1882-1883
VISIT NORTHERN ITALY--AMERICAN INDIANS IN ZURICH--DEATH OF THE
POET KINKEL--LETTERS FROM CARL SCHURZ AND THE POET’S WIFE--
LETTER FROM SHERMAN AS TO THE BOUNTEOUS MISSISSIPPI VALLEY--
A SECOND LETTER FROM SHERMAN--THE PRESIDENCY--CONVERSATIONS
WITH SCHERR, THE WRITER--THE POET KINKEL’S SON--HIS POWERFUL
MEMORY--WE VISIT BERLIN--MINISTER SARGENT’S TROUBLE WITH
PRINCE BISMARCK OVER AMERICAN PORK--SARGENT IS APPOINTED TO
ST. PETERSBURG--INDIANS AGAIN--BABY LIONS--VISIT AMERICA
AGAIN--FUNERAL OF THE AUTHOR OF “HOME, SWEET HOME”--SWISS
NATIONAL EXHIBITION--THE SWISS WAR MINISTER VISITS ME--WE
HAD BEEN COMRADES IN LIBBY PRISON--TROUBLE WITH FRAUDULENT
INVOICES--ORIGIN OF EXPERT SYSTEM AT CONSULATE--I SUCCEED IN
STOPPING THE FRAUDS--MY ACTION IS REPORTED AT WASHINGTON AS
SAVING A MILLION DOLLARS TO THE GOVERNMENT--ANOTHER LETTER
FROM GENERAL SHERMAN--HIS COMING RETIREMENT FROM THE ARMY.
_January, 1882._--The lake and the mountains and the white city do not
seem so beautiful to us to-day, for the little girl who loved them most
of all, lies in the next room covered with flowers.
[Illustration: Juliet’s Tomb, Verona.]
* * * * *
All was changed to us this past summer. In October we made a fourth
trip to Italy; this time to the lake regions at the foot of the Alps.
There is something about life in Northern Italy that seems to make
a stay there almost more desirable than in other places in the world.
The scenery is still Alpine, but it is the Alps with perpetual sunshine
on them, and warm laughing lakes about them. I think the peasants
more picturesque here than elsewhere. They carry red umbrellas, and
the peasant women wear short skirts, showing bright stockings of red
or white or blue. The low, white wooden sandals, with the red leather
band over the instep, worn by the women, are very pretty, too. Only
one wonders how they keep them on their feet. With every step the
sandals go click, clack, up and down, at the heels. The headgear of
the girls is a bit of black lace thrown over the head and hanging down
behind. The whole outfit, with the pretty black eyes of the girls, the
bright faces, and the merry demeanor, make one think that here, in the
sunshine of North Italy, is a happy peasantry. The men also wear bright
colors; the poorest has at least a cravat of blue and a red band on his
roguish soft felt hat.
The soft Italian language, and the singers with their guitars in the
moonlight by the lakes, add to the real romance of the scene.
The people of the lake regions are rather poor, spite of the rich
productiveness of the soil. There are too many of them, and too many
rocky heights, and mountains and lakes. The little stone-built villages
cling to some of these heights like crow nests on tree tops, but
somewhere, near to every height, on some spot of land beautiful as
Eden, we see the gardens and villas of the rich. These are the summer
homes of the aristocrats of Milan and cities farther south.
Villa Carlotta on Lake Como, sitting among the lemon trees, its gardens
washed by the blue waters, its halls and salons filled with the works
of genius, could tempt one to want to live there always.
And Villa Giulia, on that fair promontory running out into Lake Lecco
at Bellagio, seen of a summer evening with the deep blue waters on
either side, the snow white Alps in front of it, and groves of citron
and boxwood and lemon behind it, wakes the feeling in one that here
indeed is the fairest scene of all; here one could be happy.
* * * * *
The other morning the staid old city of Zurich was suddenly awakened by
the whoop of a band of American Indians. Had a cloud fallen, some of
the people could not have been more stirred up. The wild men were the
genuine article, in war paint and feathers. Not one Swiss in a thousand
had ever seen a real Indian before. It was part of a band of Chippewas,
being carried around Europe for exhibition. The show was a great
success. Everybody went to see it, and even followed the strangers
about the streets in crowds. The Indians had their difficulties,
however. An occasional one with too much “fire water” lay prone on the
sidewalk or rested in the lockup. They also had quarrels with their
manager, and daily for a time this painted band of my fellow countrymen
came to the consulate and held pow wows on the floor of the office.
