CLI.
Frankfort-on-the-Maine, Germany, March 22, 1859.
I left the agreeable city of Berlin with mingled feelings of regret and pleasure. To get rid of an obstinate attack of bronchitis when all other remedies fail, my usual course is change of climate, and I put myself on the road for Dresden, the Saxon capital, as well as the business city of Leipzig, which I next touched. I had visited it before on different occasions and described it to you, and it offered but little new.
I thought I had seen the thirty-two empires, kingdoms, duchies, landgraves, and other imperial, royal, and ducal residences of Germany, but recollected an unexplored tract through the Erzhogthum of Weimar, and of Gotha and Coburg, the latter duchies celebrated as furnishing husbands for most of the Princesses of Europe, Prince Albert of England being one of the number. As I was at a loss to know what route to take for a change in such an emergency the smallest favors are thankfully received.
It is really curious and interesting to look into these little Dutch settlements, and scrutinize the efforts made by these pigmy potentates to imitate the regal residences of great sovereigns, as I once described to you, from Port au Prince, Island of Hayti, that the guards and cannon at the entrance of the Imperial gates of the black despot looked as formidable as those of the Emperor of Russia. But the people have there wrought a change, and Soulouque is a wanderer. In time similar changes will take place in Germany.
The towns of Jena and Nuremburg, and the battle-fields of 1806, with the bivouac of Napoleon upon the height called Landgrafberge, are all of much historical interest. The town of Weimar has thirteen thousand inhabitants, and lies upon the slope of a beautiful valley, through which runs a limpid stream. On the opposite side are elevated commanding grounds, upon which stands a new caserne containing an entire regiment of one thousand men. The town appears neat, is well paved, and has the air of a regal seat, without much trade or commerce, where the residents are in part dependent on the government, or persons whose means allow them to enjoy the advantages of such facilities as cannot be obtained in the small villages or upon the land.
The large and beautiful palace contains rooms with fresco paintings consecrated to the poets Goethe, Schiller, Herder, and Wieland, who were patronized by the then existing duke. The summer cottage of Goethe, vis-à-vis to a rustic resort of the duke, in the wood, is still in the possession of the poet’s family. At twelve A.M., the band played before the palace. A Greek chapel is found here, as well as in several German courts, in consequence of Russian marriages. The mother of the present duke is sister of the ex-emperor Nicholas. So you perceive how the family alliances are calculated to divide political influences in the Fatherland. The library has one hundred and fifty thousand volumes, also a good collection of medallions and objects of art. A fine large theatre is supported. The park is prettily laid out with rich and rare plants, hot-houses, and a summer palace for the duke. All these and much more might be added from a little domain of three hundred thousand inhabitants, about one-third that of New York and Brooklyn, with a salary of two hundred and eighty thousand thalers, say two hundred and twenty thousand dollars our currency. Horses, carriages, liveried servants must be kept up, three thousand troops entertained, and—who pays? These princes have generally large land incomes in addition to salary, and in this case Russia contributes a portion.
The territory of Gotha and Coburg is smaller. The population of Gotha is one hundred and twenty thousand, Coburg forty thousand, making one hundred and sixty thousand in all. The town of Gotha has fifteen thousand inhabitants, and is beautifully situated upon a side hill, with water running through all the streets. The new part looks well, but the old dull, and not so fine as Weimar. The Schloss or palace stands upon a high hill called Hochberg, and is of quadrangular form, some four hundred feet or more in extent, with a high tower. The grounds are extensive, and the terrace is compared by some to that of Windsor in England. The view is very extensive. The alleys and public walks around the little city are strikingly beautiful. There are several other palaces and summer residences belonging to the Duchy, a library of one hundred and sixty thousand volumes, a collection of coins consisting of some forty thousand pieces, a Chinese cabinet, galleries of pictures, copperplates, etc. One naturally wonders where and how such collections and public buildings have been put together and paid for, and by whom. The theatre is a fine building, and a regular company is kept up.
The Duke receives one hundred and forty thousand thalers from the land yearly, say one hundred and five thousand dollars our currency. He was absent with his wife in Berlin at the christening of the infant Prince of Victoria, whose mother is his niece, the daughter of Prince Albert. He has no family, and at his death Gotha and Coburg fall to Prince Alfred, the second son of England’s sovereign, who is now in the navy. The present Duke is a soldier, and lives in a small palace, like a sensible man, and is esteemed by his people. The army contingent is sixteen hundred troops. All these things are very pretty to gaze upon, and quite attractive to travellers who look only upon the surface, but talk with the people a little and get their views.
The manufacturing of lucifer matches has become a heavy business for exportation. You can scarcely believe it that in this unhealthy occupation girls are employed at three and a half silver-groschen, or nine cents, per day, whose food consists of potatoes and rye meal cooked together, who scarcely know what it is to get a piece of meat. In Erfurt, an old city of thirty thousand inhabitants, where nothing of interest offered except the cathedral, dome, and the fortifications, I mounted the steeple for a view and to look at a bell of great weight, here considered a wonder, and called the Maria Gloriosa. I asked the girl who conducted us if she had ever heard of the Moscow bell, which is really of monstrous size. She did not even know the name. I inquired if many visitors came, and what she earned. She replied the sexton paid her twelve thalers the quarter year, or thirty-six dollars our currency, yearly. The gifts of visitors she must hand over, or they would be taken from her. One cannot but pity such objects. I then said I will pay the sexton and what we give is extra for your use. People complain of untrusty servants, of peculations and unjust reckonings in short weights, etc. I tell them it is their own fault; they have driven them to dishonesty by low wages, which makes slavery on the plantation a preferable position.
My next halting-place was Hesse Cassel, from whence the English imported troops to fight against us in the revolution. I saw a review of the Gross Furst, or Elector. He has a passion for military. The country has nine thousand soldiers, but in case of war the number demanded by the German confederation is twelve thousand. The people are not satisfied with their elector. His salary is eight hundred thousand thalers. He has a large family, and his wife was the daughter of a hotel-keeper, consequently his children cannot occupy his place, and it is said instead of spending his money at home for the good of the people, it is sent to England, or used, in the purchase of estates in Bohemia, for the future provision of his heirs.
I have twice before visited Cassel, and described to you its position, its suburbs of Wilhelmshohe, the great artificial cascades and fountains, and other gigantic works executed with English gold received for the sale of Hessian soldiers.
I have said nothing about politics. The excitement in Germany has been great, but no unity of action. The Austrian papers lash Prussia for her neutral policy. The attacked journals reply that they are ready to defend the interests of the Fatherland, but unwilling to assist in the perpetuation of tyranny in Italy, and in the total want of religious toleration in Austria. The brochures, or pamphlets, in Paris, advising the conquest of the Rhine provinces, have done more to wake up the German population than anything else.