1873
LETTER FROM GENERAL SHERMAN--LOSS OF THE “ATLANTIC”--THE BOYHOOD
HOME OF NAPOLEON III. AND OF HIS MOTHER, QUEEN HORTENSE--
A COMPANION TELLS OF THE PRINCE’S PRANKS AND STUDIES--
JOSEPHINE’S HARP--ARENABERG FULL OF NAPOLEON RELICS--WE HAVE
A LONG INTERVIEW WITH THE EX-EMPRESS EUGENIE--LETTER FROM
GENERAL SHERMAN--SPEAKS OF THIERS.
_May Day, 1873._--The terrible wreck of the White Star Liner
“Atlantic,” took place two weeks since. Five hundred souls lost. I had
secured passage for our young friend, Hirzel. He writes how he clung
to the rigging that cold morning, and witnessed poor human beings
gradually freezing, letting loose their hold, and dropping from the
rigging down into the sea. He was almost the last one taken off on to
the rocks.
General Sherman speaks of this disaster, as well as of the Modoc war:
“WASHINGTON, D. C., April 24, 1873.
“DEAR BYERS: Your last letter came promptly, and I have sent it
out to Mrs. Sherman, who is on a visit to Ohio, and, of course,
demands prompt notice of everything concerning Minnie. We get
from her letters regularly and promptly, the last being dated
at Castellamare, near Naples. She seemed unusually well, and
said she would soon return to Rome, and then begin her northward
progress. The Grahams will probably move slower than she wants
to, and she will probably catch a favorable opportunity to reach
you in Switzerland. I advise her to take this course; get near
you, and then maneuver from that as her base for the summer. She
does not seem very anxious to go to Vienna, though I advise it
for no other reason than to see the Fair and the city, and also
to see the family of our Minister, Mr. Jay. I want her to come
home in September or October, and to arrange for her passage
as early as possible, for there will be a rush in the autumn
westward. Notwithstanding the loss of the ‘Atlantic,’ I have not
lost faith in the White Star Line. It was not the fault of the
ship that she was foundered on the rock at a twelve-mile speed.
No ship could stand that; still, if she is afraid, then the
Cunard Line will be preferable.
“Our spring has been very backward, indeed, but the trees are
trying now to blossom and to leaf. The grass is very green, and I
hope that winter is past. The President is away at the West and
the Secretary of War in Texas, so times here are dull, although
we find the Indians are trying their annual spring business; not
very peaceful. You will have heard of the killing of General
Canby, and the treacherous conduct of the Modocs. I hope the
last one of them will be hunted out of their rocks and killed.
I have not heard of the actual coming of Mr. Rublee, but notice
that Consul Upton of Geneva has been named as chargé during his
(Rublee’s) absence. If I hear of his resignation, I will endeavor
to remind the President of your claims, but must warn you that
against political combinations I find my influence very weak.
“Present me kindly to Mrs. Byers, and, believe me, truly your
friend,
W. T. SHERMAN.”
The home of Queen Hortense, Napoleon’s stepdaughter, is on the Rhine,
only a couple of hours’ ride from Zurich. One of our delightful
excursions was to go and see the falls at Schaffhausen, and then
take a little steamer up the river to “Arenaberg,” the beautiful
chateau where the Queen lived for twenty years, and where she died.
Here, too, her son, Napoleon III., lived, as a youth. In the stable
building, close to the chateau, were his sleeping-rooms and study.
Louis Napoleon once said he would rather be a fine country gentleman
than Emperor of France. He got his tastes for the beautiful in nature
in this boyhood home. The chateau sits above the Rhine, with beautiful
hills behind it, and the historic lake of Constance close by. It is
on Swiss territory, and is a spot of perfect loveliness. It is the
one spot where Napoleon’s days were all happy days, and the one spot
where Queen Hortense led a happy life. The scene is so perfectly
enchanting, any one, not burdened with a crown, should find delight
in just existing there. The Queen’s room, in the upper corner of the
villa and overlooking the river and the lake, and with ravishing vistas
beyond, is just as she left it at her death. There are her harp and her
paint-brushes and her table. In this room she wrote the famous song of
“Partant Pour la Syrie,” that moved all France. Walter Scott translated
it into exquisite English.
[Illustration: Napoleon III.--_Page 81._]
[Illustration: Empress Eugenie.--_Page 81._]
I went often to Constance, and among my acquaintances was one who had
been a boyhood friend of the Emperor. It was Dr. J. Marmor, a retired
linen merchant in the town. He still corresponded with France’s
ex-ruler, for Sedan’s day was over, as was the terrible scene in that
little farmhouse by Donghery. Dr. Marmor showed me his letters from
Napoleon, and gave me the wax impress of his private seal from one,
together with some writing of the Emperor’s.
No one in Constance will forget the day when Napoleon, at the height
of his power, came from Paris, to visit the home of his childhood.
What grand preparations there were, what decorations, banners,
bands, cannon; what a gilded equipage, for the Emperor to head the
procession in! Suddenly the train whistle shrieks. “The Emperor! The
Emperor!” cries the crowd, as he descends to the carpeted platform.
