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distinguished gentleman whose father, then living at an ad-
vanced age, had been president of Harvard College. The son
had been mayor of Boston and had probably been in Congress.
He had visited the South and told Allston, who knew him, that
he had met some of my name, and, from the opportunities he had
enjoyed of knowing southern men, it seems strange that he and
his family should have despised them all as unworthy of being
associated with. The incident illustrates the bitterness of the
anti-slavery feeling and how far the fanatics of that day would
allow their prejudiced animosity to carry them.
Our steamer stopped for a few hours at Genoa, arriving there at
sunrize. The Virginian and another American and myself went
on shore together and enjoyed an elegant breakfast at a restau-
rant, which was ordered by the Virginian. He had talent for that
sort of thing, and was evidently an old hand at ordering his meals.
Afterwards we walked about the city and visited one private
gallery of paintings, which was the only one open to strangers, it
being Sunday. The harbor of Genoa is very pretty and contained
a good deal of shipping. It was the only seaport of the little kingdom
of Sardinia, and it seemed to still maintain its ancient reputation
as a commercial centre, for, although it was an idle day, there
was nevertheless a good deal of movement of small boats on
the water around. We returned to our boat an hour before her
departure and found the view from her deck more interesting
than a continuance of our walk in the town. We had beautiful
weather during the following night on the water, but of course we
could not see the lovely scenery of the coast where Nice and other
health resorts are situated. The next morning soon after sunrize
we disembarked at one of the docks of Marseilles.
That city is a very important one to France and is the centre of her
trade not only with the entire Meditterranean, but, since the open-
ing of the Suez Canal, with the southern coast of Asia, as far prob-
ably as China, and there are doubtless, since 1856, lines of steam-
ships to South America which have increased materially the busi-
ness of the port. For two years it had been the principal shipping
point of men and material for the war in the Crimea, and only
those who have had the opportunity of knowing the immense sup-
plies which an army requires are aware what this means.
The French soldiers were returning then and there were a large
number temporarily in and around the city. At the opera, where
we went at night; army officers occupied most of the available
seats. During the afternoon of our day in Marseilles we three
from the great republic went to the Café Turque in the Rue de
la Cannebière for a cup of coffee. The Marseillais or citizens
of Marseilles are very proud of their principal street, which was
for years one that did credit to the place, but it never rivaled any
of the fashionable Parisian thoroughfares, and less so under the em-
pire than perhaps in the time of Louis Philippe and under the res-
toration.
The French spoken in the city is extremely provincial in
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