Now began to experience the inconveniences of its neighbourhood to
the seat of war, some of which had appeared at Bonn from the arrival
of families, who could not be lodged in the former place. We were no
sooner within the gates, than the throng of people and carriages in a
city, which only a few weeks before was almost as silent as gloomy,
convinced us we should not find a very easy welcome. The sentinels,
when they made the usual enquiry as to our inn, assured us, that there
had been no lodgings at the Hotel de Prague for several days, and one
of them followed us, to see what others we should find. Through many
obstructions by military and other carriages, we, however, reached
this inn, and were soon convinced that there could be no room, the
landlord shewing us the chaises in which some of his guests slept, and
his billiard table already loaden with beds for others. There was so
much confusion meanwhile in the adjoining square, that, upon a slight
assurance, we could have believed the French to be within a few miles
of the city, and have taken refuge on the opposite bank of the Rhine.
At length, our host told us, that what he believed to be the worst
room in the place was still vacant, but might not be so half an hour
longer. We followed his man to it, in a distant part of the city, and
saw enough in our way of parties taking refreshment in carriages, and
gentlemen carrying their own baggage, to make us contented with a
viler cabin than any person can have an idea of, who has not been
out of England. The next morning we heard from the mistress of it
how fortunately we had been situated, two or three families having
passed the night in the open market-place, and great numbers in their
carriages.
The occasion of this excessive pressure upon Cologne was the entry
of the French into Brussels, their advances towards Liege, and the
immediate prospect of the siege of Maestricht, all which had dispeopled
an immense tract of territory of its wealthier inhabitants, and
driven them, together with the French emigrants, upon the confines of
Holland and Germany. The Austrian hospitals having been removed from
Maestricht, five hundred waggons, laden with sick and wounded, had
passed through Cologne the day before. The carriages on the roads from
Maestricht and Liege were almost as close as in a procession, and at
_Aix la Chapelle_, where these roads meet, there was an obstruction for
some hours. While we were at Cologne, another detachment of hospital
waggons arrived, some hundreds of which we had the misfortune to see,
for they passed before our window. They were all uncovered, so that
the emaciated figures and ghastly countenances of the soldiers, laid
out upon straw in each, were exposed to the rays of a burning sun, as
well as to the fruitless pity of passengers; and, as the carriages had
no springs, it seemed as if these half-sacrificed victims to war would
expire before they could be drawn over the rugged pavement of Cologne.
Any person, who had once witnessed such a sight, would know how to
estimate the glories of war, even though there should be a mercenary
at every corner to insult his unavoidable feelings and the eternal
sacredness of peace, with the slander of disaffection to his country.
We had some thoughts of resuming our course by land from this place,
but were now convinced, that it was impracticable, seeing the number
of post-horses, which were engaged, and judging of the crowds of
travellers, that must fill the inns on the road. Our watermen from
Mentz were, however, not allowed to proceed lower, so that we had to
comply with the extortions of others, and to give nine louis for a boat
from Cologne to Nimeguen. Having, not without some difficulty, obtained
this, and stored it with provisions, we again embarked on the Rhine,
rejoicing that we were not, for a second night, to make part of the
crowd on shore.
Cologne, viewed from the river, appears with more of antient majesty
than from any other point. Its quays, extending far along the bank,
its lofty ramparts, shaded with old chesnuts, and crowned by many massy
towers, black with age; the old gateways opening to the Rhine, and the
crowd of steeples, overtopping all, give it a venerable and picturesque
character. But, however thronged the city now was, the shore without
was silent and almost deserted; the sentinels, watching at the gates
and looking out from the ramparts, or a few women gliding beneath,
wrapt in the nun-like scarf, so melancholy in its appearance and so
generally worn at Cologne, were nearly the only persons seen.
The shores, though here flat, when compared with those to the
southward, are high enough to obstruct the view of the distant
mountains, that rise in the east; in the south, the wild summits of
those near Bonn were yet visible, but, after this faint glimpse, we saw
them no more.
About two miles below Cologne, the west bank of the Rhine was covered
with hospital waggons and with troops, removed from them, for the
purpose of crossing the river, to a mansion, converted by the Elector
into an hospital. About a mile lower, but on the opposite bank, is
Muhleim, a small town in the dominions of the Elector Palatine, which,
in the beginning of the present century, was likely to become a rival
of Cologne. A persecution of the Protestant merchants of the latter
place drove them to Muhleim, where they erected a staple, and began to
trade with many advantages over the mother city; but the pusillanimity
of the Elector Palatine permitted them to sink under the jealousy of
the Colonese merchants; their engines for removing heavy goods from
vessels to the shore were ordered to be demolished; and the commerce of
the place has since consisted chiefly in the exportation of grain.
