A&£.1.76''7 24 * L &c^ * OBSERVATIONS IN EUROPE. OBSERVATIONS IN EUROPE; PRINCIPALLY IN FRANCE AND GREAT BRITAIN. BY JOHN P. DURBIN, D. D., PRESIDENT OP LIORINSON C'OLLEOE, U. S. A NEW AND COMPLETE EDITION. ABERDEEN: PUBLISHED BY GEORGE CLARK AND SON. LONDONS. RICHARDSON, 9, DEVONSHIRE STREET. UD<}wx.irm, S? Ck' v v,^ R Vi'- -_^ 9^ 4- --??auS -y 9? Vy P /vj 0y ’ < PREFACE Without making an apology for doing what I might have left undone, viz, writing this book, I deem it right to give my reader a word or two of explanation as to the circumstances under which it was prepared. When I left home my thoughts were full of the East, and I confess it was my de- sign to inflict a book of travels in that interesting region upon the patience of my friends in the Western world. In Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, Asia Minor, and even in Greece, I thought new material enough might be found to allow me to say some- thing without going over topics already worn out. While in those countries, be- sides noticing the ordinary objects that excite the attention of the traveller, I made careful inquiry, so far as my opportunities allowed, into the state of the Greek and Armenian churches, and the condition of the Turkish Empire, now so intimately connected with the state of Christianity in the East. My letters suggested these topics to my friends at home, and they had reason to expect that I would treat them, on my return, more at length, and in a more permanent form. Reasons, both of a public and private nature, induced me to postpone, for a time at least, the publication of my Eastern journal, and to prepare for the press a brief account of some parts of my tour in Europe, with notices of prominent topics of in- terest at present attracting the attention of the world. These are offered to the reader in the present volume. At a future time, I may present to the reader the ob- servations referred to on the Eastern topics, in which, certainly, my own feelings are much more deeply interested. I am aware that the opinions expressed in the following pages on several impor- tant subjects differ from those that are current among us; and 1 frankly confess that they are at variance with those which I entertained myself before I went abroad. I trust that none of them will be found to be entirely unsustained. A number of pages are taken up with an account of Wesleyan Methodism in Eng- land. In view of the importance of this religious body in that country, and espe- cially of its increasing influence in America, I deem no apology necessary for enter- ing into detail upon the subject. Methodists, of course, will not object to it; and others, who take an interest in the progress of religion and of human society, will not be unwilling to learn something of so powerful an agency. One word as to the spirit in which these pages are written. Though 1 have spoken with severity of the evils and abuses that forced themselves upon my attention abroad, I have not written with an anti-French or anti-English, but I trust, with a truly American feeling. OBSERVATIONS IN EUROPE CHAPTER I. NEW-YORK TO PARIS. Departure. Sea-sickness. Glimpse of England. Approach to Havre. Pass- ports. Dinner in eight Days. Physique of the French. Female Men-of busi- ness. Feats of Strength. Police. The Seine. Honfleur. Arthur and Louise- Lillebonne. Caudebee. Rouen. French Hotels. Boulevards. Appearance, of the City. Cathedral. Worship. Stained-glass Windows. Their Uses. Heart of Cceur de Lion. Memory of Napoleon. Palace of justice. Lawyers. Hall. English Abroad. French River Steamers. Elbeuf. Hill of the two Lovers. Washerwomen. Duchess of Guercheville. La Pecq Paris. AT two o’clock ou the afternoon of April 2?, 1842, we cast off the cables of our steam-tug in the Narrows, and spread all our canvass to a stiff breeze. In a few hours our noble ship, the Ville de Lyon, was plunging her bows into the waves, looking directly towards Beauti- ful France. The city of New-York had vanished in the distance; the Highlands of Neversink disappeared with the setting sun; and at this last glimpse of my country I awoke to the assurance that I was about to accomplish my ardent and long-cherished desire of visiting the Old World, whose history had inspired my young heart with a restless longing to behold the scenes of so many great achievements. We sat down to our first dinner at sea full of life and gaiety. I need not tell the reader what a change came over the spirit of our company when our gallant vessel began to