They were a helpless lot of human beings there alone, knowing nothing
of the language, with a manager supposed to be robbing them. I got them
out of the lockup, and out of their other many difficulties as best I
could, and won their esteem and gratitude.
_November 16, 1882._--Three days ago the great Gottfried Kinkel was
carried to the graveyard out by the foot of the mountains. He had been
a warm friend since the day we came to Zurich. He was passionately fond
of the Swiss mountains, and we have had delightful little excursions
together. His death was sudden. One day he was stricken with apoplexy
and could not speak. He motioned his wife to help him to the window,
where he could once more look out at the beautiful mountains. He looked
long and wistfully at them and then waving them a farewell with his
hand went to his bed and died. Poetry and art and all things beautiful
wept when Kinkel died. His funeral was the greatest ever seen in
Zurich. He was buried by torchlight by the students of the University.
When the grave was closed and the great procession of uniformed corps
students with badges, flags and torches came back into the city, they
marched to a public square, formed an immense circle and, casting their
torches into a great funeral pile in the center, watched them burn to
ashes.
_December 14._--Our American statesman, Carl Schurz, had been a friend
of the poet, patriot Kinkel in the revolutionary times, and had also
rescued him from prison and death.
I wrote him a description of the funeral and received his reply to-day.
“Dec. 4, 1882.
“MY DEAR SIR:--I have just received your very kind letter of
November 21st in which you describe Kinkel’s funeral, and I thank
you most sincerely for it. His sudden death had been reported by
cable, but your letter gave me the first information about the
last days of his life, the circumstances of his death and the
touching demonstration of popular feeling at his funeral. The
letter will appear as a special correspondence in the Evening
_Post_ to-morrow.
“I enclose a letter of condolence to Mrs. Kinkel, which I shall
be greatly obliged to you for delivering or forwarding. I venture
to ask this favor of you as I do not know whether, after Kinkel’s
death, Mrs. Kinkel remained at Zurich or not. I have no doubt you
know where she is, and where the letter will reach her.
“Believe me, dear sir,
“Very truly yours,
C. SCHURZ.”
The sweet singer had now gone to be absorbed into the beautiful nature
of which he had talked to me when his daughter died. They were to be
one with the flowers and the sunshine, but without identity.
Mrs. Kinkel, a woman bright and talented, had ideas not greatly
different from her husband about this mystery called death. Once,
later, I sent her my poem of “Baby Helene,” and this was her answer:
“UNTERSTRASSE, DEN 25, 1858.
“GEEHRTER HERR CUNSUL:--Meine Freude beim Empfang Ihres Buches
war wirklich aufrichtig, und ich hatte Ihnen so gleich meinen
Dank dafür gesagt, wenn ich nicht von einem und dem andern
Gedicht so angezogen worden wäre, dass ich über das Lesen das
Schreiben zurücksetze. Die Gedichte an das liebe Helenchen haben
mich tief gerührt. Nur wer einen gleichen Verlust hatte, fühlt so
ganz den wehen Schmerz, der sich darin ausspricht mit Ihnen.
“Wie beneide ich Sie um die Hoffnung sie dereinst wiederzusehen.
Mein Trost allein ist, einstmals ewig vergessen zu können.
“‘Auf Wiedersehen’ hebe ich nur noch hervor von den vielen,
die mir besonders noch gefielen. Erst durch Sie bin ich darauf
aufmerksam gemacht dass das in englischer Sprache fehlt. Wie viel
Gutes verdanke ich nicht schon den Dichtern.
“Hoffentlich ist Ihnen die Ausfahrt mit Lawrence am Sonnabend gut
bekommen. Ich erkannte Sie leider erst im letzen Augenblick, als
das Schiff schon in Bewegung war.
“Grüssen Sie Mrs. Byers und Lawrence sehr von mir, und seien Sie
ueberzeugt, dass Sie mir mit dem Buch eine grosse Freude gemacht
haben.
