PRESENT STATE OF COLOGNE.

371

some centuries, for in the year 1200 it was capable of furnishing thirty thousand men for the field, a number which its present population is said not to exceed. The whole of the trade of this town was extensive before the last war, and at one period, in spite of its bigoted rulers, it was one of the richest and most flourishing cities in Germany: its traders carry outward annually large quantities of salted provisions from Westphalia, iron from the forges of Nassau, wood from the Upper Rhine and the Neckar, wine, hemp, tobacco, brass, tufo stone, tobacco-pipe clay, millet, gins, dried fruits, potash, copper, ribbands, stockings, and lace : and they purchase of the Dutch paper, oil; cottons, groceries, spices, medicinal drugs, also for dying, and English lead and tin.

The policy of the French government since it has assumed a settled form, has very much directed its attention to the depressed state of the manufactures of Cologne, which formerly employed eleven thousand children, and under its auspices there are several fabrics in a very flourishing condition, particularly those for manufacturing stuffs and ribbands, and a great deal of iron is now wrought in this city. The university is at a very low ebb, in consequence of so many young men having embraced the profession of arms. This university was once very celebrated, and was the most ancient in Germany, having

372

THE FRENCH PARADE.

been founded in 1380. Pope Urban the Sixth paid it the following compliment, in allusion to its having given birth to the college of Louvaine :

Matre pulchra filia pulchrior.

This maternal university was divided into theology, law, medicine, and philosophy; but has not the celebrity of having sent into the world many enlightened men.

to

In the department of Cologne the vineyards began first appear. The vines in the garden grounds of the city are said to have yielded seven hundred and fourteen thou sand gallons of wine. The vines are not attempted to be cultivated higher north.

During my stay at Cologne I visited the French parades every morning and evening. As the parades in France used to be confined to the morning, it was natural to conjecture that some new and great political storm was collecting, for which the French emperor was preparing by redoubled activity and energy. At these parades the conscripts, after having undergone a brief drilling, were incorporated with the veteran troops: to wheel, to form close column, to load, fire, and charge with the bayonet, seemed to be all the motions which were attended to. Instead of forming the line, as with us, with exquisite nicety, but lit

THE FRENCH PARADE.

373 tle attention was paid to it, for a more slovenly one I never witnessed; but by thus simplifying the manœuvres, and confining the attention of the soldier only to the useful part of his duty, a conscript is qualified to march to the field of battle with the rest of the troops in five days. But little attention was paid to the dress of the men, who were uniform only in a short blue coat with white or red facings, and appeared to be left at full liberty to consult their own taste or finances in every other article, for some wore breeches, some pantaloons, some appeared with gaiters, some without, some had shoes, and others half-boots.

1

CHAPTER XXI.

REMARKS ON THE FRENCH ARMY-ORIGIN OF THE CONSCRIPTIONROBESPIERRE-FRENCH SOLDIERS-POLICY OF THE GENERALSOF ATTACK RHENISH

MILITARY

VANITY-BULLETINS-MODE

CONFEDERATION-ACT OF IMPERIAL ABDICATION.

AS I gazed upon these men, whose appear

ance was slovenly, I was lost in amazement, by reflecting that they were part of that military force which had made itself terrible to so large a portion of Europe, which in its first organization was composed of men, many of whom had never had a musket in their hands, and commanded by generals who had never witnessed a military manœuvre; many of the most shining of whom had undergone an immediate transition from the most peaceful, and even the most subordinate occupations in life, to conduct armies to the field of battle, to confront and route some of the prime, veteran troops of nations, long renowned for their eminence and military character. Robespierre may be considered as having laid the foundation of all the military glory of France, and by the unexampled energy and prospective acuteness of his measures, to have accomplished a system by which France has achieved so many brilliant victories. No one but a

THE FRENCH ARMY,

375

tyrant, who to a sanguinary soul united profound penetration, could have accomplished what he did. He swept away in a deep and impetuous stream of blood the immediate branches of the royal family, the court, its valuable and its obnoxious appendages, and made a clear arena to act upon. In the name of Liberty he invoked those who were favorably disposed to her cause, and by terror he forced the reluctant to sustain the miseries and perils of a camp. Glory or the guillotine were eternally before the eyes of the republican commanders, who thus stimulated, never revolted at a profuse expenditure of life, nor considered any victory dearly obtained, so that it was obtained: the soldiers were all young men, amongst many of whom high ardour and a passion for heroic enterprize, characteristic of that season of life, prevailed, which soon spread with electric influence upon the more considerate, prudent, and even timid part of the body. Thus impelled, they pushed on, and soon felt their enthusiasm redouble, upon beholding the brilliant impression which they made upon troops inured to war and led by distinguished commanders, who receded before them, from a conviction that they could only hope to repel the attack by an assimilation of tactics and a lavish waste of blood, a consideration which frequently forced the followers of the oid school to meditate when they ought to have acted.