The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris, vol. 2 - Online Library of ...

Online Library of Liberty: The Diary and Letters of Gouverneur Morris, vol. 2
“I leave Altona to-day [October 8th], and am detained at the Hamburg gate five and
twenty minutes by the ridiculous practice of shutting the gates during the time of
divine service. I suppose it is to prevent an enemy from surprising them.”
“At Esche Mr. Möller, my compagnon de voyage, and I meet a gentleman and lady
[October 10th] who come from the baths of Schwalbach and Wiesbaden. They tell us
that the people, who are much disturbed by the war, prefer the company of the French
to that of the Austrians, which last are sulky and will do nothing but smoke their
pipes, while the French lend a hand to assist in whatever business may be going
forward.”
“On the way from Cassel to Friedenwalde, at an inn [October 22d], I meet in the
landlord an old Hessian soldier who served in America, and who speaks very good
English. He tells me he worked very hard at cutting down the wood at Morrisania, and
he is very sorry he did not stay in America. I make a détour to see the Duchess of
Cumberland, but find that she is gone to live at Frankfort, which town we reach on
Thursday, October 26th. Walk first to the post-office and then call on the Duchess of
Cumberland, with whom I sit awhile. She gives me information of various sorts. Says
that the Prince Royal of Prussia,? who is probably by this time King, his father’s
death having been expected daily for some weeks, is a man of very moderate abilities,
pacific temper, and avaricious disposition; that he hates the émigrés, fears the French,
and, so far from entering into a coalition against them, will pay court to the Directory.
She says that at Pyrmont they were endeavoring to take in Prince Adolphus to marry
the Princess Louis, sister to the Princess Royal, who is the mistress of Louis
Ferdinand. The Duchess describes her as a woman of very loose deportment who was
coquetting in the style of a courtesan with Adolphus, and the King of Prussia prayed
him to ménager his belle-fille, qui était éperdument amoureuse de lui. At the same
time, he could not think of agreeing to the marriage, without the previous consent of
the King of England. The Duchess thinks that if, on the King’s death, Louis can get
the survivance of his father’s place on condition that he marry his mistress, he will
readily do it. She mentions the marriage of the Prince of Würtemberg with the
Princess Royal of England as a thing which the latter would never have consented to
but to get out of the Queen’s clutches. The Duchess of Brunswick, mother to his
former wife, had done everything in her power to prepossess the King against him.
The Duke of Brunswick said publicly that he had poisoned his daughter. ‘But,’ says
the Duchess of Brunswick, ‘this I do not believe, because the Empress of Russia had
the exclusive privilege of poisoning everybody in her dominions, and as the Duchess
of Würtemberg was her favorite, from having betrayed her husband’s secrets, and
those of his sister the present Empress of Russia, it is improbable that she would have
suffered anybody to poison her.’ The Prince of Würtemberg, she says, beat his wife
two days after their marriage, because she persisted in wearing a cap which he did not
like. Notwithstanding all these things, the Duke of Brunswick went over from his
residence to Hanover to invite the Prince and Princess to his Court, which invitation
they accepted. This, says my informant, is in the hope that his grandson, future Duke
of Würtemberg, will be made an elector. She says they live in a miserable style at
Stuttgart; see nobody, etc.; her husband of such violent temper that he beats his
chamberlains and, in particular, the Count Zippelin.”
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