MARSEILLES, FRANCE, _Jan. 15, 1858_.
I must apologize to many of my friends and acquaintances whom I could
not have the pleasure of seeing during my last short sojourn at home,
and also for my sudden departure, which was the result of cold and
indisposition.
From the time I left New York, on the 25th of last month, I experienced
no cold weather until recently in Paris, where the prevalence of the
_grippe_, or influenza, induced me to take flight for a more
congenial climate. Our passage by the steamer Fulton was one of the
shortest and most comfortable winter passages I ever made. Christmas
and New Year’s festivals were passed in Paris. The great city, as usual
at this joyous season, was extremely gay.
The Boulevards, from the Madeleine to the Bastille, a distance of three
miles, were lined on both sides with booths, offering every variety
of fancy and useful articles for presents and use, as at this period
all classes expect gifts and souvenirs, which tax the ingenuity in the
selection, and the purse in the acquisition. In this manner several
millions of francs change hands. The number of Americans is much less
than usual this season, but at a ball given by our Consul in Paris, I
should judge that three hundred of both sexes were present.
The crisis is less visible in France than in most of the countries of
Europe. One would scarcely infer from the manner in which the theatres,
operas and masked balls are frequented at the opening of the carnival
season, that a money panic existed in the capital of France; in fact
very little publicity was given through the press, as the Emperor had
declared the thing a humbug, and not intended for his Empire. At the
grand Hotel du Louvre, near the Tuileries, where I lived, I noticed
that the number of arrivals kept up pretty well for the season.
It is the St. Nicholas of Paris, and a stupendous structure, far
exceeding anything of the kind in Europe as a hotel, for its style of
architecture, decoration, magnificent marble staircases, luxuriant
dining and reading rooms; the former has splendid crystal candelabra
and six hundred gas lights at the six o’clock table d’hôte. It is
better adapted for travellers who have been accustomed to warmer heated
apartments in winter than most French hotels, as the halls and passages
are heated by registers throughout. Russians, Americans, English and
Hollanders are the best paying guests. The French, with more strict
notions of economy, are unwilling to pay for the extravagant outlay
and parade. The transition from the recent cold in Paris to the mild
temperature of this region, which one reaches in the short space
of twenty hours by rail, a distance of five hundred miles, is most
striking. Here the almond trees are in blossom, and the silvery leaf
of the olive has a more cheerful aspect. The contrast is more marked
now than before the construction of the railroad; I once experienced a
similar change, but after a tedious journey of four days and nights;
the lightning line now accomplishes it in less than one day.
The community is now excited, as well as all France, at the recent
attempt on the life of the Emperor, which, had it been successful,
would have put all Europe in a blaze of revolution. Marseilles is
particularly interested as a commercial port in the preservation of the
existing dynasty, since its growing commerce with Algeria, as well as
its other interests, would suffer by a change of government.
It has been suggested that the Emperor designed visiting Africa, and
the project of railroads has been proposed. The Kabyle districts
and warrior tribes having been subdued by the French troops, a good
opportunity is offered of visiting the northern part of Africa; and, as
I wish to escape the cold changes which occur even in Italy in winter,
I have decided to embark for Algiers, where I shall find a race of
Moors and Arabs differing perhaps from the Bedouins of Syria and Egypt,
and find many monuments of Moorish architecture more antique than those
of the Alhambra of Granada, and the Alcazar and Giralda of Seville,
continued after the Arab conquest of Spain, I shall be able to judge of
the effects and progress of French civilization over barbarism, and
shall in addition have something to communicate.
I notice many changes and improvements, each time I return to this
point of departure for Italy, Spain, Egypt, and other lands on the
Mediterranean.