The big, gilded carriage and the flunkies wait. “Where is my friend,
Dr. Marmor?” asks the Emperor. He is sitting out there, in his old,
one-horse buggy, looking at the scene, hoping for just a glance
at Napoleon, as he will pass among the self-appointed bigwigs and
flunkies. Suddenly the Emperor sees him, grasps him by the hand, and,
springing into the old buggy, cries: “Drive on. To-day I ride with
Marmor.” Then Marmor’s one-horse chaise, with nobody in it but the
Emperor and himself, heads the procession through the city. At first,
everybody stared, and then everybody cheered. Marmor, in five minutes,
had become the first man in Constance. That incident has been his pride
ever since.
When I called on him, and told him I wanted to write for a magazine
something about Napoleon’s boyhood, he gave himself wholly to my
service, went with me everywhere, and told of a hundred frolics he and
the young prince had had in the neighborhood. Prince Napoleon would
have been a poor secretary for the Y. M. C. A. He was an awfully fast
boy, according to one who “had been there” and knew all about it. Some
other old folks whom I met in Constance, knew things also peppery to
relate, were they more than big pranks, or worth the writing down.
Hortense’s chateau is two miles or so outside the town. “Many a time,”
said Marmor, “after half a night’s frolic with a few of us here in
town, have I galloped with him out home, yelling half the way. It must
have been the beer. When we got there, I slept till morning with him
in the barn, the place where he had his study. He studied, too, spite
of his fastness,” said the doctor. “How he read books! just as people
nowadays read newspapers. He read everything, and he remembered it
all. He was a generous soul, too; everybody said that. He was a famous
youth for his kindness to the poor, just like his mother; only she
was better. What a swimmer he was, what a wrestler, what a horseman,
what a rake! As to horses,” the doctor went on, “why it was a common
habit of his to mount, not by the stirrup, but by a single bound over
the crupper and into the saddle.” It is curious now to know that Louis
Napoleon once was a captain of militia here, and also a member of the
school board. “Bismarck never hatched out more schemes in Berlin, than
the young prince did out there in the barn, over the horses. In his
mind’s eye, he was Emperor of France a dozen times out there. I guess
all men do that, who have ambition,” continued the doctor, “and he
was the most ambitious boy I ever knew. But nobody thought he had any
chance for anything.”
The attendants showed us all the rooms in the Queen’s villa. Here, in
the upper east corner, is the one she died in, in 1837. The sun comes
into it, and it has enchanting views. At the end of the room stands,
not only her harp, but, near by it, the harp of Josephine. The villa
is full of souvenirs of the great Napoleon, too; the clock that stood
still the night he died at St. Helena; swords, banners, presents from
kings, etc. In the garden, in a chapel, is a white marble figure of
Hortense, kneeling before the altar. It is one of the beautiful things
of Europe.
The Empress Eugenie comes here summers. No wonder; all is so
enchanting. All except the memories. Right over there, almost in sight,
on an island in the lake, is a castle, the summer home of the old
German Emperor, who crushed out her husband’s life. Greatness must all
be paid for.
* * * * *
What we had seen, made us now the more anxious to see the ex-Empress
herself. Sometimes she was here at the chateau; oftener, at the little
watering place of Baden, half an hour from Zurich.
Our chance came. Miss Sherman, the daughter of General Sherman, was
visiting for a month at our home by the lake (July and August, 1873).
She was a good Catholic, and her mother was the only American woman on
whom the Pope had conferred the order of the “Golden Rose.” Eugenie,
also, was a zealous Catholic. Would she receive the daughter of General
Sherman, and the Consul and his wife? The Duke Bassano arranged it all.
“Her majesty will receive you on Tuesday morning, at ten o’clock,”
said a little perfumed note in French. We were not so sure of our
Gallic verbs and pronouns; still, we could speak some French, and
would risk the visit. Tuesday morning found us in our best toilettes,
waiting in a little anteroom, at the annex of the Hotel in Baden. It
was a simple enough old stone house, half of it built by the Romans,
in the times when they, too, came to these springs for their aches
and pains. In a few minutes, the friendly old Duke Bassano came in to
announce that all was ready. Major Cunningham and his wife were with
us. “And how shall we address her,” we innocently inquired of the Duke,
remembering that the Emperor was dead, and France a republic. “Oh, as
her majesty, of course, only as her majesty.” He opened the door to a
small, simply furnished sitting-room, and we entered. Almost at the
same moment, Eugenie entered from an adjoining apartment. She walked
to the center of the room, took each of us by the hand, and bade us a
cordial welcome. She was dressed in full black, partly décolleté and
trimmed with some white lace. She motioned us to some chairs arranged
in a semi-circle, in front of a little divan. On this sofa she seated
herself, and possibly never looked more beautiful on the throne of
France.
