GREAT CHANGES IN THE SQUADRON.
The party that remained in Dresden went to Leipzig in the afternoon, and found very comfortable quarters in the Hôtel de Pologne. They visited the usual round of sights; but it must be acknowledged that they did so rather from a sense of duty, than because they were interested in most of them. Doubtless they were troubled by that bugbear of travellers—the fear of missing a sight about which some one in the future might inquire. If they failed to see it, tourists more fortunate in their own estimation would assure them they had lost the most interesting object in the city. Lincoln missed his good friend, the doctor, very much, though, as far as company was concerned, Miss Julia Gurney was an excellent substitute. But Mr. Kinnaird was exceedingly well informed, and was able to impart all needed information.
The population of Leipzig is nearly a hundred thousand. The productions of the printing press form one of the most important branches of commerce. Three fairs are held here every year, the principal of which is just after Easter; and the commercial transactions at all of them amount to nearly fifty millions of dollars. Like the fair at Nijni, they attract visitors from the most distant parts of Europe, and even from Asia, and formerly, during the Easter Fair, the population of the city was doubled. On this occasion the booksellers from all parts of Germany, with many from adjoining countries, assemble to make sales and exchanges of books, and to settle their accounts. The booksellers of Leipzig have an exchange, or bourse, of their own.
The party took carriages and rode through the streets. There are many quaint old structures to be seen in the Great Market-place, for the town is very old. The allied monarchs met in this square after the battle of Leipzig, in 1813, which the Germans call the Völkerschlact, or Battle of the Nations, because the affairs of Europe were settled for the time by it. Nearly five hundred thousand men were engaged in the battle, with sixteen hundred cannon. It lasted three days; but as the troops of Napoleon were outnumbered by those of the allies nearly two to one, the emperor was disastrously defeated in the end, and came very near being captured himself. The bridge over the Elster was prematurely blown up, and twenty-five thousand of the French had to ford the stream. Poniatowski, the brave Polish prince, who commanded a corps of his countrymen in the Grand Army, was drowned in crossing.
"I suppose you have read Göthe, commodore," said Mr. Kinnaird, as he ordered the driver to stop in a street near the market-place.
"Very little in German, sir."
"Of course you have seen the opera of Faust. This is Auerbach's cellar, where some of the scenes in the poet's tragedy are laid," added Mr. Kinnaird, as he pointed to the lower part of an old building. "It is still a wine and beer shop. It is said that Göthe used to drink deep in this place himself."
The party drove to the University, which is one of the oldest and most extensive in Germany, and has eight hundred students. An excursion to the Castle of Pleissenburg, and to the suburbs, where a view of the battle-field was obtained, completed the day, though in the evening the tourists went to the Schützenhaus, which is a beer garden, with the most elaborate decorations. The place is illuminated with lights of all colors, and contains castles, grottoes, waterfalls with crimson lights under them, and a great variety of other attractions.
The next day the travellers went to Wittenberg to see the memorials of Luther, and thence to Magdeburg, to examine the grand old cathedral. Spending the night here, the party went to Hamburg the next day. Lincoln was particularly interested in the little steamers which ply on the Alster, a large sheet of water in the rear of the city. The Jungfernsteig, the principal street, borders on this lake, which opens by a narrow passage, under a bridge, into the Great Alster, on which are the summer residences of the principal merchants and other wealthy men. The tourists remained but a day in Hamburg, and then proceeded to Lübec, where, after a ride through the streets, and a visit to its old church, they embarked in a steamer for Swinemünde. The trip down the river from Lübec to the Baltic is very interesting, for the river is so narrow, that the boat seems to be making its way through the back yards and gardens of the farm-houses on its banks.
During the last days of this journey, the country had been greatly excited by the prospect of a war with France. When they arrived at Swinemünde, on Saturday morning, they learned that war had actually been declared, and that direct communication with France, whither the Kinnairds intended to go, had ceased. They decided, therefore, to return to England immediately.