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TWENTY YEARS IN EUROPE.

[Illustration: Heidelberg Castle.]




    Twenty Years in Europe


    A CONSUL-GENERAL'S MEMORIES
    OF NOTED PEOPLE, WITH LETTERS
    FROM GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN


    BY

    S. H. M. BYERS,
    _U. S. Consul-General to Switzerland and Italy_,

    AUTHOR OF

    "SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA," "THE HAPPY ISLES,"
    "SWITZERLAND AND THE SWISS," ETC.


    _PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED._


    [Illustration]


    CHICAGO AND NEW YORK:
    RAND, McNALLY & COMPANY,
    PUBLISHERS.




    Copyright, 1900, by Rand, McNally & Co.




    INSCRIBED
    TO
    MARGARET GILMOUR BYERS.


    Time robs us all of some things we would keep,
      And favoring winds to-morrow may forsake;
    But, joyous thought--O! Future! Smile or weep,
      The happy years behind us none can take!




NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR.


While staying in Switzerland and Italy as a consular officer, during a
period of well on to twenty years, I kept a diary of my life. Without
being a copy of the diary, this book is made up from its pages and
from my own recollections of men, scenes, and events. It was during an
interesting period, too. There were stirring times in Europe. Two great
wars took place; one great empire was born; another became a republic;
and the country of Victor Emmanuel changed from a lot of petty dukedoms
to a free Italy. It seemed a great period everywhere, and everything of
men and events jotted down at such a time would of necessity have its
interest. This book is not a history--only some recollections and some
letters.

Among the letters are some fifty from General Sherman, whose intimate
friendship I enjoyed from the war times till the day of his death. They
are printed with permission of those now interested, and they may be
regarded as in a way supplementary to the series of more public letters
of General Sherman printed by me in the North American Review during
his lifetime. They possess the added interest that must attach to the
intimate letters of friendship coming from a brilliant mind. Their
publication can only help to lift the veil a little from a life that
was as true and good in private as it was noble in public.

    S. H. M. BYERS.

ST. HELENS, DES MOINES.




CONTENTS.


  CHAPTER I.

  1869.                                                        PAGE.

  A Little White Card with President Grant's Name on It--A
    Voyage to Europe--An English Inn--Hear Gladstone Speak--
    John Bright and Disraeli.                                     15


  CHAPTER II.

  1869.

  In Switzerland--The Alps--Embarrassment in Not Knowing
    the Language--Celebrated Exiles Meet in a Certain Cafe--
    Brentano--Wagner--Kinkel--Scherr--Keller and Others.          20


  CHAPTER III.

  1870.

  In the Orsini Cafe--Great News from France--What the Exiles
    Think--Letter from General Sherman--I Get Permission to Go
    and Look at the War--In the Snow of the Juras--Arrested--
    The Surrender of the 80,000--Zurich in the Hands of a Mob--
    Friendly Hint.                                                27


  CHAPTER IV.

  1871.

  The Paris Horrors--Some Excursions with Literary People--Beer
    Gardens--A Characteristic Funeral--Funeral of a Poet's
    Child--Caroline Bauer, the Actress--A Polish Patriot--
    Celebrating the Fourth of July at Castle Rapperschwyl--The
    St. Bernard--The Mules and Dogs--On a Swiss Farm--For
    Burning Chicago.                                              34


  CHAPTER V.

  1872.

  Louis Blanc, the Statesman--His Novel Courtship--His
    Appearance--Invites Us to Paris--Just Miss Victor Hugo--
    His Speech at Madame Blanc's Grave--Letter from Louis
    Blanc--Alabama Arbitrators--See Gambetta and Jules Favre.     42


  CHAPTER VI.

  1872.

  William Tell--The Rigi in the Good Old Times--Pilatus--Rose
    Bushes for Fuel.                                              48


  CHAPTER VII.

  1872.

  General Sherman Visits Us at Zurich--Letters from Him--Swiss
    Officers Entertain Him--His Lake Excursion--He Explains His
    Greatest Campaign to Them--He is Entertained at the Swiss
    Capital--Letter from General Dufour.                          52


  CHAPTER VIII.

  1872.

  Letter from General Sherman--Visit America--Sands of Bremen--
    Storms at Sea--Elihu Washburne--Banquet to Him on Ship--
    I am a Guest at the Sherman Home--Mrs. Sherman--Arrange
    to Take Miss Sherman to Europe--Meet Mr. Blaine--My Song
    Sung in the Sherman Home--Conversations with Sherman--Meet
    President Grant--How I Happened to Be in the Rebel Army
    Once--Letters from General Sherman.                           61


  CHAPTER IX.

  1873.

  Letter from General Sherman--Loss of the "Atlantic"--The
    Boyhood Home of Napoleon III and of His Mother, Queen
    Hortense--A Companion Tells of the Prince's Pranks and
    Studies--Josephine's Harp--Arenaberg Full of Napoleon
    Relics--We Have a Long Interview with the Ex-Empress
    Eugenie--Letter from Sherman--Speaks of Thiers.               77


  CHAPTER X.

  1873.

  The Source of the Rhine--Strange Villages There--A Republic
    Four Hundred Years Old--The "Gray League"--"The League of
    the House of God"--Louis Philippe's Hiding Place--A Tour in
    the Valley of the Inn--Letter from General Sherman--Regrets
    His Career Seems Over.                                        86


  CHAPTER XI.

  1874.

  Sherman on Cuba--Visit Italy--Garibaldi's Wonderful Reception
    at Rome--The Artist Freeman--First American Painter to
    Live in Rome--Rome in 1840--See Victor Emmanuel--Joaquin
    Miller--His