“Mit vorzüglichster Hochachtung
“ergebenst
M. KINKEL.”
* * * * *
_November, 1882._--Have an interesting letter from General Sherman on
politics and farming.
“WASHINGTON, D. C., Nov. 7, 1882.
“DEAR BYERS:--Time and distance seemingly do dull the edge of
correspondence, if not of friendship. Your letter of October 22d
is received, has been seen by Mrs. Sherman, and shows that too
long an interval has passed since we have written you, but you
may rest assured that our friendly interest in you and yours is
in no way lessened, and that news from you is always most welcome
to me and mine. We still remain in Washington, except Minnie at
St. Louis, Elly at Philadelphia and Tom at Woodstock, but all
reasonably well. Last Summer Minnie lost two of her children,
both girls, one two years and eight months old, the other an
infant in arms. Both came East for health and change, though all
were as healthy as kittens. Mrs. Sherman had taken a furnished
house at Oakland on the very top of the Alleghanies, where all
the family was assembled, but the cold nights and warm days were
too much for the little ones, caused congestion of the stomach,
followed quickly by dysentery and death. I have recently been
to St. Louis and found Minnie well, and her three remaining
children, two boys and one girl, in strong vigorous health.
“I am now beginning to think of my own course of action when the
law compulsorily retires me at 64 years, viz.: Feb. 8, 1884. We
have all agreed to return to our old home at St. Louis, and as
February is a bad month for moving, I will in all probability
anticipate the time by a couple of months--move the family
in October and follow myself in November or December. So the
probability is, if you give up the Consulate and turn your
attention to your Iowa farm, I will be your neighbor and rival,
for I too own a farm in Illinois nineteen miles out from St.
Louis.
“The present has been probably the most fruitful year ever
experienced in America, all parts alike sharing the general
abundance. Of all this you are probably as well informed as I am,
but when I remember that the gold crop of California at its best
only equaled sixty-five millions a year, I am amazed to think of
a wheat crop valued at five hundred millions, and a corn crop of
eighteen hundred millions of bushels at 65 cents a bushel; other
crops in like proportion, and cotton estimated at six millions
of bales of 450 pounds each at 12 cents a pound. I am especially
glad of this, for some years, as you well know, land was held at
a discount, all persons having money preferring to buy stocks
or bonds which promised an income. Now the farming class is so
comfortable, with bounteous crops, and good homes, that the
country will draw from the crowded cities and towns the redundant
population. The farming class never give the trouble which the
manufacturing and mercantile are always threatening.
“To-day is the great election day of the country, more excited
than usual by reasons of feuds and dissenters among the
Republicans, which will enable the Democrats to elect their
candidates. Apprehension is felt that the next Congress will be
Democratic, but long heads say that success now, means defeat
next time, when another President is to be elected. Washington
goes right along improving and embellishing all the time, and I
really believe we now have the cleanest, if not the handsomest
city in the world, not excepting Paris. Of course we have no Alps
or lakes like yours at Zurich, but the Potomac when walled in and
its marshy banks converted into clean grass plots and parks will
approximate in beauty even the Rhine. But the old Mississippi
and Missouri, dirty and foul, will ever be the land of bounteous
plenty, and will in time hold the population and political
control of this continent. We will have plenty to eat and can
afford to travel to see beautiful mountains and lakes.
“Accept this in its length, not substance, as a measure of my
love and respect, and believe me always,
“Truly yours,
W. T. SHERMAN.”
One of our interesting visitors and friends these evenings is young
Dr. Kinkel, son of the great poet. He is renowned in the city for his
marvelous learning and memory. All that he has ever read, and he is
a high classical scholar, he seems to know by heart. He is writing a
history of the Byzantine Empire, and his studies for this are enormous.
I tested his memory a little last night by questions on the Life of
Washington. He answered as if the book had been open before him. Every
detail and date that he has accidentally learned as to the lives of his
friends, he can instantly recall. What was said of Macaulay could be
said of him, “He is a book in breeches.”
_December 23._--To-day I have a letter from General Sherman. He speaks
of the Presidency. Mrs. Sherman, I know, is just as much opposed to his
entering politics as is he himself.
“WASHINGTON, D. C., Dec. 12, 1882.
