1877
GENERAL GRANT AND THE SWISS PRESIDENT--BANQUET TO GRANT AT
BERN--GOOD ROADS--CHARGE D’AFFAIRES FOR SWITZERLAND--WRITING
FOR THE MAGAZINES.
_July 27, 1877._--General Grant arranged to visit the Swiss capital
on the 24th. Our minister being absent, I, as senior consul, went up
to Bern to offer him the courtesies of the legation. Quite a crowd of
people surrounded him as he came in at the station, and we drove to the
Bernerhof hotel. General Adam Badeau was with him, as was also his son
Jesse.
At 10 o’clock of the morning of the 25th, I had the pleasure of
presenting General Grant to the Swiss President, at the palace.
President Heer spoke but little English, and General Grant no German at
all, so it devolved on me to act as interpreter during the half hour’s
conversation. The Swiss Parliament house, called the palace, is a very
noble structure, standing on a commanding height, with the Bernese snow
mountains spread out in perfect view from windows and terrace.
The reception of General Grant was simple in the extreme. A common
business interview between two or three private gentlemen could hardly
be more devoid of official airs.
President Heer himself is a simple, kindly man, a statesman loved
by his people, and very well acquainted with the affairs of other
countries. He had evidently “read up” on General Grant, for he had
kept track of his travels, and referred to some incidents of his
life in the war. As ex-President of the United States, General Grant
was just as simple and kindly as was his Swiss entertainer. Each
expressed gratitude at meeting here on Republican soil. “We are not so
great as you Americans,” said the President, “but we are a much older
Republic.” They referred to the fact that the system of a second house
in Parliament was adopted from the American plan. They talked about the
advantages of two houses a little, and then the General was asked to go
and look at the view from the window. There is not another view like
that from any other executive mansion on earth.
The Swiss President does not live here. It is the official business
building of the government. An American would be surprised to see
President Heer’s own little private home in the suburbs of the city.
“I will return this call, General Grant, in just an hour,” said the
President. So we went back to the Bernerhof and waited.
The return call was as simple as the first. It lasted but a few
minutes, and ended in General Grant’s accepting an invitation to a
banquet that the President would give in his honor that evening. I had
the honor to be included in the invitation. General Badeau and Mr.
Jesse Grant were also to take part.
The afternoon of that day was dark and rainy; still I went walking far
outside the suburbs of the town.
Near to an old bridge, I came across a man standing absolutely alone,
in the rain, carefully examining the queer structure. It was General
Grant.
He did not observe me, and I, believing that he wished to be alone,
went my way down a different path.
It was fully an hour before he returned to the hotel, wet and muddy.
That evening at the dinner, I heard him telling a cabinet officer of a
delightful walk he had in the outskirts of the city.
There was no little surprise to know that the world’s guest, instead of
being escorted around by committees and brass bands, had spent half
the afternoon out on a country road alone in the rain.
General Grant had no reputation as an after-dinner speaker, but he made
two little speeches on this occasion, one in reply to the toast of
the President to the distinguished visitor, and a longer one, when he
himself proposed “Switzerland.”
The dinner was in a private room of the Bernerhof hotel. Besides those
already mentioned, the Vice President and the Cabinet were at the
table, and all made short speeches. Short speeches were also made by
General Badeau, by Jesse Grant and by myself. Nearly all spoke, or at
least understood, English, so the toasts were in our own tongue. Only
the President spoke in German, thanking General Grant for the honor
he had done the sister republic, by leaving his resting place in the
mountains and coming to the capital. There was general good feeling and
plenty of hilarity about the board. The Swiss understand the art of
having a good time at the table. Save a few words concerning the Darien
Canal and the Pennsylvania strike, no politics and no high affairs were
touched on that night.
When some specially fine cigars were passed along the table, General
Grant helped himself, and smiled in a way that said, “Now I am indeed
happy.”
At midnight, the guest rose and made a move as if about to speak again.
The President rapped on his wine glass for attention. “Hear, hear,”
said one or two guests, and every eye turned to where General Grant
was standing. To our surprise, he simply bowed to the President, said
goodnight, and quietly walked out of the room.
[Illustration: Chateau, Neuchatel.]
