In these reverences and a thousand other ways, through titles and orders given to all persons of any distinction, wealth, or merit, is the aristocratic band so linked together, that the very children imbibe that love and respect and awe for the royal family till it seems engrafted in their very natures.
In political matters you are kept fully advised through the European journals. As I suggested in my last, things look ominous for the future. The money and commercial marts are still agitated, and uncertainty prevails. France continues steadily her military preparations; Sardinia the same. Austria is stubborn, and sends further supplies of troops into Italy. Diplomacy is hard at work to prevent a general European war, and, if the issue must come, to confine it to the Peninsula. A slight outbreak at the present moment would put all Europe in a blaze. The demand for saltpetre in the London markets, even from the smaller powers, and the prohibition of the sale of horses shows that they fear the result, and must be prepared, if not against the enemy, against their own people. Cannon foundries and manufactories of arms are in full blast in different countries.
The horrors of a European war, the destruction of life and property, the anguish of widows and orphans, the demoralization of invading armies, the cost of maintaining the same, and the entailment of debt, are not to be portrayed. Already Austria and Sardinia are in the market for loans, consequently there is a depreciation of the whole outstanding debt in the hands of the public.
Since I visited the Crimea I feel myself better able to judge of consequences. The ruined and battered fortresses and public and private edifices of Sebastopol, Kertch, and other points, the graveyards of the half million of souls of Inkerman, Alma, and the Malakoff, all testify to the melancholy results. However, the question of the whole Italian race, suffering under the bonds and chains of tyrants, cannot be longer delayed, and we shall probably soon know the decision. Either the evacuation by Austria of the Papal States, and the duchies of Modena and Parma, and abandonment of her tutelage, with a system of reform, or war, must be the result.
Some persons contend that war, like cholera, or other epidemics, in over-populated countries, is as necessary as a thunderstorm to clear a sultry and vitiated atmosphere, to sweep off a part of the redundant population, lessen competition, and give the survivors a chance to earn their bread. More humane means can be substituted in the favoring of emigration to the vast regions of unoccupied territory, not only in Europe, but in both Americas.
While all Europe is in uncertainty, America stands without anxiety, as a looker-on. In the event of a European war her breadstuffs would find a ready market. Capitalists, looking at the uncertain tenure of things here, would turn their attention to investments on the other side. Emigrants, to escape army duty and save what little they have from destruction, would take refuge in this land of liberty. Her Mexican and Cuban question could be settled without the interference of foreign powers, who would have occupation at home.
Our Treasury it seems is exhausted, and loans are made in time of peace. We pay our President twenty-five thousand dollars a year. I notice the French Senate have granted Prince Napoleon eight hundred thousand francs, or one hundred and sixty thousand dollars, as expenses for his marriage to the daughter of Sardinia’s king, and two million francs, or four hundred thousand dollars yearly. In the event of widowhood she is to have forty thousand dollars, our currency, and a palace to her use. All that for a cousin of the Emperor. What would our honest yeomanry think of such outgoes with us, which are mostly made up by indirect taxation upon each and every article consumed by rich and poor?
Yesterday we celebrated the birthday of Washington at a splendid dinner given by our minister, at which assisted some sixty persons of both sexes—Americans residing in or passing through Berlin, naturalized Germans, Consuls and Senators from Bremen, Stettin, &c. Baron Humboldt sat vis-à-vis with Gov. Wright under the folds of the American flag. Toasts and speeches, as customary on such occasions, were made, and all passed off to the satisfaction of guests. Some fifteen or more of our states were represented, and were called upon for a sentiment or a toast, which, under the exhilarating influence of champagne, was generally well responded to, and brought forth some amusing and historical reminiscences of the American revolution. Portraits of the Father of his country, of Humboldt, Webster, and others, and the beautiful engraving of Washington crossing the Delaware, were suspended from the wall. An artist gave a toast which was rather a strong one in a monarchical government, and in a less enlightened age perhaps we would not have had the privilege of meeting together to commemorate the birthday of a republican victor; it was to “Humboldt, the King of Science, whose shoes most kings are not worthy to unloose.” The venerable old man is now in his ninetieth year; he is fond of ladies’ society, who adore him as a traveller and writer. He has remained a bachelor. His memory is fresh and vigorous; I asked him if he recollected my presentation by Gov. Vroome, some four years since, and the conversation about the island of Ceylon. “Yes,” replied he briefly, “and Singapore also,” and then recounted information derived from other sources since.
CLI.
Frankfort-on-the-Maine, Germany, March 22, 1859.