The shores are now less enlivened by villages than in the _Rheingau_
and other districts to the southward, where the cultivation and produce
of the vineyards afford, at least, so much employment, that six or
seven little towns, each clustered round its church, are frequently
visible at once. The course of the river being also wider and less
rapid, the succession of objects is slower, and the eye is often
wearied with the uniform lowness of the nearer country, where the
antient castle and the perched abbey, so frequent in the Rheingau,
seldom appear. Corn lands, with a slight intermixture of wood, border
the river from hence to Dusseldorff, and the stream flows, with
an even force, through long reaches, scarcely distinguished from
each other by any variety of the country, or intervention of towns.
Those, which do occur, are called Stammel, Niel, Flietert, Merkenich,
Westdorff, Langelt, and Woringen; in which last place, the burgesses
of Cologne, at the latter end of the thirteenth century, stood a siege
against their Archbishop, and, by a successful resistance, obtained
the enjoyment of some commercial rights, here so rare as to be called
privileges. After Dormagen, a small town very slightly provided with
the means of benefiting itself by the river, we came opposite to Zons,
the fortifications of which are so far preserved, as that the boatmen
on the Rhine are required to stop before them and give an account of
their cargoes.
We were listening to an old French song, and had almost forgotten the
chance of interruption from any abuses of power, when the steersman
called to us in a low, but eager voice, and enquired whether we would
permit him to attempt passing the castle, where, if we landed, we
might probably be detained an hour, or, if the officer was at supper,
for the whole night. By the help of twilight and our silence, he
thought it possible to glide unnoticed under the opposite bank, or
that we should be in very little danger, if the sentinels should obey
their order for firing upon all vessels that might attempt to pass.
The insolent tediousness of a German customhouse, and the probable
wretchedness of inns at such a placed as this, determined us in favour
of the man's proposal; we were silent for a quarter of an hour; the men
with-held their oars; and the watchful garrison of Zons saw us not, or
did not think a boat of two tons burthen could be laden with an army
for the conquest of Germany.
The evening was not so dark as entirely to deny the view of either
shore, while we continued to float between both, and to trace the
features of three or four small towns upon them. Neuss, being at some
little distance from the river, was concealed; but we had an accurate
remembrance of its hideousness, and, recognizing it for the model of
many towns since seen, were pleased with a mode of travelling, which
rendered us independent of them. The same mode, however, prevented
us from visiting Dusseldorff, which we did not reach, till after the
shutting of the gates; so that, had we stayed, we must have passed
the night in our boat on the outside, a sacrifice of too much time
to be made, while an army was advancing to the opposite shore. Being
compelled to remain in the boat, we thought it desirable to be, at
the same time, proceeding with the stream, and suffered the steersman
to attempt passing another garrison, by whom, as he said, we should
otherwise be inevitably detained for the night. He did not effect this,
without being noticed by the sentinels, who called and threatened
to fire; but, as the boatmen assured us this would scarcely be done,
without leave from an officer, who might not be immediately at hand,
we yielded to their method of pressing forward as hastily as possible,
and were presently out of sight of Dusseldorff, of which we had seen
only the walls and the extensive palace, rising immediately above the
water. In the next reach, the boatmen stopped to take breath, and
then confessed, that, though we had escaped being detained, as they
had said, they had saved some florins due for tolls here and at Zons;
which saving was their motive for running the risk. Though we would
not have encouraged such a purpose, had we been aware of it, since the
neglect of an unjust payment might produce an habitual omission of a
just one, it did not seem necessary to say much, in behalf of a toll on
the Rhine, for which there is no other pretence and no other authority
than the power to enforce it.
The loss of Dusseldorff, we were assured, was the less, because the
pictures of the celebrated gallery had been carried off to meet those
of Manheim, at Munich.
It was now dark for two or three hours, but we did not hear of any town
or view worth waiting to observe. The first object in the dawn was the
island of Kaiserwerth, on which there is a small town, twice besieged
in the wars of Louis the Fourteenth, and now in the condition, to which
military glory has reduced so many others. One of the mines in the last
siege blew so large a part of the walls over the island into the Rhine,
that the navigation of the river was, for some time, obstructed by
them. The dominion of this island, for which the Elector of Cologne and
the Elector Palatine contended, was decided so lately as 1768 by the
authority of the Chamber of Wetzlaar, who summoned the King of Prussia
to assist them with his troops, as the _Armée exécutrice de l'Empire_,
and the Elector Palatine was put in possession of it, notwithstanding
the remonstrances of his rival.
As the morning advanced, we reached the villages of Kreuzberg,
Rheinam and Einingen; and, at five, stopped at Urdingen, a town on
the west bank of the Rhine, at which the Elector of Cologne takes his
northernmost toll, and a place of more commerce than we had expected to
see short of Holland. Great part of this is in timber, which it adds
to the floats annually sent to that country; a sort of expedition so
curious and useful, that we shall make no apology for introducing the
following account of it.