The Exploits and Triumphs, in Europe, of Paul Morphy, the Chess Champion Part 9

Mr. Morphy was not desirous of prolonging the discussion, after so full and entire an indors.e.m.e.nt from Mr. Staunton's fellow-countrymen, or he could easily have driven that gentleman further into the mire. But Mr. S.

made two statements in the above letter, which Paul Morphy could not allow to pa.s.s unrebuked, and he accordingly denied, publicly, that he had received any introduction whatever from that gentleman, or that he had even hinted his intention of writing Mr. Staunton, amicably or otherwise.

The latter part of the letter is in questionable taste. As though Mr. S.

had acquired any right to misrepresent facts, publish misstatements, and deny reparation, on account of "having set his (M.'s) blindfold and other chess-exploits before the public in the most advantageous light."

By so doing, Mr. Staunton merely fulfilled his editorial duty; for the entire chess world was on the _qui vive_ after Morphy's exploits. _His games were being published throughout Europe, to the exclusion of nearly all others_, and surely Mr. S. could not allow his paper to be behind other journals. _But he knew full well that, after the first fortnight or three weeks, Mr. Morphy never gave him a single partie, being hurt at the ungenerous treatment evinced towards him in the notes._ Mr. Staunton was using the columns of an influential journal to crush a dangerous opponent, and, at the time he penned the above letter, he well knew that Paul Morphy resented from the first such unfairness, and had positively forbidden any of his games to be sent to him.

Mr. Staunton makes reference, in conclusion, to "very ill advisers." I suppose I must take this mainly to myself, more particularly as it is not the first time of his using the expression during the discussion. Without attempting to defend myself, I would say to Mr. Staunton: "I can reconcile it with my sense of honor and honesty, to impute to you a wilful suppression of the paragraph so frequently referred to. Had you given that paragraph, you would, _per force_, have been obliged to give your reasons for the a.s.sertion therein contained. And I would remind you, sir, that, in all this discussion, you have never touched the real point at issue--never apologized for the misstatement of which Mr. Morphy complains with so much cause. Paul Morphy is acquainted with the reason for that misstatement, but he has never evinced a desire to force you to state it publicly. He can afford to be generous."

It may be cause of regret to some that the match between these two _athletae_ did not take place. Such a contest would not have afforded any test of comparison, inasmuch as Mr. Staunton is not now the player he was eight or ten years ago. But an infallible test exists by which to judge of their respective merits--viz. _their games_. "By their fruits ye shall know them."

MORAL.

Mr. Staunton's weakness was want of sufficient courage to say, "He is stronger than I." Lowenthal said it _before his match with Morphy was finished_; Mr. Boden openly avowed his inferiority, as also Mr. Bird, and many other eminent players. And Saint Amant, in Paris, led the young hero up the steps of the throne, and seated him beside Labourdonnais, proclaiming, "Voici notre maitre a nous tous." Had Mr. Staunton so done, he would merely have antic.i.p.ated the verdict of posterity, and honored himself in the eyes of his countrymen and the world.

FOOTNOTES:

[C] CAPTAIN KENNEDY'S OPINION OF PAUL MORPHY.

_To the Editor of the Era_:

SIR,--As I understand that Mr. Morphy contemplates another visit to England before his return to America, will you permit me, through your columns, respectfully to suggest to the chess community of this country the propriety of offering him a public entertainment, together with some adequate testimonial which may serve to mark our sense of his transcendent ability as a chess player; and also our appreciation of him as a chivalrous, high-spirited, and honorable man--a character which I hope Englishmen know how to value far more than even any amount of skill at chess.

Should this proposal take any definite shape, I shall be happy to be allowed to contribute 5 towards its accomplishment.

I am, sir, your obedient servant, A. A. KENNEDY.

BATH, _Jan. 1, 1859_.

[Captain Kennedy, we feel sure, in this communication, expresses the feeling of a large majority of English chess players, and we have little doubt but that his suggestion will be entertained and carried out. For ourselves we shall be happy to aid to the utmost in any plan that is formed for the purpose.]

CHAPTER VII.

MORPHY IN FRANCE.

On the last day of last August, I awakened Paul Morphy at an early hour.

The Folkestone train left London Bridge at 9 55 A. M., and there was some twenty minutes of hard driving to get to the railway station; but Morphy came down to breakfast with admirable _sang froid_, took his own time at the meal, laughed at my fears of being too late, and got into a cab at least ten minutes later than we ought to have done. We arrived at the depot in time to see the doors shut in our faces. Now this was not agreeable, inasmuch as there was no other train for Paris, by that line, during the day. I therefore proposed to Morphy that we should stroll about until half-past one o'clock in the afternoon, and then take the route through Dover and Calais, to which he a.s.sented.

The trip across the Straits of Dover is neither long nor pleasant, and Mr.