“DEAR BYERS:--I have just received your letter enclosing your
lines to your daughter Helen, composed to the same measure as
‘Sherman’s March to the Sea,’ and have sent both to Mrs. Sherman
for perusal.
“Congress is now in session, and the effect of the last election
is manifest. Though the Democrats have gained a large majority
for the next Congress, they recognize that their victory is
a dangerous one, for it seems to be more a rebuke to the
Republicans for the very sins of political government, which the
Democrats long since inaugurated and will carry into practice
the moment they gain power, than a victory to the Democrats.
No single man can handle the affairs of this country without
the agency of a strong well organized party, and all political
parties are about the same.
“As to my ever consenting to the use of my name as a Presidential
candidate, that is entirely out of the question. I recall too
well the personal experience of Generals Jackson, Harrison,
Taylor, Grant, Hayes and Garfield to be tempted by the siren
voice of flattery. It is too like the case of the girl who
marries a drunken lover in the hopes to reform him. It never has
succeeded and never will; the same of any individual trying to
reform the government, he will be carried along and involved in
its scandals and unavoidable sins. No, I am going back next fall
to St. Louis to spend the remainder of my days in comparative
peace and comfort.
“Wishing you and yours all the happiness possible in your sphere
of action,
“I am as always your friend,
W. T. SHERMAN.”
* * * * *
Was with Professor Scherr and others last night at the Orsini again.
Scherr is not only a literary man, he is an educated German thinker.
I was interested in some things he said about human existence. “Nine
men,” said he, “were born to serve a tenth. It never was otherwise;
it never would be otherwise; it never could be otherwise.” “Education
of the masses is all a mistake,” he continued. “Education only makes
them discontented, and humanity is not bettered.” I wondered to myself
if this were true. In America, I reflected, the masses are educated.
They are, too, the most discontented people on earth. Nobody ever
saw an American quite satisfied with his condition. I observed to
Prof. Scherr that in certain Italian districts where the people were
wholly illiterate and poor, I had noticed many signs of happiness.
“Exactly,” replied the Professor. “They don’t hear constantly of what
somebody else has got, and so believe they have got it all. This belief
satisfies them, they want nothing more; their ignorance is their
greatest blessing.”
“The Swiss, though,” I said, “are all educated and are happy.” “Not
a bit of it,” he answered, “they are growing more discontented every
day. They were happy till they got free schools and education, and till
they saw your rich American and English tourists living in luxury
and scattering gold like French compliments. No, education without
talent, is a curse. The first social revolution in Europe will be here
within a gun shot of where we are sitting, here in so-called educated
Switzerland.”
_January, 1883._--Spent the holidays at Berlin visiting in the home of
Mr. Sargent, our American Minister.
Mr. Sargent had for weeks been in a stew with the German Government
on account of their prohibiting our American meats. The same kind of
trouble was had in Switzerland; but when it happened that I was able to
prove that the American hams in which trichina were _officially found_,
were _Antwerp_ hams “fixed up” and stamped “American,” the ban on
American meats to Switzerland was raised.
Germany, however, for her own reasons, intended fight, and press and
Government opposed Mr. Sargent and the American exporters’ rights.
In the train on our way to Berlin, a German newspaper happened to
fall into my hands that told, not intending it, the whole story of
Bismarck’s opposition to Mr. Sargent and the American pig. On his
great estates he had pigs himself to sell, so said the newspaper. I
translated this article and put it in Mr. Sargent’s hands at once.
In a secret official dispatch to Washington, he quoted this German
newspaper as to Bismarck’s pigs, and put it in quotation marks. By some
means the dispatch was given to the public by the Department, and the
quotation marks of Mr. Sargent left out. The newspapers printed it as
an official declaration by the American Minister at Berlin. Bismarck
and his followers naturally were soon furious, and a course of action
was adopted that should be as offensive as possible to Americans.
We reached the capital one morning before daylight. Mr. Sargent met us,
sent us to his house in his carriage, and hurried off to report our
names to the Chief of Police. We had a great laugh over it all at the
breakfast table, when he came back. There is a fine of many marks for
taking people to one’s house in the German capital, without letting the
police know who they are. It is by such means that Germany keeps track
of everybody.
