Letter from William Henry Seward to William Henry Seward, Jr., July 27, 1871

  • Posted on: 10 May 2018
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Letter from William Henry Seward to William Henry Seward, Jr., July 27, 1871
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transcriber

Transcriber:spp:obm

student editor

Transcriber:spp:lmd

Distributor:Seward Family Digital Archive

Institution:University of Rochester

Repository:Rare Books and Special Collections

Date:1871-07-27

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Letter from William Henry Seward to William Henry Seward, Jr., July 27, 1871

action: sent

sender: William Seward
Birth: 1801-05-16  Death: 1872-10-10

location: Paris, France

receiver: William Seward
Birth: 1839-06-18  Death: 1920-04-29

location: Unknown
Unknown

transcription: obm 

revision: crb 2018-03-27

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Page 1

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Editorial Note

Letter written by Olive Risley Seward for William H. Seward
Please keep this letter.
Mr. Seward wishes it for reference.
July, 27th, 1871
My dear William,
We left Geneva, on
Thursday, at noon, and
traversing the North shore
of Lake Leman, as far as
Lusanne, we crossed one of
the lower Alpine ridges
to Bern, the capital of
Switzerland, arriving there
the same evening, all by
railroad. Bern is a very
pretty German city around
Page 2

which the river Aar descends
from the Bernese glaciers
^&^ coils as gracefully as a
serpent. It is a quaint place
being named from the
bear, having two
bears on its coat of arms.
It keeps two living bears
as sentinels at its city
gate. It has moreover
a huge clock, the machinery
of which brings out a
rooster to crow, at noon,
a company of soldiers to
parade on the dial, be-
sides moving all on time
to strike the hour, and wake
up a sleepy burgher
sentinel whose pipe
Page 3

has gone out, and whose
cup is empty. But more
interesting to us than bear
or clock, or serpentine
river is the simple but
effective though quiet
republican government
which dwells at Bern.
Without a ship of war,
or a navigable river, or
access to the sea to float
a ship upon, although
surrounded by jealous
monarchies, without a
soldier in field or camp,
life, liberty and property,
are safer in Switzerland
than in any country on
this round world. The
Page 4

president
Birth: 1823-12-01 Death: 1895-07-18
of the republic
would not hear of my going
to see him, but came directly
to our hotel, and thanked
me for my consideration
in visiting their little state.
Fifteen hours by sail chiefly
in the night brought us to
Paris yesterday morning,
& here we are lodged as
above opposite the Louvre
or what is left of it, and
in front of where the proud
Tuilleries stood, or rather
now stand ^a^ scared, naked
desolate and forbidding
ruin. We have seen one
Legation and consulate
and the British Legation
Page 5

have received some visits
and have run through
the remnant galeries of
the Louvre and the devastated
Bois de Bologne. Tonight
we dine with Lord Lyons
Birth: 1817-04-06 Death: 1887-12-05
.
Tomorrow Olive
Birth: 1844-07-15 Death: 1908-11-27
and Hattie
Birth: 1850-03-05 Death: 1925-07-27

are to spend with the milliners
On Tuesday I expect to go
to Versailles. We expect
to finish Paris in all this
week, where it will remain
for us only to see London
unless indeed I should
find it convenient to go
thither by the way of Berlin.
In any case we are

[left Margin] no government in France for the term of 3 months
Page 6

expecting to sail for
home on some day not
later than the 16th
of next month. If we
shall be able to find secure
passages. We find here
letters from home only to
the date of July 2nd, but
we doubt not that we shall
meet others on our arrival
in London. Clarence
Birth: 1828-10-07 Death: 1897-07-24
just
escaped this city as we
entered it.
My health continues
about the same, but I
am beginning to feel the
effect of this high latitude
Page 7

in which the European
summers assimulates to
the American Autumn.
Olive protests against this,
and says I am only feeling
the effect of a long night journey
on the railroad. I begin
to despair of finding anything
in Europe pretty enough
for my granddaughter
Birth: 1862-09-11 Death: 1921-10-05

or curious enough for my
grandson
Birth: 1864-11-10
; perhaps the
fault is in Olive's ingenuity
which she is pleased, such
as it is to put at my command.
Affectionately
William H. Seward.
by O.R.S.

[bottom Margin]
Birth: 1844-07-15 Death: 1908-11-27
I know I have selected something which
will satisfy William the third
Olive

Page 8

P.S.
At Geneva we
overtook George Francis
Train
Birth: 1829-03-24 Death: 1904-01-05
, who left home
a week before us, and made
the circuit of the Earth as
far as Lyons in 82 days, having
twice failed to make connections.
He told me that he had been
in prison 14 times without any
cause, and that he is beginning
to think that the normal
situation for honest men
is in jail. He would not
assure me that France will
keep quiet until we can
get out of it. In this respect
he is not insane, because Lord
Lyons says that he will