CXXI.
Breslau, Silesia, Feb. 10, 1857.
On my way south to the Austrian capital, instead of taking my former route, via Dresden and Prague, from which cities you heard from me two years since, I have made the detour to this place ostensibly to visit a travelling acquaintance, who had passed several months with me in Turkey, Greece, Egypt, and the Holy Land.
Breslau, with its suburbs, has a population of one hundred and twenty-five thousand, and has its attractions for the students, nine hundred of whom attend the University, which has a public library of three hundred thousand volumes. There is an interesting Zoological Museum, some antique churches, and other objects worth seeing. The public walks upon the former bastions, now planted with trees, with views upon the river Oder, whose branches traverse the city, are quite pretty, but fevers are the natural result there in summer. It is a bustling, active, trading city. The carnival season is now at hand. At a citizens’ masked and unmasked ball, given at the theatre, I noticed more variety of costume, more characters assumed and carried out with more life and animation than is generally manifested in Germany on similar occasions. I was struck with the contrast, having in Berlin recently attended the first of a series of three balls, given at the grand opera-house, and attended by the king and royal family. The attendance consisted only of those whose names guaranteed the privilege of a ticket, and ladies could not appear without the expenditure of large sums in dress; foreign ministers, civil and military officers, were covered with orders. The galleries, passages, and stairs, as well as the rear of the stage and parterre, which were planked over, were converted into a tropical garden of plants, flowers, and festoons of laurel. There was an excellent orchestra, and the supper halls were well garnished with dainties and substantials. The quantities of diamonds, emeralds, and rubies, with the scores of gas-lights, dazzled the eyes; the value of these baubles, properly applied, would prevent any further increase of taxation, a subject which is now agitating the country. The ball was numerously attended by the leading nobility and the whole retinue of the court; beauty and ugliness were there in the richest and most extravagant apparel. The variety of characters and uniforms in the waltz and dance, was undoubtedly calculated to strike one at first glance with wonder and admiration, but with a certain amount of restraint; the guests did not seem to enjoy themselves very much.
I adverted in my last, or meant to if I did not, to the practice of duelling still kept up by the German students, and winked at by the authorities, and even the professors themselves, who not unfrequently wear the marks of old duels upon their faces. Many clubs exist among these youths, whose different colored caps denote their members. They have their different places of rendezvous for pastime, drinking, and smoking.
An opportunity presented itself recently at Berlin to witness this foolish and shameful spectacle, which some consider a source of amusement. They fight for fifteen minutes, unless one or the other cries enough. The weapon is a straight sword, somewhat over three feet long, with a sharp blade; the end is about three fourths of an inch wide. The duellists are clad in a leather suit, the whole body protected except the head; the neck is bound with a scarf, and the right arm heavily bandaged with cloths; it is supported by a second during a halt, while a third stands with a sword to parry side-blows. Judges give the word of command, keep the time, and decide the contest. The students of both corps sit and stand around, smoking their pipes, without manifesting any particular concern, further than regards the manner in which the work is executed. It is incumbent upon each member to pass the ordeal, and the others have no hesitation in taking a hand for amusement. A cut upon the face or head, sometimes the loss of an eye, or a broken nose, is not unfrequently the result of this barbarous relic of the days of chivalry. I am happy to say that our Americans, with two exceptions, avoid this foolish exposure; one of whom has a mark upon his face, which he will always carry. Disgusted with the whole system, I was glad to escape.
The German railroad companies are yet far behind in the comfort of their cars. In France, the coaches are heated with vessels of hot water under the carpet; going last winter from Paris to Marseilles, I found it as comfortable as in a parlor. From Berlin to this place I noticed that only the ladies’ carriages were warmed with bags of hot sand; fortunately, I obtained a seat in one of them. I learn that from hence to Cracow, and also to Vienna, in Austrian territory, they are not warmed, and shall make my arrangements accordingly. The people in these latitudes in winter accustom themselves so much to the use of furs that they don’t seem to require this precaution.
The houses, cafés, and places of amusement, are well warmed, and one suffers less from cold than in northern Italy.
Since the release of the royalists from the Swiss prisons at Neufchatel, and the anticipated call of the Prussian Landwehr to the battle-field, the war excitement has cooled off, and the community have been excited with the judgment and execution of Verger, for the murder of the Archbishop of Paris.