CXXII.
Vienna, March 15, 1857.
The movements and doings of this gay and mixed population during the Fasching, or Carnival season, may be of interest to you. I notice in the papers that in the city proper and suburban cities, there have been given in all over one thousand public and private balls during the festival season. The corners of many of the streets were provided with transparent lights, announcing the different balls, from the Citizens’, Jurists’, Lawyers’, Professors’ and Students’, to the Cab Drivers’ and Servant-girls’. It seemed as if the chief occupation was dancing, and all were disposed to employ the time until the beginning of Lent, when the famous musical Strauss and Sperl Bands could lay down their instruments, and a tired population repose their wearied limbs. It is computed that an inveterate dancer here, in the waltz gallop and dance, will travel over several English miles of surface in the course of the night. The Burger Ball, given in the Palace, was a brilliant affair; some two thousand five hundred persons present. In the absence of the Emperor in Italy, his father, the Archduke Charles, represented him. Fanny Ellsler, the danseuse of so much notoriety, who is now a resident of this city, was among the number of guests. She was bedecked with diamonds, and was in conversation with the Archduke. Prince Metternich, the renowned Austrian statesman, even at his advanced age, was present. Vienna is noted for its beautiful ladies; they belong to a variety of races, the city being a concentrating point, during the gay season, for the fair daughters of Hungary, and of the Bohemian, Polish, and Italian provinces.
The education of young ladies is more superficial here than with us. Music, dancing, and the languages, seem to be the most important branches of an education; not that all other acquirements are neglected, but that the practical is not considered so essential as in our institutions at home.
The Emperor, Empress, and suite arrived day before yesterday from Italy, and were received at the railroad depot by a large body of Italian residents, who addressed thanks for the Emperor’s acts of clemency in Lombardy. He was received by the citizens in large numbers, who formed a line of protection for the imperial cortege to the gates of the city, where the Burgermeister and authorities of the metropolis attended him.
The Italians have gained through his visit a Viceroy, in the person of his brother, who is to reside at Milan and Venice alternately, dispensing with the military government of Radetzky. Political refugees have been pardoned, and granted the privilege of returning. Confiscated property has been restored; the revolutionary events of 1848 buried in oblivion; the prisons for felons have been in many cases opened, and a sort of jubilee produced among all, except those whose national prejudices cannot submit to Austrian rule. Culprits and cut-throats in despotic and monarchical countries never divest themselves of the sheet anchor Hope, for the marriage of a Prince, the birth of a Princess, or an accession to the throne, bring amnesties frequently. These are paraded and published as acts of magnanimity; and with their consummation, not unfrequently come many breakers of the peace and pests upon society.
On Washington’s birthday, the Secretary of our Legation and his Austrian wife, our Consul and family, and some eight or ten American students and travellers, accepted a sumptuous dinner at the house of our patriotic Minister, Judge Jackson of Georgia. The stars and stripes of our beloved country were attached to the wall, encircling the portrait of the illustrious father of his country, whose memory we are proud to honor.
A twelve hours ride by rail brought me from Silesia to Vienna. At the Austrian frontiers our luggage was visited as usual, and our passports examined. I designed revisiting Polish Cracow, by taking a branch line to the left, but as the cars were not heated, declined doing so. I made some remarks relative to the discomfort and slowness of the train, which were responded to by one of the officers of the company, who was passing over the road in consequence of a collision which had occurred the day before, attended with loss of life and property. We Americans are so frequently called upon to reply to the gross calumnies upon our steamboat and railroad disasters, that I was curious to see if an account of this accident would appear in print, but I never saw it. The officer remarked that it was very important to keep it secret, as the apprehension of the travelling public would affect the interests of the road. The press being under censorship, and the government being a party in the construction of the road, we can understand the silence.