I left Aix-la-Chapelle on the morning of the 2nd of July and arrived at Cologne about six o'clock in the evening, putting up at the Inn _Zum heiligen Geist_ (Holy Ghost), which is situated on the banks of the river. The price of the journey in the diligence is 18 franks. On the road hither lies Juliers, a large and strongly fortified town surrounded by a marsh. It must be very important as a military post. The road after quitting Juliers runs for the most part thro' a forest, and has been much improved and enlarged by the French; before they improved it, it was almost impassable in wet weather. We met on the road several Prussian waggons and reinforcements on their march to Bruxelles. Two of my fellow travellers in the diligence were very intelligent young men belonging to respectable families in Cologne and were returning thither; they likewise complained much of the overbearing demeanour of the Prussian military towards the burghers. Cologne is a large, but very dull looking city, as dull as Liége; it would seem as if all towns and cities under ecclesiastical domination were dull or rendered so by the prohibition of the most innocent amusements. The fortifications are out of repair; but the Prussian Government intend to make Cologne a place of great strength. The name of the village on the opposite of the river is Deutz, and in the time of the French occupation there was a _tête-de-pont_. The next morning I was obliged to appear before the police, and afterwards before the _Commandant de la Place_, in order to have my passport examined and _visé_. At the bureau of the police it was remarked to me that my passport was not _en règle_, the features of the bearer not being therein specified. I replied that it was not my fault; that it was given to me in that shape by the English Consul at Bruxelles and that it was not my province to give to the Consul any directions as to its form and tenor. The Commissary of Police then asked me what business I was about in travelling, and the following conversation took place: "Was haben Sie für Geschäfte?"--"Keine; ich reise nur um Vergnügen's Willen."--" Sonderbar!"--"Worin liegt das Sonderbare, dass man reist um ein schönes Land zu sehen?"[20]--He made no answer to this, but one of his coadjutors standing by him said in a loud whisper, "Ein Herumreiser," which means an adventurer or person who travels about for no good,--in a word, a suspicious character. I then said with the utmost calm and indifference: "Gentlemen, as soon as you shall have finished all your commentaries on the subject of my passport, pray be so good as to inform me what I am to do, whether I may go on to Mayence and Frankfort as is my intention, or return to Bruxelles." The Commissary, after a slight hesitation, signed the _visa_ and I then carried it to the bureau of the Commandant, whose secretary signed it without hesitation, merely asking me if I were a military man.