Page images
PDF
EPUB
[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][graphic][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

EDINBURGH:

PRINTED BY W. AND R. CHAMBERS.

1846.

[graphic]

S the traveller pursues his way along the upper part of the Rhine towards Switzerland, he observes on his right a long range of lofty mountains overlooking the great plain through which the river winds its way. These mountains are the Vosges, and the plain at their feet is Alsace, a province originally belonging to Germany, but partly wrested from it by France during the famous thirty years' war, which terminated in 1648; and more fully acquired by the wars of Louis XIV., ending in 1697. On each of these occasions Alsace was the scene of dreadful cruelties and sufferings. Towns and villages were universally sacked and destroyed, every article of value was carried off, the country was laid waste, and the distracted people either fled or were murdered. So utterly ruined was the territory, that it long lay without more than a hundred families, who drew a miserable and precarious subsistence from the soil. Strasburg, the capital of Alsace, did not escape these

« PreviousContinue »