VIENNA, _March 15, 1857_.
The movements and doings of this gay and mixed population during the
Fasching, or Carnival season, may be of interest to you. I notice in
the papers that in the city proper and suburban cities, there have been
given in all over one thousand public and private balls during the
festival season. The corners of many of the streets were provided with
transparent lights, announcing the different balls, from the Citizens’,
Jurists’, Lawyers’, Professors’ and Students’, to the Cab Drivers’
and Servant-girls’. It seemed as if the chief occupation was dancing,
and all were disposed to employ the time until the beginning of Lent,
when the famous musical Strauss and Sperl Bands could lay down their
instruments, and a tired population repose their wearied limbs. It is
computed that an inveterate dancer here, in the waltz gallop and dance,
will travel over several English miles of surface in the course of the
night. The Burger Ball, given in the Palace, was a brilliant affair;
some two thousand five hundred persons present. In the absence of the
Emperor in Italy, his father, the Archduke Charles, represented him.
Fanny Ellsler, the danseuse of so much notoriety, who is now a resident
of this city, was among the number of guests. She was bedecked with
diamonds, and was in conversation with the Archduke. Prince Metternich,
the renowned Austrian statesman, even at his advanced age, was present.
Vienna is noted for its beautiful ladies; they belong to a variety of
races, the city being a concentrating point, during the gay season, for
the fair daughters of Hungary, and of the Bohemian, Polish, and Italian
provinces.
The education of young ladies is more superficial here than with us.
Music, dancing, and the languages, seem to be the most important
branches of an education; not that all other acquirements are
neglected, but that the practical is not considered so essential as in
our institutions at home.
The Emperor, Empress, and suite arrived day before yesterday from
Italy, and were received at the railroad depot by a large body of
Italian residents, who addressed thanks for the Emperor’s acts of
clemency in Lombardy. He was received by the citizens in large numbers,
who formed a line of protection for the imperial cortege to the gates
of the city, where the Burgermeister and authorities of the metropolis
attended him.
The Italians have gained through his visit a Viceroy, in the person
of his brother, who is to reside at Milan and Venice alternately,
dispensing with the military government of Radetzky. Political refugees
have been pardoned, and granted the privilege of returning. Confiscated
property has been restored; the revolutionary events of 1848 buried
in oblivion; the prisons for felons have been in many cases opened,
and a sort of jubilee produced among all, except those whose national
prejudices cannot submit to Austrian rule. Culprits and cut-throats
in despotic and monarchical countries never divest themselves of
the sheet anchor Hope, for the marriage of a Prince, the birth of a
Princess, or an accession to the throne, bring amnesties frequently.
These are paraded and published as acts of magnanimity; and with their
consummation, not unfrequently come many breakers of the peace and
pests upon society.
On Washington’s birthday, the Secretary of our Legation and his
Austrian wife, our Consul and family, and some eight or ten American
students and travellers, accepted a sumptuous dinner at the house of
our patriotic Minister, Judge Jackson of Georgia. The stars and stripes
of our beloved country were attached to the wall, encircling the
portrait of the illustrious father of his country, whose memory we are
proud to honor.
A twelve hours ride by rail brought me from Silesia to Vienna. At the
Austrian frontiers our luggage was visited as usual, and our passports
examined. I designed revisiting Polish Cracow, by taking a branch line
to the left, but as the cars were not heated, declined doing so. I made
some remarks relative to the discomfort and slowness of the train,
which were responded to by one of the officers of the company, who was
passing over the road in consequence of a collision which had occurred
the day before, attended with loss of life and property. We Americans
are so frequently called upon to reply to the gross calumnies upon
our steamboat and railroad disasters, that I was curious to see if an
account of this accident would appear in print, but I never saw it. The
officer remarked that it was very important to keep it secret, as the
apprehension of the travelling public would affect the interests of
the road. The press being under censorship, and the government being a
party in the construction of the road, we can understand the silence.