[Illustration: Kaiser Wilhelm.--_Page 226._]
Our Minister’s home was close to the Thiergarten, and there we saw the
old Emperor William, the Crown Prince Frederick and others of the royal
family, walking or driving daily. They were simple enough and were not
run after in their walks. I was told that every time the Emperor leaves
the palace for a drive, the fact is telephoned to every police station
in the city, and that extra officials and detectives in civilian dress
are abroad everywhere in parks and public places. It seemed to me that
on all occasions in Berlin half the people we met were soldiers or
policemen.
The history of the German capital is of more interest than the city
itself. One wonders that the Germans had courage to build a city on
this great ugly sand plain, nor can one think of comparing Berlin for
beauty with Paris or Florence, Vienna, Dresden or Washington. But
Berlin is a great city and its collections and museums are among the
greatest in the world.
At one of these museums we saw the golden necklaces, and rich headgear
of Helen of Troy. Dr. Schliemann, the explorer, had presented them to
the German Government. They are of immense interest and enormous value.
Every night the case containing them is let down into a great vault
under the museum. The elaborate gold work of Helen’s arm bands is as
fresh and bright as if made yesterday.
At Potsdam nothing interested us so much as “Sans Souci,” and
especially the chair that Frederick the Great was sitting in when he
died. We also stood by Frederick’s coffin under the pulpit of the old
Garrison Church.
Our conductor let me have a candle that burned above the coffin. I
thought of the time when Napoleon stood in this little dark chamber by
the body of one as great in Germany as he himself was in France. But
both the great men did their countries more harm than good.
Mr. Sargent gave one or two large dinners while we were at his house.
There was little talk of interest, but plenty of good music, and
plenty of good wine, which in a German company, might have stimulated
to notable sayings. Perhaps there were too many American teetotalers
present for a good time. I notice a few turn their glasses upside down,
in a sort of “I am better than you” fashion. Had they quietly allowed
their glasses to be filled, nobody would have asked why they did not
empty them. I have noticed always at German and Swiss dinners how the
talk sparkled with the wine, and how the witty things said were in some
way a test of the quality of the stuff in the decanter.
We went with the Sargents to the circus and saw the Crown Prince
Frederick and his boys and girls in a box. The Prince had a singular
and delicate way of applauding softly, with the palm of one gloved hand
on the back of the other. His children were all glee at the antics of
the performers, and expressed their joy in a much more boisterous way.
An enormous closed cage of wild lions was hauled into the arena, and
when the boards were let down and they saw the blinding lights and the
crowds of people their roaring was terrific.
A big African armed with a shotgun was let into the cage from an iron
hood suspended against the doors. There was the greatest excitement.
Many people instantly rose and left, fearing to see the man killed
before their eyes. We kept our seats. There was no performing with the
lions; it was simply a dare-devil venture to go among them, for they
were absolutely untamed. The African had serious difficulty in getting
back into his hood. It was his last act but one; the next night he was
torn in pieces.
In one of the public halls of Berlin, we recognized to our surprise a
party of American Indians performing war dances. They were the same
Indians who had been at Zurich and whom I had helped out of serious
difficulties, as their manager, it was claimed, had broken his contract
and left the poor barbarians stranded. They said then they would never
forget me. On seeing my wife and myself in the Berlin hall, they
suddenly stopped their dancing and to the astonishment of the assembled
spectators leaped from the platform, grasped me by the hand and called
to each other: “It is Mr. Byers! It is Mr. Byers!” They were overjoyed
at seeing some one in all Europe who had been kind to them.
A little later, in March, these Indians took passage home on the
steamer from Bremen. The vessel was wrecked, still in sight of land,
and every soul of them drowned. I, too, had engaged passage on the
steamer, but business detained me in Zurich till the next boat.
On Sunday morning we went to the Zoölogical Gardens, where one of the
keepers pleased my wife by raking a baby tiger and a baby lion out of
their cages and giving them to her to hold in her arms. The lion was a
chubby, woolly little fellow, the size of a cat and very cunning. While
we had it in our hands, the mother stood perfectly quiet and glared
at us as much as to say: “Hurt it, and these iron bars won’t hold me
a moment.” She manifested great joy when the little fellow was passed
back into the cage. The action of the tiger mother was not different,
except that she gave a revengeful growl when she got her baby back.
