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Charles H. Spurgeon autograph letter signed spanning eight pages, and published at length in ''The Life and Works of Charles Haddon Spurgeon''. Spurgeon's famed skill with the English language is on full display in this letter, where he describes his visit to Baden-Baden, Germany in June 1860, during the time when French Emperor Napoleon III was visiting the city for The Baden Conference of Sovereigns. Called the ''Prince of Preachers'' for his oratorical skill, Spurgeon here analyzes the behavior of a coterie of actual Princes, Emperors and statesmen, and the public reaction to them during the Conference. Addressed to the Boston publication, the ''Christian Watchman and Reflector'', letter reads in full,
''To the Boston Watchman and Reflector, Letter from Rev. CH Spurgeon / I am now in Baden Baden, refreshed by my rambles, & renewed by my rest., There were no less than nine crowned heads in this little town during Saturday & the Sabbath which has just passed. One could hardly walk in any direction without stumbling upon a grand duke or being run over by the horses of an emperor. Some of the largest hotels being favoured with regal tenancy were so crowded with the attendants, & households of the Kings, that they could not receive ordinary travellers whose patronage they had [?] courted & enjoyed. The Emperor of the French passed through Strasbourg on Friday at about 5 in the afternoon. There were great crowds in the streets, a liberal display of flags & streamers & great multitude of soldiers. The Emperor seemed to be enthusiastically rec'd in this border city of France, although I cannot speak with authority, as to the cheers w[hic]h he received, for our conveyance was ordered into back streets quite out of the line of route & we were at too great a distance to have heard the shouts of the populace. Every one appeared to be happy & full of excitement & when we rode along the streets after the emperor had departed we were struck with the number of country people who had evidently come from their rural homes to see the great sight. The whole city was like a great fair & the tricoloured flags & garlands of oak leaves presented a most attractive appearance as they decorated the quaint old fashioned houses of the older streets, & the elegant mansions of the new. The very guards at the frontier relaxed their severity & the most polite of bows was an admirable substitute for the rigid examination of w[hic]h many travellers complain. On the German side of the river the town of Kehl was resplendent with the orange & red colours of the grand duke of Baden. I suppose the inhabitants have a sufficiently large admixture of the French element to account for their being seized with the imperial fever, as well as their opposite neighbours of Strasbourg. If the people of Kehl received the emperor heartily they were the only Germans who w[oul]d have done so, for everywhere throughout Belgium Prussia & the small German Kingdoms he is either dreaded or execrated. It is the universal belief that he will ever be content until he has completed the 'natural boundary' scheme, by subduing all the territory on the west of the Rhine to his imperial sway. If the English are no friends to Napoleon, the Germans go even further, and are more anti-Imperial than ourselves.
On Saturday, the Emperor might be seen early in the morning walking in the garden, leaning upon his walking stick, & looking more decrepit than his age might justify. It is a theme for great gratitude that he is not a young man that, be his ambition what it may, he has no great time before him in which to work out his political adventures. On horseback or in the carriage all men confess his noble bearing & no signs of decay are manifest but when he is walking, the spectator foresees that the greatest of men are mortal. During the greater part of the day the emperor returned the visits of the princes who had waited upon him in the morning. Possibly the laws of etiquette may in this case have been very agreeable to the great one, for it enabled him first to see all the princes together & then to give them a lesson privately & individually. Who can tell what devices were in the heart of the mighty, who shall fathom the depth of the thoughts of Kings? May the Lord rule & overrule & out of every evil may his glory spring. The princes & dukes may have rejoiced at the coming of the Lord of France, but the people wondered what all could mean, & forebodings of evil were neither rare nor frivolous. As for the little kings they came to this place like moths to a candle. Uninvited & unexpected they must needs come forth to the presence of the potentate, if not to be lacqueys to his pride, at least to sun themselves in his superior glory. it is to be hoped that the dexterous player has not succeeded in throwing the apple of discord among these minor monarchs, divided they would soon be overcome, but united they might oppose a serious barrier to any aggrandizement he may anticipate. I like not to see either thieves in company or kings in conclave. Eagles come not together unless they scent the prey. All may be well, & the meeting may merely be a friendly visit & an exchange of courtesies, but uneasy thoughts will suggest themselves, for when the wolf inspects the sheepfolds & dines with the shepherds the silliest of the sheep are troubled at nightfall. -
When the Emperor came forth from the hotel to his carriage the populace of Baden gave him unmistakable evidence of their feelings towards him. Several gentlemen have assured me that the hissing was very far in excess of the few notes of acclamation. Even in the Conversation House where the elite of the visitors were assembled the hisses were very distinct & must have been an unpleasant sound to one who breathes the air of flattery, & eats the bread of adulation. When the grand-duke afterwards appeared the people cheered him very heartily, as if to show for whom the sounds of disapproval had been intended. - After all, as far as I can judge it is not what he has done but what he may do w[hic]h causes this ill-feeling towards him. Some men w[oul]d have done less & have had more credit for it, but this man contrives to mar all his good deeds by a crooked policy w[hic]h leads most men to suspect his best actions & to impute to him designs w[hic]h may be very far from his thoughts. Worse men than he have been better liked, & yet there is no injustice in this treatment of him, for his conduct courts suspicion & his dark reserve creates distrust.
