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fidelity, and the integrity and capacity with which they have executed their functions:

We have, therefore, taken the resolution of preserving to those of our imperial servants, who have hitherto drawn their salaries from our chamber, the same appointments, reserving to ourselves to place them in employments in the service of our hereditary states; and we hope, with so much the more confidence, that the electors, princes, and states will provide for the imperial chamber of justice of the empire, and the chancellerie of the chamber of justice, by charging themselves voluntarily with this expense, as it will be trifling in amount, and will diminish every year.

As to the chancellerie of the aulic council of the empire, the funds destined for its support will be employed to provide for the wants of those individuals who have hitherto drawn from thence their salaries; this will serve them until other measures may be taken.

Done in our capital and residence of Vienna, under our imperial seal, the 6th of August, 1806.

FRANCIS.

CHAPTER XXII.

IMPERIAL REGULATION NECESSARY TO BE KNOWN......THE DIRECTOR OF THE BUREAU DES DILIGENCES PAR EAU.....SINGULAR ADVENTURE......A SCRAPE......A STRATAGEM......PASSAGE TO BONN......A DISCOVERY......EXCELLENT EFFECT OF BRANDY ......THE CITY OF BONN......THE MALL......EFFECT OF BLACK...... PRESENT STATE OF BONN......THE SEVEN MOUNTAINS......THE MONASTERY......ANECDOTE OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE.......

BEAUTIFUL SCENERY.

IN consequence of having been informed the preceding evening that an imperial decree had passed, by which strangers entering the French empire were permitted to bring as much money into it as they chose, but were not suffered to take out of it more than what certain officers appointed for that purpose considered necessary for the prosecution of their journey, the surplus passing in the nature of a forfeiture to the crown, I concealed about thirty ducats, which fell within this description of overplus, in my cravat, and at five o'clock in the morning, marched from my hotel to the bureau des diligences par eau, a distance full two English miles, to be searched for this superfluity of cash, previous to my ascending the Rhine. At this house a scene took place which perhaps has not often occurred to travellers, in consequence of the temporary apprehension which it excited, the ridiculous situation in which it placed me, and the retributive chastisement which it inflicted for thus venturing upon an hostile shore. I was introduced into a room looking upon the Rhine; at the bureau sat the Director, a man who wore spectacles, with a strongly marked, expressive countenance, apparently about fifty years of age; upon my bowing to him he demanded of me, in German, who I was? I

requested him to address me in French, which he did, repeating the question. I told him I was an American going to the Francfort fair, upon which he put down his spectacles, and running up to me, squeezed my hand with a violence of compression infinitely more painful than agreeable, and exclaimed in very good English, "How happy is this day to me! for I too am an American.” I was obliged to return the affectionate salutation, and also to express my delight in having, so far from our native home, met with a countryman. He then asked me from what part of America I came?"From Baltimore," was the answer. "Happier and happier!" cried he renewing his embrace, "for I was born there too." At this moment I wished, for the first time in my life, all the force of the amor patria at the devil; but there was no time to be lost in meditating upon the peril and awkwardness of my situation. To prevent, as much as possible his interrogating me further about my adopted country, I addressed with all possible fluency, as many questions as I could suggest respecting Cologne, the Rhine, the war; in short, I touched upon every subject but what had an American tendency. To my observations he bowed, to my questions he gave very brief answers, and continued expressing his delight in seeing me, a delight which was very far from being reciprocal. After ordering his servants to bring breakfast for me, which I did not decline, although I had already taken that meal at my hotel, for fear of offending him, he made many inquiries after some persons whom he named, and mentioned to be of the first consequence in Baltimore. I gave him to understand that I had left the city when quite a boy; but upon his assuring me that I must remember or have heard of the persons he had named, I gave him to understand that my recollection of them was very imperfect, but that I believed they had perished by the yellow fever; upon hearing which he expressed great affliction, observing they were the dearest friends he had in Baltimore before he quitted it, about fifteen years since. In this uncomfortable situation I sat vis-à-vis with my tormentor, who continued, during breakfast, to overload me with expressions of kindness. At last the skipper of the Rhine boat made his appearance, with the wel

come information that the boat was ready, upon which the director ordered him to make up a bed for me on board if I wished it, and to show me every possible attention, adding, that I was his particular friend and countryman. I now thought the hour of my deliverance was arrived, and that an adventure which promised so adversely would terminate in the display of the civilities I have enumerated; but it was determined that my correction was not yet sufficient, for as the director looked out of the window, he exclaimed, "here comes my secretary, a very steady young man, who can attend to the office for the day," and then turning round to me, added, " and I can now have the happiness of going half a day's journey with you, which I am resolved to do; yes, I will show to you how dear my countrymen are to me, by going as far as Bonn with you." Distressed and embarrassed beyond measure at this fresh proof of his provoking and perplexing regard for America and me, I tried in vain to prevail upon him not to think of carrying his politeness so far, and expressed my strong sense of the attentions with which he had already completely overwhelmed me: all that I urged appeared only to redouble the warmth of his expressions, and to confirm him in his determination.

With a heavy heart and a light countenance we walked arm and arm down to the shore, and ascended the boat, over which, as well as all the other Cologne passage boats, it appeared he had complete sovereignty by virtue of his office, and in a minute afterwards the towing horse advanced at a rate of about two English miles and an half in an hour on the French side of the river. The director made me sit next to him in the cabin, telling the passengers, who appeared to be very respectable, that I was an American and his countryman, and that that was the happiest day he had experienced for fifteen years. In the course of conversation with him, from the gasconade stories which he related of his own exploits, I was induced to entertain suspicions of his character; he told me that he was one of the most conspicuous characters in the French revolution; that General Custine owed all his glory in the field to him; that he had long resided at Berlin, where he had, by his intrigues, maintained for some time a complete

ascendency in the Prussian cabinet; that he was engaged in a vast literary work, in which all the great events that had agitated the world for the last ten years, would be unfolded in a manner never before developed; that he had entered into the service of the French Emperor, solely to promote the interest of the empire. He observed, after engaging my word to keep the matter secret until I reached my own country, that the Emperor was abhorred throughout the empire, that he was a remorseless tyrant, and that he could prove him to be a coward.

To the latter part of his assertion I took care to offer no remark, but under the pretence of wishing to view the city of Cologne at a distance, the river and the country, and also to gain a little respite from such a rapid succession of untoward circumstances, I ascended the top of the cabin and refreshed myself by making the sketch engraved. The tower, the mighty mass of the unfinished cathedral, the numerous spires, the shores on either side, the rapid motion of the vessel descending the Rhine, the singing of those on board, the clear brilliancy of the sky, afforded reanimating delight to my mind.

About ten o'clock my persecutor raised his head through the cabin door, to announce that dinner was ready, and to request my company: upon descending I found some soup, and beef roasted after the German fashion, and that the director had, while I was above, been taken ill, from the occasional agitation of the boat, that to allay his sickness he had asked one of the gentlemen on board for some brandy, and of which he had evidently taken a great deal too much: the spirit rapidly operated upon his head, and a more abominable nuisance in the shape of man I never beheld: incapable of sitting at table with such a miscreant, I resumed my old place where I had not been seated long before I heard him abusing all the passengers, except myself, for whom he again. expressed “the assurance of his high consideration," and threatening to order them all to be thrown overboard, which he seemed to be perfectly able to do himself, for he was one of the most powerful men I ever beheld: upon which they relinquished the cabin to Aimself, and, excepting a very pretty French girl, came upon deck.

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