them, have been their curse. We can
interfere and be prodigal of money and blood to crush any attempt of the
continental nations towards obtaining their liberty; but when it is
necessary to intercede in favour of oppressed patriots, then we are told
that we have no right to interfere with the domestic policy of other
nations. We can send ships to protect and carry off in safety a worthless
Royal family, as at Naples in 1799, but we can view with heartless
indifference, and even complacency, the murders committed in Spain by the
infamous Ferdinand and his severities against those to whom he owes his
crown, all of whom had the strongest daim to our protection as having
fought with us in the same cause and contributed to our success.
The _Platz_ at Leipzig is large and here it is that the fair is held. The
theatre is an elegant building and lies just outside one of the gates of
the city. Innumerable shops of booksellers are here and it is astonishing
at how cheap a rate printing in all languages is carried forward.
There are some pleasant promenades in the environs of Leipzig; but this is
not a time of the year to judge of the beauty of the country. I went,
however, to view the house occupied by Napoleon on the eve of the battle of
Leipzig. A monument is to be erected to the memory of Poniatowsky in the
spot where he perished.
I started from Leipzig on 7th March at eleven o'clock. I was five days en
route from Leipzig to Frankfort, tho' the distance does not exceed
forty-five German miles. I travelled in the diligence, but had I known that
the arrangements were so uncomfortable, I should have preferred going in a
_Landkutsche_, which would have made the journey in seven days and afforded
me an opportunity of stopping every night to repose; whereas in the
diligence, tho' they go _en poste_, they travel exceedingly slow and it is
impossible to persuade the postillion to accelerate his usual pace. He is
far more careful of his horses than of his passengers. This I however
excuse; but it is of the frequent stoppages and bad arrangement of them
that I complain. Instead of stopping at some town for one whole night or
two whole nights out of the five, they stop almost at every town for three,
four and five hours; so that these short stoppages do not give you time
enough to go to bed and they are besides generally made in the day time or
early in the morning and evening. We passed thro' the following cities and
places of emine
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