The dream changes; the _voyageurs_ are flying over Greece. This small
but wondrous nation, so remarkable in the annals of mankind, and so
full of historic and classic associations, was seen by them as in one
view of its ancient and modern times, and of its geographic and art
attractions under the illumination of genius and heroism, or in the
twilight of mental and moral decadence.
The Immortal remarked, as it faded in the rear from their sight, “This
favored land, emerging as it is, again, from the contact and influence
of barbarism and moral depression, and with the native talents and
sprightliness of its race, throwing off their frivolity and supineness,
under the stimulating agencies of civilization now in contact with it,
is once more destined to appropriate distinction.”
_American._--“And yonder is Venice! Its romance has ever excited and
interested my imagination.”
_Immortal._--“Its history has been like a meteor; but in more ways than
one: it has dashed into obscurity! It may be of continued interest as a
locality and a city, but it can never, again, be a power.”
Italia! Oh, Italia! with what emotions, evolved from considerations
of the present as of the past, they approach thee! In a southerly
sweep they note the position of the ancient Brundusium, and gaze
upon Vesuvius, Pompeii and Naples. They move up the course of the
“yellow Tiber,” and at last, they hover over the “Eternal City.” They
descend into Rome! traverse its streets, visit its famed places and
sanctuaries, examine its ruins, think of its noted dead, observe its
new features and present people, and, more than all, ponder upon the
meaning of its history, its situation and its attitude. It is not
within the compass of this narrative to present the volume of feeling
and thoughts of the sleeper. In the Vatican and in the fane of St.
Peter’s, as he did after in St. Paul’s and in London, he ruminated on
the religion of civilization, and on the new speculations of infidel
philosophy. In the Coliseum he reflected upon the impulses and ways
of the populace. In the Forum he analyzed the systems of law and the
subtleties of eloquence. In Senate halls he eliminated the science,
the experiments, the élan of statesmanship, in both State and Church
matters. Within the classic area of the Seven Hills, Man had exhibited
every phase of his nature, inclination and power. Here Humanity had
been borne upon every wave of destiny, and had travelled upon every
highway and byway of fate, on earth. Rome is the epitome of the world’s
Past. Its mission is ended.
Moving northward the aerialists glance upon Pisa, Florence, Milan and
Mantua, the Po and the Adige. To gratify the curiosity of the American,
they divert and descend to the point where the Rubicon was passed, and
he thinks of Cesar, and of all the so-called Cesars, down to the last
Czar and Kaiser. They visit, also, the plain of Marengo, which assured
in power and prestige the true successor to Cesar, as _he_ had been
to Alexander--the third that made a trio of the world’s mental and
imperial masters.
Inasmuch as the travellers were threading the animate gallery of the
world, they gave but a glance at the art galleries of Italy. What was a
marble Venus or Apollo--what was a painting of the Transfiguration or
of a Madonna--what was the tower of Pisa or the cathedral of Milan, in
comparison with what they had seen!
_Immortal._--“Italy is still nearer to national regeneration, power and
influence than Greece. The full power of modern enlightenment will ere
long be felt there.”
_American._--“The names of Cavour and Mazzini are already enrolled on
the true roll of fame. And, too, the biographies of Rienzi and Lorenzo
the Magnificent are peculiarly attractive.”
This was said as they were observing the beauties of lakes Garda and
Como. From thence they bent their pinions for Vienna. They circled
it to view the fields made memorable by Sobieski and Napoleon. They
enter it; and a cold and silvery twilight seemed to prevail as if its
most consummate imperialism and refinement preferred the blinded and
curtained _salons_ of governmental and social civilization. In such
palatial halls were its Court; and there the _finesse_ of closet and
boudoir intrigue had attained to its most exquisite development in this
epoch. And the decorated white cloth coats of its costume delighted the
eyes, but were significant of hypocrisy to the brain, of the American.
Winged as he was, and probably because of it, he found temptations
addressed to both his head and heart. It was there thought that even
angels could be corrupted “on earth as in heaven.”
They seek the purer air of Switzerland and the Alps. They “did” Mont
Blanc and the Simplon, slid upon an avalanche, looked upon Geneva and
its lake, and thought of Tell, the Cantons, and Calvin. They next seat
themselves in human style on the deck of a steamer, and make the trip
of the ever disputable and picturesque Rhine. They dash off on wing to
Brussels, and imagining they hear the “sounds of revelry by night” and
“the cannon’s opening roar,” they ponder on Waterloo.
_American._--“Now for the dear old cliffs of Albion. Oh, Great Britain
and Ireland, land of my fathers, let me see thee!” Stretching their
wings in full sympathy and in joyous flight across the Channel, they
scan with loving and careful eye England, Scotland and Ireland. They
take in their all and every part and place; and terminate their British
tour in London. Everything indicated genuine maturity and stability.
Both the material and spiritual developments proclaim solid sense and
judicious cultivation. It is the only country in which the Past and
Present seem to blend and harmonize.
There is a Royal levee at St. James palace, and there all appear royal.
The British nobility and gentry! what a superb body of men and women!
What glorious types of the mental and physical--what exemplars of
education and refinement, character and tone! It is in Great Britain
that industry, honesty and intellect have acquired gold; and gold has
not debased but elevated humanity--has not disintegrated but cemented
the social elements.
They were graciously received by Majesty; and they congratulated the
Queen, not as sovereign, but as the royal representative of such
a nation. Her peers, with calm satisfaction and cordial dignity,
exclaimed, “That the just appreciation of the British people by native
white Americans, involved the highest compliment to both.”
