A tour through some parts of France, Switzerland, Savoy, Germany and Belgium, during the summer and autumn of 1814 — John Shaqi
A tour through some parts of France, Switzerland, Savoy, Germany and Belgium, during the summer and autumn of 1814Bernard, Richard Boyle
History
A tour through some parts of France, Switzerland, Savoy, Germany and Belgium, during the summer and autumn of 1814
Bernard, Richard Boyle
Europe -- Description and travel
I therefore attended at the office for foreign affairs, and obtained the
signature of the Prince of Benevento (for about ten francs) in addition
to the signature of our own distinguished minister, Lord Castlereagh. I
was told it was necessary also to have my passport visited by the police
before leaving Paris; and my landlord offered his services to arrange
that affair for me. I however recollected Dr. Franklin's maxim, "If you
would have your business clone, go; if not, send," and went accordingly
to the office myself.
These affairs being arranged, so as to permit my passing without
molestation through the interior of France, I quitted Paris without any
sensations of regret at leaving a place which, highly as I had been
pleased with many of the great objects which it contains, I cannot but
consider, when curiosity is once gratified, to be an unpleasant
residence. I took the road to Fontainbleau, distant about thirty-seven
English miles; a place formerly only remarkable for its castle, situated
in a forest of about 30,000 acres, and often visited by the Kings of
France, for the amusements of the chace; but which will hold in history
a distinguished page, and be visited in future ages as being the scene
where it pleased Providence to terminate a tyranny unexampled in the
history of the world. It is worthy of remark, that in this very castle,
in which the venerable Head of the Romish Church was so long and so
unjustly detained a captive, his once formidable oppressor was obliged
to abdicate that authority which he had so long usurped and abused; and
the _11th of April 1814_, will be long hailed over Europe as the epoch
when liberty, peace and good order were restored to its inhabitants,
after the long and stormy reign of oppression, war and anarchy had so
long precluded the expected time of which it was impossible entirely to
despair--when Europe, so long a prey to dissension, should again be
united as one common family. These hopes have at last been realized; the
evils of the French Revolution (more productive of misfortune than the
fabled box of Pandora) have in a manner been surmounted; and we have
only further to wish, that the nations who have restored tranquillity to
Europe, may continue to act with the moderation for which they have
hitherto been distinguished [guess: distinguished].
It was natural, in beholding a place rendered memorable by such great
events,--events which are probably destined to fix the fortunes of
succeeding centuries, that the mind should dwell with more than common
attention on the scene, and give itself up to the reflections it was
calculated to produce. My thoughts were principally engaged in
considering the very opposite characters of Pius VII. and of Buonaparte.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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