We met on the road several Prussian waggons and
reinforcements on their march to Bruxelles. Two of my fellow travellers in
the diligence were very intelligent young men belonging to respectable
families in Cologne and were returning thither; they likewise complained
much of the overbearing demeanour of the Prussian military towards the
burghers.
Cologne is a large, but very dull looking city, as dull as Liege; it would
seem as if all towns and cities under ecclesiastical domination were dull
or rendered so by the prohibition of the most innocent amusements. The
fortifications are out of repair; but the Prussian Government intend to
make Cologne a place of great strength. The name of the village on the
opposite of the river is Deutz, and in the time of the French occupation
there was a _tete-de-pont_. The next morning I was obliged to appear before
the police, and afterwards before the _Commandant de la Place_, in order to
have my passport examined and _vise_. At the bureau of the police it was
remarked to me that my passport was not _en regle_, the features of the
bearer not being therein specified. I replied that it was not my fault;
that it was given to me in that shape by the English Consul at Bruxelles
and that it was not my province to give to the Consul any directions as to
its form and tenor.
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