_August, 1877._--Bankruptcy seems to be threatening everywhere in
Switzerland this summer; not here only, but everywhere else. The worst
times, the people say, in a hundred years. To make it ten times worse,
the horrible war between Russia and Turkey is developing into Turkish
massacres of innocent people. There is nothing in Swiss newspapers
now save war news, and on the streets men talk of little else, fearing
all Europe may yet explode. It is the sentiment here that this war,
with all its atrocities, can be laid at England’s door, that it is from
her that Turkish assassins get their encouragement and help.
_December, 1877._--The reports of losses in the war continue fearful.
Seven thousand men were destroyed at Plevna, in thirty-five minutes.
Our American armies knew little of such sudden destruction. Fifty
thousand and more on both sides were shot at Gettysburg, but the fight
lasted two or three days. At Iuka, my own regiment (the Fifth Iowa)
lost _217_ out of only _482_ engaged, pretty nearly every other man
killed or wounded, in an hour. Plevna was not much worse than that. One
cannot help, too, thinking of the English at Jellabad, where only one
man out of sixteen thousand got away alive. No wonder the better sense
of a people opposes war.
_Christmas, 1877._--Like everybody else in Switzerland, we had a
“_tree_” last night. Twenty children besides our own little ones, and
some Swiss friends, were present. Naturally all was done in the Swiss
way. The tree, immense in size, had its one hundred and one candles,
its drooping chains of silver and gold tinsel, its little gorgeous
colored ornaments of metal and glass, and its white cotton snowflakes.
The tree stood in the consulate. The folding doors to our apartment
opened up for the purpose. Nothing is on the tree but ornaments and
lights. The gifts are on a side table. The bell rings; Kris Kringle,
robed, and jingling with bells, bounds in. The children are absolutely
in a paradise of joy, and the joy of the grown folks, on hearing the
exclamations of delight, is scarcely less. The servants get a great
proportion of the presents, for these gifts are a part of the wages.
Pretty soon all join hands, grown folks and children and servants, and
circle about the tree singing
“Christ is born,
Christ is born.”
What a happy time it is! It is Christmas night all the time for a week,
in Switzerland. There is nothing but good times and joy. Families come
together, and far-wandering sons come home for the glad reunion. I have
known young men to cross the Atlantic from New York, just to be in the
dear, old home for a week in the Christmas time.
The Christmas lights shine in every house, the villa of the rich, the
cottage of the poor. A Christmas tree is in every home. No rich man
would go to bed and sleep, knowing some poor child had no Christmas
tree. The public squares and side streets are filled with green trees
for sale. A happy smile is on every face, and a “Gott grüss euch,” on
every lip.
That one week of comradeship and kindly feeling does as much to bring
peace on earth and goodwill to men, in Switzerland, as does the church
itself. It is religion mixed with joy.
* * * * *
We are back on the lake again at Küssnacht, and such moonlight
nights! Occasionally American friends come out by boat, to see us
at Wangensbach, and walk home, the six miles, in the moonlight. The
little, white, clean roads along the lake shore are perfect, and a
delight to walk on. Will America ever know what a road is? We excel in
almost everything else, why cannot we do this one thing? Nothing to-day
would make the American people so happy, so prosperous, as good roads.
People of Switzerland save millions and millions yearly by their fine
turnpikes.
The other day I got orders from Washington to go to Bern and take
charge of the legation as acting Chargé d’Affaires, during the absence
of Mr. Nicholas Fish, going home on a furlough. Mr. Fish is a son of
Grant’s Secretary of State, Hamilton Fish, and is as accomplished and
zealous in affairs of diplomacy as his father is in statesmanship.
I have an American friend who calls at the office at 2 P.M. every
day now, to tell me in detail all the war news that I have just
finished reading in the papers. It requires an hour, but he does it up
thoroughly, and this, of all things, has made me wish the war would
hurry to a close. But are not _Consuls_ paid to _listen_ to their
countrymen sometimes?
While at home last winter, I arranged to continue writing articles for
some of the magazines, and the labor makes pleasant employment for
leisure hours. Many reports for the Government, too, on all conceivable
subjects, continue to be asked for and are printed as fast as sent in.
They are the result of a good deal of careful looking about.