Several times in going to the city, I passed the home of Bismarck. It
was an unpretentious place, but armed sentinels walked up and down the
pavement in front of it.
At noon one day, I noticed hundreds of people standing in front of the
Emperor’s palace. I stopped to see what was the matter. The increasing
crowd stood there in the rain. “There he is,” I heard some one cry out,
and there was a doffing of hats. “There’s who?” I asked of a man near
me. “Why, don’t you see him at the window?” he answered. It was the old
Emperor standing there, smiling.
Once a day all Berlin can look on their Kaiser, and once a day the
Kaiser interrupts his Cabinet council, steps to the front window and
looks upon his people. It is much better than the crazy hand-shaking of
the mob at the White House.
On our way back to Switzerland, we stopped at beautiful Dresden. One
night at the opera we saw a white-haired old gentleman in a box,
closely following the libretto and the singers, whose face seemed
familiar to my wife. It was the King of Saxony--kind old Albert who,
incognito, had played with our children that day in the mountains, and
to whom our little girl had cried as he left, “Good-bye Mr. Albert.”
* * * * *
Our Minister’s difficulties at Berlin increased. The matter of American
pig, or no pig, became a battle between German and American newspapers.
Correcting the false statement and the misrepresentations as to Mr.
Sargent’s Washington letter, helped none at all. The German newspapers
simply did not want American meat. To American farmers and shippers, it
meant hundreds of millions of dollars. Mr. Sargent stuck to his post
and did his duty, and in a way, our Government supported him. One night
Bismarck gave a grand diplomatic dinner. How could he receive Sargent
socially when turning the cold shoulder to him officially? The press
wondered what would happen. Of course our Minister had to be invited,
and of course he had to go, or else show the white feather. Mr. Sargent
was not the white feather kind, and he went. “Things went smoothly
enough,” he wrote me, “and the newspapers got no sensation to report.
It was a very quiet and rather tame party. Of course Bismarck and I did
not spend the entire evening talking together. He didn’t effuse and I
didn’t effuse. That was all there was of it.”[8]
Our Government approved his course at Berlin by appointing him Minister
to St. Petersburg, but he declined.
Sargent, on coming home, was talked of for the Presidency. An abler
man, a purer patriot, a clearer headed statesman, is not often thought
of for that exalted post.
_June 30, 1883._--On the 29th of March I went to America on the
“Wieland.” Had thirteen days at sea and twelve of them storm and
hurricane. The ship was an old rat trap, on her last voyage before
repairs. I did not know this until we were in the middle of the ocean.
A young German, a gilded youth, the son of Prince ----, was on board
with me, proposing to try gay life a few years in America. One day he
asked me if the American shop girls were all “fast,” as in certain
continental cities, and if young men were interfered with for ruining
them. I observed that there was a difficulty; these girls mostly had
brothers who would shoot such a scoundrel on sight. The princelet
became pensive all at once, and seemed to be reflecting that his
visions of fun in the United States were turning all to fog.
* * * * *
Just before my return to Switzerland, I happened to be in Washington
again. It was the day set for the public funeral of the author of
“Home, Sweet Home.” Corcoran, the Washington banker, was paying all
the expenses, and a warship had brought the poet’s remains home from
Africa. The President and the Cabinet and all the dignitaries in
Washington, as well as many invited guests, took part. Howard Payne had
been a consul at the time of his death. I was asked to participate
in the ceremony, and went as one of the staff of General Hancock. The
ceremonies commenced in the Corcoran Art Gallery. It was an impressive
occasion. I felt very strange, standing there close by the little white
coffin that contained all that was left of the sweet singer. President
Arthur was one of the pall bearers. At the cemetery there were long
rows of elevated seats for the participants. I recall sitting beside
General Hancock and looking with interest on the magnificent figure
of the Gettysburg hero. He certainly was the most splendid looking
military man I ever saw anywhere. A statue of Payne was unveiled at the
grave, and a chorus of five hundred voices sang “Home, Sweet Home.” A
storm was threatening and black clouds hung over the scene. Just as
the flag was being drawn aside from the marble face, the sun suddenly
came out through a rift in the clouds, while at the very same instant a
myriad of yellow butterflies fluttered and clustered about the poet’s
face. The vast multitude present saw it, and were moved to exclamations
of delight.