The Lord Mayor took them in charge, visited with them the notable
places and buildings of London, and à l’Anglaise, entertained them
at a banquet. On the occasion the Premier, who was a guest, remarked
in his speech: “Great Britain, at last, although a monarchy in name
and form, is a republic in fact. Its government combines the more of
the advantages and the less of the disadvantages of the one-man power
and of the many-power, than that of any other nation does. Hence it
is, that the rights of the citizen equal those of even America, and
are more practically protected and left in undisturbed satisfaction,
politically and socially, than in any country in the world. There is
more nominal but less real personal liberty in the United States than
in England. Yet in these regards it is the just and proud boast and
boon of these two nations, that their peoples alone can be called free.”
_American._--“Is it because popular opinion in America is a tyrant
toward each individual, that Great Britain has the advantage in
practical, if not theoretical liberty?”
_Immortal._--“Yes. Settled law and not fluctuating opinion should
govern and protect.”
The good-byes are genial. While crossing the Straits of Dover for the
Continent, the Immortal said with emphasis:
“The Anglo-Saxons everywhere furnish the best wives and mothers of your
globe.”
La Belle France! Inimitable Paris! what a medley of expectations
attends upon visiting these centres of travel. They run the gamut of
pleasure from the exhilarating boards of the “light fantastic toe,”
to the arenas where learning and skill walk in solemn mental pomp,
and genius essays its wings for loftier flights from the heights of
knowledge. There the heart vibrates from all the phases of frivolity,
through the glows of vanity, love and ambition, to the glamours of
suicide.
They proceed to Versailles, and indulge in mocking criticisms upon its
costly and useless structures and empirical history.
They surveyed with care, Paris and its environs. They thought of it as
a communistic volcano or as the cradle of revolutions.
_Immortal._--“Blessed is the person or nation, who has a Faith, however
crude! But, in truth, the French have no faith of any stable or
guiding kind. Nor do they permit themselves to be either calm enough
to study or rational enough to understand the mission of Reason. They
do not truly apply it to either religion or government. Their women
are practically wiser than their men; in their domain of society the
former _have_ instituted a system of mere life. Both have some tangible
notions on the art of living on earth. Neither think very coherently
on the Beyond. Natural (not mental) Philosophy, in all its branches,
is their most successful sphere. Their German rivals surpass them in
mental speculations and innocuous transcendentalisms.”
They enter the Tuileries. The Emperor of the French expressed his
keen appreciation of the objects of their grand and adventurous tour.
With respectful earnestness he asked many questions in regard to
it; especially in relation to political developments. In reply to a
question by the American in reference to the assumptions of his own
dynasty, he asseverated that it was a Napoleonic conception, maxim and
design, “that the virtues and rights of the people could and should be
asserted under the one-man _representative_ power--that Imperialism and
Republicanism could be identicalized in and under governmental action.
That no other kind of government either suited or would satisfy the
French. And that he ever studied Great Britain and the United States as
among the leading examples before him, in devising the measures of his
action and the formulas of his policy.”
He, also, assigned this as a reason why he and his uncle had not been
favored by the old imperial or royal régimes. His Empress, the lovely
Eugenie, was marked in her gracious deference, and uttered some angelic
sentiments in support of her husband’s theory.
At Court the ethereal party received the attentions of the _savans_
of the world’s scientific metropolis, and with them visited their
meeting. Abstruse topics were discussed. In reply to an inquiry upon
electricity, the Immortal intimated “that, although it was not his
province to discuss the connection between mind and matter, or to
expound what agency magnetism had in relation to it, yet as the brain
and body of man were a series of electric batteries, and electricity
a fluid that pervaded the earth, it would in time, by an effort of
the will, and by an action of the human body under and in certain
conditions, become a medium of thought and converse between any two
persons at different spots on the earth.”
_American._--“Will they hold conversations as if in a tête-à-tête?”
_Immortal._--“Yes. Without using language, Americans will thus converse
with Chinese.”
They visited in the _Invalides_ the Tomb of Napoléon le Grand. Before
it the American was irresistibly affected by the awe, wonder and
curiosity, which may be felt for the majesty of mind.
The travellers now proceed to Bordeaux; where, seated in a _salon_, and
the American being thirsty, the best brandy and claret are set before
them. They taste them with relish, and discuss their merits.
Suddenly the Disembodied exclaims, “Day is approaching, I must return
to my body. Let us fly.”
They once more essay the aerial passage of the Atlantic. At the
instance of the Spirit of Morphine, who suggested that they had
time for a swoop to south of the Equator, and for a view of the
constellation of the Southern Cross, the American, who affected
astronomy, readily assented. They whirl southward, see it, and repass
“the Line.” They enter the United States at Savannah, and soon reach
the abode of the sleeper in the upper part of South Carolina. His
spirit enters his chamber through the window and glides into his
body, when he experiences a sense of relief as to its safety, and of
satisfaction in his wondrous trip. He nestles in comfort of thought and
matter, and--AWAKES!
The day has dawned, and soon the rays of the rising sun greet his
mortal eyes. During that day he spoke of the dream, and was pale and
excited. This dream occurred in the early part of January, 1868, and
lasted between nine and ten hours.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] This sea was then unknown to the dreamer. His dream revealed to
him its existence. He thought it a delusion, until he heard of its
discovery.
[B] This refers to the once famous palace, built of blocks of ice, in
St. Petersburg.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.