VISIT TO EUROPE: RESIDENCE IN LONDON. 137 



opportunity to hear the celebrated statesmen Pitt, 

 Castlereagh, "Windham, Fox, and Sheridan. He 

 saw Lord Nelson on the Strand, with a crowd at his 

 heels, and afterwards witnessed his embarkation at 

 Portsmouth, with the glittering decorations on his 

 breast which soon after proved a mark for the fatal 

 shot on the deck of the Victory ; and he witnessed 

 the mingled exultation and grief of the English 

 people at the news of Trafalgar. He made an ex- 

 cursion to Cornwall, and a laborious examination of 

 the mining operations in that region, besides excur- 

 sions to Bath, Bristol, and other places in England. 

 Passing over to Holland, he encountered the only 

 serious disappointment attending his tour. It was 

 during the period after the rupture of the Peace of 

 Amiens, when the tide of Napoleon's wrath against 

 England was at the highest point, and when the 

 great army which soon after achieved the capitula- 

 tion at Ulm and the victory of Austerlitz had sud- 

 denly marched from the northern coast of France, 

 where they had long menaced the opposite shores 

 with invasion. At Antwerp, Mr. Silliman and his 

 travelling companion were stopped by the French 

 police on suspicion of being spies, no other proof 

 being alleged than the fact that they had come from 

 England. To come from England, whatever might 

 be the nationality of the traveller, was at that time 

 considered an offence meriting the imperial dis- 

 pleasure. Though deprived of the privilege of seeing 

 Paris and its men of science, Mr. Silliman embraced 

 the opportunity to visit several of the principal cities 

 of Holland. Returning to London, he saw Mrs. 

 >iddons in the Covent Garden Theatre, in 'one of 



