he added, " before they commit this suicide on

SWITZERLAND. 221
our institutions." He particularly deprecated the
practice of talking about such an event, which he
thought would accustom men's minds to it. I had
not the same apprehensions. To me it appeared
that the habit of menacing dissolution, was the re
sult of every one's knowing, and intimately feeling,
the importance of hanging together, which induced
the dissatisfied to resort to the threat, as the short
est means of attaining their object. It would be
found in the end, that the very consciousness which
pointed out this mode, as the gravest attack that
could be made on those whopi the discontented
wish to influence, would awaken enough to conse
quences, to prevent any consummation in acts.
This menace was a natural argument of the politi
cally weak in America, just as the physically
weak lay hold of knives and clubs, where the
strong rely on their hands. It must be remem
bered that the latter, at need, can resort to weapons,
too. I do not believe there could be found in all
America any great number of respectable men who
wish the Union dissolved ; and until that shall be
the case, I see no great grounds of apprehension.
Moreover, I told him that so long as the northern
States were tranquil I had no fears, for I felt per
suaded that no great political change would occur
in America that did not come from that section of
the Union. As this is a novel opinion, he enquired
for its reasons, and, in brief, this was the answer.
There is but one interest that would be likely to
unite all the South against the North, and this was
19*

222 SWITZERLAND.
the interest connected with slavery. Now, it was
notorious that neither the Federal Government, nor
the individual States, have any thing to do with
this as a national question, and it was not easy to
see in what manner anything could be done that
would be likely to push matters as far as disunion,
on such a point There might be, and there pro
bably would be, discussion and denunciations ;
nay, there often had been ; but a compromise having
been virtually made, by which all new States at
the north are to be free States, and all at the
south slaveholding, I saw nothing else that was
likely to be serious.* As respects all other inter
ests, it would be difficult to unite the whole south.
Taking the present discussion as an example :
those that were disaffected, to use the strongest
term the case admits of, were so environed by those
that were not, that a serious separation became
impossible. The tier of States that lies behind the
Carolinas, Virginia, and Georgia, for instance,
are in no degree dependent on them for an out
let to the sea, while they are so near neighbours,
as to overshadow them, in a measure. Then the
south must always have a northern boundary of
free states, if they separate en masse— a circum
stance not very desirable, as they would infallibly
lose most of their slaves.
On the other hand, the north is very differently
* Recent fects have confirmed this opinion.

SWITZERLAND. 233
situated. New England, New York, Pennsyl
vania, Ohio, and the tier of States west, are closely
connected geographically, must and would go to
gether, and they have one frontier that is nearly
all water. They contain already a free population
of eight millions, which is rapidly increasing, and
are strong enough, and united enough, to act as
they please. It is their interest to remain united
with the south, and it is also a matter of feeling
with them, and I apprehend little to the Union so
long as these States continue of this mind.*
La Fayette wished to know if I did not think
the Union was getting too large for its safety. I
thought not, so long as the means of necessary
inter-communication were preserved, but just the
reverse, as the larger the Union the less probability
there would be of agitating its whole surface by
any one interest ; and the parties that were tran
quil, as a matter of course, would influence those
that were disturbed. Were the Union to-day, for
instance, confined to the coast, as it was forty years
since, there would be no south-western States to
hold the southern in check, as we all know is the
fact at present, and the danger from nullification
would be doubled. These things act both ways ;
for even the State governments, while they offer
positive organised and quasi legal means of resist
ing the Federal government, also afibrd the same or-
* This was written before the recent events in Texas,
which give a new aspect to the question.

224 SWITZERLAND.
ganised local means of counteracting thera, in their
own neighbourhood. Thus, Carolina and Georgia
do not pull together in this very affair, and, in a
sense, one neutralizes the other. The long and
short of the matter was, that the Union was a
compromise that grew out of practical wants and
facts, and this was the strongest possible found
ation for any polity. Men would assail it in
words, precisely as they believed it important and
valued by the public, to attain their ends. We
were here summoned to the breakfast.
I was well laughed at, at the table, for my igno
rance. The family of la Grange live in the real
old French style, with an occasional introduction
of an American dish, in compliment to a guest
We had obtained hints concerning one or two
capital things there, especially one for a very
simple and excellent dish, called soupe au lait;
and I fancied I had now made discovery the se
cond. A dish was handed to me that I found so
excellent, so very appropriate to breakfast, that
I sent it to A  , with a request that she would
get its history from Madame George La Fayette,
who sat next her. The ladies put their heads to
gether, and I soon saw that they were amused at
the suggestion. A  then informed me, that it
was an American as well as a French dish, and
that she knew great quantities of it had been con
sumed in the hall at C  , in particular. Of
course I protested that I had no recollection of it.
" All this is very likely, for it is a good while

SWITZERLAND. 235

since you have eaten any. The dish is neither
more nor less then pap !"
Two capital mistakes exist in America on the
subject of France. One regards its manners, and
the other its kitchen. We believe that French
deportment is superficial, full of action, and ex
aggerated. This would truly be a wonder in a
people who possess a better tone of manners, per
haps than any other ; for quiet and simplicity are
indispensable to high breeding. The French of
rank are perfect models of these excellencies. As
to the cuisine, we believe it is high seasoned.
Nothing can be farther from the truth ; spices of
all sorts being nearly proscribed. When I went
to London with the Vicomte de V  , the first
dinner was at a tavern. The moment he touched
the soup, he sat with tears in his eyes, and with
his mouth open, like a chicken with the pip !
" Le diable !" he exclaimed, " celle ci est infer-
nale .'" And infernal I found it too ; for after seven
years' residence on the Continent, it was no easy
matter for even me, to eat the food or to drink the
wines of England ; the one on account of the high
seasoning, and the other on account of the brandy.
We left la Grange about noon, and struck into
the great post road as soon as possible. A succes
sion of accidents, owing to the random driving of
the postillions, detained us several hours, and it was
dark before we reached the first barrilre of Paris.
We entered the town on our side of the river, and
drove into our own gate about eight. The table

226 SWITZERLAND.
was set for dinner ; the beds were made, the gloves .
and toys lay scattered about, ^ la Princesse d'
Orange, and we resumed our customary mode of
life, precisely as if we had returned from an airing
in the country, instead of a journey of three
months !

THE END.

YALE UNIVERSITY

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