mount the waves, and de- scend from their crests into depths from which the inexperienced passenger felt an involuntary apprehension she could never rise again. Laughing eyes became mournful enough, and jolly faces were length- ened into dolorous visages, as one by one my companions sought the sides of the ship, and looked wistfully into the sea. Inexorable Nep- tune demanded his accustomed tribute. One of my young friends obeyed at one gangway, while Professor L answered at the other. My time came late; but, alas ! when once arrived, it never departed. I shall never make a sailor. There was a little coterie of French men and women aboard, whose mercurial temperament was proof against sea-sickness, and expended itself in laughing, dancing, and every form of merry-making. I envied them most heartily. Trifling incidents are important to the passengers in a ship, amid the irksomeness and monotony of life at sea ; but such as happened to us can afford little amusement and no information to my reader. Besides, I trust he is bound, with us, for Europe, and I doubt not he is anxious to catch the first glimpse of the Old World. Well, then s OBSERVATIONS IN EUROPE. while we were at tea on the evening of the 14th of May, the mate came into the cabin, and reported to the captain, “A light, sir.” “ Where away ?” “Off the leeward bow, sir.” “Very well.” Quickly we were all on the upper deck, straining our eyes to see the light which the sailors could easily discern. The darkness in- creased, and in a few minutes we could distinctly see the double headed Lizard lights on the coast of England. They sent a thrill of pleasure through our hearts which we could not repress. My young friendS waxed eloquent. “There,” said he, “sleeps quietly in his sea-girt island, the Lion of England, that has guarded so long his ocean-home from the foot of the invader; and under whose pro- tection the arts of Peace and institutions of Religion have so long and so wonderfully nourished.” Next to his own country, it seems to me an American must look upon the home of his forefathers with the most intense delight. Such was our feeling, though we had only seen the gleam of a lantern from the barren coast of the Land’s End. We were becalmed live days in the English Channel. It was not until about ten o’clock on the morning of May 19 that we really saw Europe, as the city of Havre appeared in the distance, when the fog rolled away from the surface of the beautiful bay at the mouth of the Seine. We were about five miles distant from the city. On our right, and somewhat astern of us, was a fleet of some thirty vessels slowly drifting out to sea with the tide, while as many more were ly- ing at anchor ahead, within half a mile of the wall-locked harbour. They were waiting for the flood to carry them within the gates of the noble canal, which leads up into a magnificent basin in the very heart of the city. At four o’clock the steamer Hercule ran down to us, and in forty minutes we passed between the massive granite piers running far out into the bay, which form a wide and deep canal, through which we entered the inner basin. Crowds of porters, hotel- agents, &c., rushed on board, and for a while all was confusion. We went ashore, as soon as possible, in a small boat, and had hardly clambered up the iron ladder to the stone pier, when an officer in uniform demanded our passports. Having delivered them, we walked into the custom-house, passed through a cursory and civil inspection, and left our luggage to be opened and examined in our presence the next morning. We then hastened to the Hotel de 1’Europe and en- gaged our rooms. My first conversation here, with the female director of the hotel, was rather amusing. Informing her that we desired dinner, she in- quired, “a quelle heure voulez vous diner, monsieur?’’ I replied, “a huit heure, madame,” pronouncing the word heure so openly as to be mistaken for jour; and she asked again, “a quelle heure, monsieur?” looking intently into my face, as if she would read my meaning. Not noticing the peculiarly close sound which she gave to the word heure, I replied as before. Utterly surprised, she gazed at me as if she were absolutely feeling for my meaning; until at last it flashed upon her, when she burst into a hearty, pleasant laugh, not at my mistake, but at the ludicrous idea of dining on the eighth day, and then repeated several times; “a huit heure, monsieur, huit heure, huit hture," uttering the word so as to draw my attention to it and correct my mistake.