I visited my home out West, and returned on the “Hammonia.” My old
school-fellow, J. D. Edmundson, went along. We had then, and more than
once afterward, good times together, excursioning among the Swiss Alps.
His was a case of American pluck. When we left school neither of us
had a penny. I soon went to the war, and he to a Western town to earn
a fortune. Not twenty years went by when the penniless youth, a banker
now, traveled the world over, with his check good for half a million,
and his mind stored from books and travel.
_September, 1883._--The Swiss National Exhibition is open all this
summer. Though small, the finest in detail I ever saw anywhere. Never
saw so much of real beauty arranged together. The location, too, in a
great park between two rapid running rivers, is romantic. It is in view
of the Alps and the beautiful lake.
On “Newspaper Day” I had the honor, for the want of a better, to reply
to the toast, “The American Press.”
I also wrote reports of the successful exhibition to our Government.
The Hon. Emil Frey, Swiss Cabinet Minister, now visited us out on
the lake. Col. Frey had been a soldier in our army, was captured and
suffered, with me, many horrid months in Libby prison. Our reunion
under such different scenes will never be forgotten. He is a great big,
generous man in body, mind, and heart. Because of his deserts, there
is no post in Switzerland he can not have for the asking. In fact, he
don’t have to ask. He is one of Shakespeare’s men who achieve honor and
also have honor thrust upon them.
He was later elected President of Switzerland.
_January, 1884._--These were the days when certain unscrupulous silk
shippers were robbing the United States Treasury of almost millions
yearly by undervaluation of invoiced goods. Honest importers were
nearly driven out of the market. There was a constant warfare between
the consul and the undervaluer. At last I succeeded in my own district,
by employing (at my own expense) trained silk experts. The plan worked
well, and Uncle Sam soon employed experts at many of the leading
consulates. There was tremendous profit in it for the Government.
For my zeal in stopping the frauds, and because of my long service,
President Arthur promoted me. A little later, an Assistant Secretary
of the Treasury reported officially that Consul Byers had saved the
Government in his own district not less than a million dollars, or
enough to support the whole consular service for years. He urged a
recognition of these services. General Sherman, too, had joined in
asking my advancement. One day, later, I saw this little note among the
Department files:
“22nd January, 1881.
“DEAR MR. SECRETARY:--I commend Mr. Byers to the President’s
most favorable notice. He was one of my soldier boys, whom I
released from prison at Columbia. He is now at Zurich, is a real
poet, a good writer, and is one of the most modest, unselfish,
and zealous men I ever knew. His promotion would be a beautiful
recognition of past services.
W. T. SHERMAN.”
_November 10._--Yesterday I received the following letter from General
Sherman:
“WASHINGTON, D. C, Oct. 24, 1883.
“DEAR BYERS:--I received in due season your valued letter of
September 30th, enclosing the editorial of the London _Times_,
which I had seen, but am none the less obliged for the thought
which suggested your action. The time is now near at hand when
I shall return to St. Louis, where my family is already happily
domiciled. I have never known Mrs. Sherman more content, for
she never regarded Washington as a home, but she recognizes her
present house as a real home. The girls seem equally satisfied.
The actual date of my retirement is Feb. 8, 1884, but I thought
it right to allow Sheridan to come in at an earlier date so as
to make any recommendations he chose for the action of the next
Congress, and I asked of the President an order to authorize me
to turn over the command on the first day of November, which he
did in a very complimentary way on that day. I will turn over my
office to Sheridan with as little fuss or ceremony as a Colonel
would do in transferring his Regt. to the Lt. Col.
“I will then pay a visit to Elly at Philadelphia, afterward New
York and then St. Louis. My address there will be Number 912
Garrison Avenue, a house you must remember. I have had it fitted
up nicely. We are all very well, and I am especially so.
“I do not feel the least slighted in this whole business, for
Congress has acted most liberally with me.
“I am constantly asked how I shall occupy my active mind and
body. I postpone all thought of this till the time come, but I am
resolved not to be tempted into politics, or to enter into any
employment which could bring money liability.
“I hope you also will get your promotion, and then come home and
settle on your Iowa farm. We should then be neighbors. Love to
Mrs. Byers and the family.
“Your friend,
W. T. SHERMAN.”