The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-03-07
. nem,u,scenee Of switzerland.

"Reminiscences OF switzerland.
Nh. EDITOR: On the birthday Of Washington
Though. to tell you pleasant reminiscence OF
nv experiences, last summer, in Europe. It has
been un.voidably deferred till now. II you will
suffer me, 1 will state it to you:
Coming from Italy northward, had reluc-
family turned my back on the gorgeous and vene- |
r,ble rlories Of Rome. Ihad threaded the sto-
RED palaces, and the pictured and sculptured
galleries of Florence. Bologna, Palma, Aodenal
and Milan. had boated amid the beauties Of
Lake Como and the grandeurs of Maggiore, and
had landed at the foot of Tells Statue in Lugano,
the mos, southern of Swiss towns on the Italian
deeEyity of the Alps. This town takes its name
fromthe monntainrgiIdled lake. over the north
ern extremity of whose silver waters It presides
1t was the plan of myself and the companion
Of the hour, to ascend, on foot, Monte Salvatore,
.fsw miles to the west for the sake of the ample
panorama which it affordedsof the blended beau
ty of sbeeny lake and icy alps. A year or two
in our Rocky Mountains, or climbing Mexican
Cordilleras, had taught me something OF the
magic of mountains; but those mighty mon
arebs of Switzerland, combining cultured beauty
with savage grandeur, and nesting quiet homes
rpder the crest of the trembling avalanche, had
q charm to 5e found nowhere else in the worl
As we wendell our way from the Hotel du
Pare toward the base Of he mount II became
prudent, from the many roads which opened
unen us. to enquire for that which would guide
Us to the foot-path which, by creeping round his
vale: and shoulders, attained the mountains top.
Approaching fine specimen Of Swiss, who
conyersed in the road with q toged priest,
made she proper inquiry and received the needed
response. But said be-" speaking French, a
tongue known to all scholars and men of affairs
On the Continent, "where are you from ?" re-
pled. america, the United States" All, said
he, Il am glad to meet you. know much OF
YOUR county. Oh, how painful the desperate
war which desola,es you Aud what part OF
the United States are you from :" Iowa. !
have read. said be, "of that State between the
Mississippi and Missouri, number Of my friends
have made their home upon its prairies." And
do you think you can succeed in crushing this
Southern revolt ?', said, 81 think so, for
have lived many years in the South, and do not
believe the people are unfriendly to the Union.
am satisfied that this is war of desperate pol
itciane, who wage it to intimidate' or subdue the
Northern people into the same base submission
to the dictation of slavery, which marked them
until the demands of the slave power become too
opposed to freedom and our established rights to
be longer conceded, and We we're again impelled
TO announce at the ballot box the forgotten
principles on which the nation was founded"
Said he, may God Almighty bless and sue
coed you. These Alps, said he, are resonant
with the songs Of freedom. Without doubt
those boatmen that brought you over the from
tier from Italy, shouted the praises of their
Ga-ibaldi. Behold our TELL, the Genius Of
our liberty, whose marbles will greet you eve.
.ywhere in Switzerland. The lesson the
Switzer has learned from these mountains is
that life without liberty ough. not to be de-
sired
In this and some neighboriDg States, by .
sort of general conscience, human rights have
come to be pretty we'll respected, but your
country is the only one in which they have
been declared the very foundation Of q nation
atty s
think, said he, you will not be able to con-
ceive the admiration with which the Continen.
tai people, both lettered and unlettered, con.
templated the transatlantic wonder based on
your declaration of Independence and Consti.
tutions. And when the news came over the
top of our SHOWS to us that you were fighting
among yourselves, We felt as if some Alpine
star had gone out in heaven. But when We
learned that this rebellion was the last strug.
giles of proud and subtle self.stylsd aristoc>
racy, better called barbarism. which had
carried with it from Europe its old beliefs in
the just chattelhood of human labor, and
which had been scotched but not killed by
your organic laws, We became sure thai the
pillar of cloud by day and the pillar Of FIRE by
night which guided you out of the Egypt Of
your former bondage, would also conduct you
through the Red sea of your present troubles
to the Canaan of an assured and triumphan,
peace. .~5 g.5 g- ..s 4.
But" said be, shave you seen my Wash.
ington well then come with pe, and see it.
Charming lake Lugano laughed in limped
beauty over velvet inclnstion of few steps
just to the left. The speaker ansion, yerdan
with vine, stood open and ample on the right
Aud tinted by golden sunset that stirred me-
mOr:es Of Claude, the everlasting Alps in thu
distance doomed up between. There upon tb'
margin of the lake and commanding also the
public road stood small marble temple, fashion
ed like the Temple Of Vesta at Rome. IT
diameter was twelve or fifteen feet It's foo
was of the decorated granite of lake Naggiore-
sstone that the beautiful worship of Rome gar
ners up for her most cherished Churches. u
Doric columns sustained an architraye and tre;z