Sunday was the great day of discussion, deliberation, arrangement or whatever else may have been the end & aim of the interview. How little is God in the thoughts of the great when his own day is the chosen season for their councils, & that too when no crisis is impending, & no immediate disaster compels them to hasty deliberations. Here were all the days in the week, all equally available no haste compelling, no wars alarming, & yet none of their own six days will suit them, they must usurp God's peculiar day as if they were lord's of the sabbath, or irresponsible to the laws of heaven. What but confusion can be the result of such councils? Will not the Lord be avenged on such a people as this?
The companies of country people who filled the roads were very interesting to observe, & as I looked from the windows of my quiet chamber upon the gaiety w[hic]h the advent of these princes had caused upon a day consecrated to rest & worship, O could not fail to remember that men in high places have vast responsibilities & god alone knows how much of the sins of the nations will be visited upon the heads of their governors. They are not only partakers of other men's sins but Creators of evil; surely those are chains of darkness of unusual weight reserved for these ringleaders in rebellion.
The Emperor left for Strasbourg at ten o'clock, p.m. & his train started in the midst of a silence more profound than I have ever remarked before. Standing on the edge of the crowd, I was astonished to the utmost, at a stillness like that of death, a quiet which was not broken until the cause of it had departed, then every man breathed freely and as the Duke of Baden rode back to his castle the people gave him loyal cheers w[hic]h contrasted with the gloomy silence with w[hic]h the Gallic Despot had been greeted. To my mind there was something truly dignified in this noiseless censure, to hiss might be but a display of weak impertinence, but to be sternly silent was the noble rebuke of resolute minds.
I ought to have said that on Saturday there was a fine illumination at the Conversation House, w[hic]h is the grand resort of the company who are staying in the neighbourhood & the building in w[hic]h is concentrated the gambling for w[hic]h the town is famous. Beyond this one display I did not perceive a flag or a light upon any house or hotel. This was very strange to me, for if in any English town there had been but one King much less nine, there w[oul]d have been some sort of display, unless indeed the unpopularity of one of the number had been great enough to compel the people to ignore the existence of the other eight.
What wonderful times we live in for I have no doubt that the people of London know more about what was done in Baden yesterday than I do today, & merchants upon [Exeter] Change are talking of the very matters w[hic]h I upon the very spot can only surmise & guess. May the end be such that the nation may have rest, & the Kingdom of Christ may fully come. / I am / Yours most truly / C.H. Spurgeon''.
This letter would also be published in several newspapers throughout the world during the summer of 1860, including ''The British Standard'' where it was titled ''The Kings and the Emperor''. Composed in black fountain pen on four sheets of bifolium stationery bound on left side, letter measures 7.5'' x 9''. Folds, and thin piece of tape remnant along edge of last page. Overall very good plus condition with bold handwriting.
Charles H. Spurgeon Eight Page Autograph Letter Signed, Published at Length in ''The Life and Works of Charles Haddon Spurgeon'' -- ''...forebodings of evil were neither rare nor frivolous...''
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