“And now what language shall we speak in?” she smilingly asked in
the most perfect English. “Your majesty’s perfect accomplishment in
our own tongue, settles that,” one of our party answered. “Good. Oh,
yes, I learned English in school, you know, after I left Madrid as a
girl; and my master was Scotch; and then I lived a time in London,
too. I like the English, and I like the English people; but I like
the American people just as well, only I never knew why your country
kept slaves, and had no respect for black people. I am sure color
makes no difference, if it is only a good man. Would you not invite a
black man to your table? I am sure I would, and did; and once, when a
diplomat who was dining with me also, objected a little to my courtesy
to a ‘negro,’ as he called him, I gave him quickly to understand that
possibly the negro was better than he was.”
Then she talked to Miss Sherman (now Mrs. Fitch) about her mother, of
whose Catholic zeal and perpetual charity to the poor she had heard so
much.
To each one in turn she addressed some pertinent word, and then,
laughing, turned to me as a representative of my country, and exclaimed
numerous things not very complimentary to our system of high tariff.
“Why, we make the most beautiful things in the world in Paris; you
Americans all say so, and yet you won’t let your people buy them
without paying twice what they are worth, by your fearful custom-house
rules.
“Americans are so clever; they ought to know they hurt their own
people, and they hurt us in Paris, too. Our poor work for such small
wages, and would always be happy, if you would only let them sell to
you; and, after all, your rich importers just add your tariff fees on
to the price of our goods, and who has the benefit?”
I answered: “Ours is a prosperous country, with our protective tariff
system.” “Yes, I know, in _spite_ of your tariff. I have heard that, a
hundred times. Some day, you will be just like us, and get where you
can get the cheapest. You don’t think making things dear helps anybody,
do you?” Politeness prevented much discussion. It was all one way.
Besides, was it not to hear her talk, not ourselves, that we were there?
She went back to the black man, or the black woman rather. “I had a
good laugh on my dear husband, the Emperor, once. He lived in your
country awhile, you know, and he was always fancying your pretty women.
One day at New Orleans he saw a beautiful female form ahead of him in
the street. It was all grace of movement, and elegance of apparel. He
was struck by the figure. I think he was half in love. ‘I must see
her face,’ he exclaimed to his companion. ‘I must see her. She is my
divinity, running away.’ He hurried his pace, passed her, and the
moment politeness would permit, glanced back. It was a ‘mulatto.’ I
don’t think he always regarded black people quite in the light I did.”
Shortly we proposed to go, though she made no sign that the interview
was at an end. “No,” she said. “Wait; I have leisure, nothing but
leisure and rheumatism.” But she had no rheumatic look; a more
charming-looking woman of fifty, I never saw. Her bright eyes were as
blue as the sky, her complexion exceeding fair, her hair still golden,
her vivacity of manner and cleverness of speech surprising beyond
measure; and then her kindness made us feel that we were talking with a
friend. All of us were led on to say much, and the visit lasted for two
hours. Much of the talk was about Switzerland and health resorts, and
so much at random as not to be remembered or noted down.
When at last we arose to go, she again came to the middle of the room
and took us each by the hand. And then I asked her a word about her
future plans. “There are none,” she said. “All is over. I have only
my son, and he and I will spend our lives in quiet and peace.” Alas!
only a few years went by and that son was lying dead in an African
cornfield, his body pierced by Zulu lances.
* * * * *
In June General Sherman has written again about Miss S.’s travels, and
also something about the French Republic, and the Modoc War:
“WASHINGTON, D. C., June 9, 1873.
“DEAR BYERS: I am just in receipt of your letter of May 20. Mr.
Rublee was here not long since en route for Rome, and from what
he said I think he has made no business arrangements, and that he
will stay there his full term.
“We have letters from Minnie up to May 20, at Rome, at which time
she had joined the Healys, and will accompany them to Venice,
Milan, Nice and Pau, France, a route that takes her well away
from Zurich, but she begs to be allowed to remain abroad longer,
say till next spring, so as to enable her to have more time to
stay with you and to visit England and Ireland. I suppose she
ought to reach Switzerland in July or August and stay with you
a month or more. I have given her my consent, and hope before
she reaches you you will have all our letters on the subject. If
she stays beyond October, she had better not attempt a winter
passage, but wait till April or May. This will make a long visit,
but I suppose it will be the only chance she will ever have, and
she might as well profit by it.
“Mrs. Sherman did intend to take the family to Carlisle for the
summer, but the season is so pleasant here that she has almost
concluded to remain at home and make short excursions. So that we
will be here in Washington all summer.
“I rather like the change in France, and I think General McMahon
will make a better president than Thiers, for he can keep out of
the corps legislatif, which Thiers could not do. If France can
stand a republic she must endure such presidents as time offers.
It is easier to get a good president than a good dynasty.
“Our Modoc war is over, and soon the principal chiefs will be
hung by due course of law (military), and the balance of the
tribe will be dispersed among other tribes easily watched. We
always have something of this sort every spring. Give my best
love to Mrs. Byers, and believe me always your friend,
W. T. SHERMAN.”