124 
STATE AGEICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
FRANKFORT TO COLOGNE. 
Mayence has a population of near 40,000, and is the most important 
fortress of the German Confederation. The garrison, half Austrian and hnlf 
Prussian, numbers 10,000 men. The first thing which strikes me is the 
magnificent view here possible of the Rhine, the Taunus mountains, the 
vineyards of Hocheim, and the valley of the Main ; one of the rare pictures 
which can never be effaced from the memory. My second thought is of the 
peculiar style of its architecture. Most of the public puildings are of red 
sandstone and some of them have stood nearly a thousand years. 
Many objects challenge the traveller’s attention; but the most interesting 
of them are the relics of Roman power which carry one back through the long 
interval of seventeen hundred and ninety-five years, when the legions of 
Titus, after the conquest of Jerusalem, came to this place and established a 
garrison which was to impose upon the Germans the government and institu¬ 
tions of the Great Empire. It was from the very Wiesbaden I see in the dis¬ 
tance, that, in times a little latter, the hordes of native warriors poured 
pown upon the Roman Eagles and drove them beyond this province of the 
Rhine, and thus began the war which, after many alternate defeats and vic¬ 
tories, resulted, at last, in giving these rich valleys of the Rhine and its 
tributaries to the Germans, for an undisputed inheritance. Thus waneth the 
power and the glory of one empire, that another, better fitted to fulfill the de¬ 
signs of Providence, may be built up on its ruins. 
Who has not longed for a midsummer voyage on this glorious river? Who 
that has read the pastoral poetry and the rich legendary literature of classic 
Germany, has not often dreamed of its full-flowing tide, meandering its way 
through castle-crowned hills and vine-clad slopes to the Netherlands and 
thence to the sea?—of the warring strifes of feudal times?—of tlie floral 
and autumnal festivities of later days ? I have, and here is the realization ! 
Not the feudal strifes, nor yet the autumnal festive scenes ; the one are long 
past; the other are only now in preparation. But here is the Rhine !—the 
same that vexed the Roman generals many long centuries ago, and has since 
been the witness of some of the greatest events of history. Born of Alpine 
snows, but hence flowing through gardens, and vineyards, and Elysian fields. 
I have embarked, and am comfortably seated on the covered deck of the lit¬ 
tle steamer that is to bear me to Cologne. Mayence and Casel recede, and 
countless villages approach and are passed in succession. The river is broad 
from here to Bingen—in many places 2,000 feet wide—and its course is swift. 
Beautiful little islands are sprinkled along, like tiny emeralds in a necklace 
of pearls; some of them set off with handsome chateaux, and others rocky 
and but little changed from nature. Bold bluffs, rising, now and then, into 
the dignity of mountains whose lofty summits seem ambitious of a place in 
the clouds, shut in the swelling stream. Old castles in ruins, from the high¬ 
est points on those hights look down from the dark past of ten centuries ago. 
Here and there a cleft in the interrupted range allows the favor of a glimpse 
of what lies beyond and within. Terraced vineyards, such as, for steepness, 
difficulty of making and the quality of the product, are fonnd nowhere else 
in the world, astonish and delight all the voyagers. And the villages, little 
and large, are dotted in upon the slopes, at the mouths of smaller tributary 
streams and along the narrow beach, as though all Germany had made its 
abode on the borders of the favorite river. 
Thirty-six miles since we embarked at Mayence, and it is just a little past 
noon—almost 12 miles an hour, including numberless stops. Pretty well. 
Am well pleased with my dashing visit to the city of Coblenz.—most pleas¬ 
ed with that to the cloud-capt citadel, the checkered history of which is full 
of romantic interest. The fortifications there are armed with 400 cannon 
and cost over $5,000,000. But the view from the summit, that was glorious. 
The several chains of mountains—the valley of the Rhine, and the Rhine 
itself, with its islands—the navigable Moselle, with its charming scenery—the 
city within the angle formed by their confluence—the Chartreuse on the 
