The Express.
London, England, 1866-08-25 00:00:00

BAVARIA.

(PROM ME SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)
NUREMBERG, BAVARIA, AUGUST 21.
It would seem that peace is to be concluded be-
tween King William and King Louis before the
armistice shall have expired. There will be pay-
ment in hard cash from one of those monarchs to
the other, with stipulations for the return home
of King William's soldiery, and, perchance, a
rounding off of the Bavarian frontier. We are
learning, by degrees, how much each South Ger-
man state will have to pay. A goodly sum, taking
it altogether, and sufficient to defray the whole
expense of beating them. Well for us would it have
boon had our ancestors contrived to make as profit-
able war as does Count Bismarck. They rescued
Spain and received their guerdon very indirectly in
Spanish Bonds. He has overthrown his opponents
and brought them to the terms of cash—ready
money, hard and substantial, which every one who
wishes for peace must fling into the Prussian coffers.
Why should not war support itself, especially when
waged for the ultimate good of all concerned—
clearing away political cobwebs, and burying the
ill-jointed Bund at last ?
The Mecklenburgers have pleasant ruddy faces,
and behave very quietly for foreign troops occupy-
ing a conquered town. But they cannot compete
in popularity with their friends from Brunswick,
any more than the Prussians can. That black
uniform wins every female heart by its re-
spectable yet gloomily romantic appearance.
What chance have men with blue coats
against rivals whose look is so sombre ? No ; the
Mecklenburgers cannot compete with their friends
from Brunswick, yet they take life cheerfully, and
lionize Nurnberg with almost British zeal. Soldiers
are free of the lions, whatever coloured cloth they
wear, if only it be recognised as belonging to North
Germany. Civilians are not free, being expected
to bring sundry kreutzers along with them ; but
this should not deter any traveller of inquiring
mind from a visit to the castle. He will see the
strangest old place, built at different times, and
finished with no particular regard to its style of
architecture. There are imperial eagles painted
' ten times life size upon the gates, and traditions of
thirty emperors who have sojourned in Nurnberg
to give these eagles more vitality than the artist
has conveyed. There is a well of marvellous depth
for supplying the garrison with water, and an ancient
lime tree, declared by our guide to have witnessed
seven centuries. Then there is a watchtower,
younger than the tree, whence the surrounding
country may be overlooked.
This watchtower is in charge of an honest man.
I would cast no disparagement upon the keeper of
the well, nor would I assert that honest men are
scarce in Nuremberg, far from it ; but he of the
tower is pre-eminently straightforward. When he
heard footsteps ascending his staircase he called
out that the weather was dull, and advised us to
return. The coming kreutzers were forgotten in
anxiety lest we should ascend for nothing. No
doubt he judged his familiar view aright. It may
have been nothing to what is sometimes is, though
for all that it was worth many kreutsers. The city
lay at our feet, as a mass of red tiled roofs. Even
the beautiful churches of St. Lorenz and St. Se-
balding, with their carved doorways and mullioned
windows inside, show from above as huge barns
tiled like their neighbours. The streets are narrow,
and the public places are hidden by buildings
which flank them. When Nuremberg was raised
by distant trade to be a wealthy market for
goods from the east and the south, it
was thought well that towns should be
packed closely together. Sanitary engineers had
not begun to clamour for ventilation, and Nurem-
berg was packed according to custom. We could
see the red roofs from our watch-tower, bet little
else of somiment. The river disappeared from might