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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