Morphy was dreadfully sea-sick; but his mind was preoccupied with his forthcoming campaigns in _la Belle France_, and he observed to me, "Well, now I am going to meet Harrwitz! I shall beat him in the same proportion as I beat Lowenthal, although he is a better match-player than Lowenthal.

But I shall play better with Harrwitz." Some of my readers may object to such an observation; but those who know Morphy, know that he speaks from thorough acquaintance with his opponents' capabilities, and conviction of his own superiority--not from any improper feeling of pride.

People suffering from sea-sickness generally recognize the truth of the maxim, "It is better to give than to receive:" you have much difficulty in getting them to take any thing, even fat pork; but if you watch your opportunity, when the will is stronger than the deed, and induce them to worry down a modic.u.m of champagne well up, you infuse new life into them.

So I requested the steward to make us acquainted with his Sillery Mousseux, and Morphy and I toasted each other on the deck of the steamboat. On my asking him immediately afterwards how he felt, he allowed that he was better; adding, however, that he believed it was nothing but imagination which worked the cure.

It was but a short run to the pier of Calais, and the sea-sickness was forgotten when our feet again touched _terra firma_. On landing, we got into a slight difficulty. Morphy speaks the French language with the purest Gallic accent, and the officials would not at first consent to his travelling with a United States pa.s.sport. This our hero soon cleared up by reading the _gens d'armes_ a _precis_ of the settlement, manners, customs, &c., of the State of Louisiana, and his own antecedents; whereupon that official restored him his _papier regle_, but confiscated a quant.i.ty of underlinen. They told us that was Customary.

Eight o'clock in the evening; and if we took the train forthwith, we should arrive in Paris next morning at six. Morphy proposed that we should sleep there that night, and take an early train the following day, which course would enable us to see the town of Calais. So we repaired to the Hotel Dessin, attended to our inner and outer man, and then prepared for a stroll. As the result of our observations, we agreed Calais must have been a magnificent town before the discovery of the principles of architecture.

After diligent inquiry, we could not learn that any one knew when the last house was built, and Morphy gave it as his opinion that, were William the Conqueror to revisit Calais, he would find it unchanged, except in being dirtier. When I reminded him that the town possessed peculiar interest for me as an Englishman, he coolly set me down, by observing that he had a very poor opinion of my ancestors for wis.h.i.+ng to keep such a place.

The next morning we got into the train at a quarter to eight o'clock, and commenced the long, dreary ride of ten mortal hours to Paris. But there was no way out of the difficulty, and, what with yawning and dozing between the stations, and grumbling at the tedious regulation speed of the French railways, we ultimately arrived at the capital. Now every traveller, on getting to this point, thinks he is bound to paint the various emotions arising in his breast on entering the city of the Seine.

My own sensations were of strong Anglican bias. I wanted to dine. Morphy is never betrayed into rhapsody, and what he felt he didn't speak.

Having again submitted our baggage to the inspection of numerous officials, we thanked our stars for seeing the last of the _Chemin de Fer du Nord_,--drove off to _Meurice's_, where they gave us rooms about the fifteenth story,--started for the _Restaurant des Trois Freres Provencaux_, and got a capital dinner, and then addressed ourselves to the duties of _flaneurs_. I knew the French capital like a _gamin de Paris_; and, without saying a word to Morphy of my intention, I led him quietly down the Palais Royal, past the Theatre Francais, and right into the Cafe de la Regence.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE CAFe DE LA ReGENCE.

Were I called upon to name the central spot in this whirling sphere, the point round which all other points revolve, I should say--The Cafe de la Regence.

Probably many of my readers will not think so, but that does not alter the fact. I name that cafe, not as a chess player, but from more general reasons. Take a bowl of water or any other liquid--_punch_ will do--and, prior to drinking, experiment upon it. Turn it round and round until the liquid revolves quickly, and mark: there is one spot in the centre, a bubble, or ma.s.s of foam, which appears stationary, and all the other bubbles are circling and converging spirally towards it. So with my cafe.

In Paris, every other house is a cafe. The inhabitants are divided into two cla.s.ses:--waiters at the cafe, and--frequenters of the cafe. Paris never existed until coffee was introduced. Paris is merely a big cafe, and is a product of the Mocha berry.

Every cafe has its speciality. At Paul Niquet's, for instance, the chiffoniers congregate, and at Tortoni's, speculators and politicians. Not one of these establishments, throughout the city, but has its mark, by which to distinguish it from its fellows, in the same way as an ugly woman consoles herself with the belief that she has one quality at least which will captivate admirers. But the Cafe de la Regence stands out peculiar from the rest; it is what they are, and more too. It is an epitome of all.

Now the reader must not suppose I am going to enter on a lengthy history of this far-famed trysting spot of men of all countries, more particularly as Mr. George Walker antic.i.p.ated me many years ago. Everybody knows that the Cafe de la Regence and the Cafe Procope are the two oldest in Paris; that the former is so named after the famous Regent Duke of Orleans; that Voltaire, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Duke of Richelieu, Marshall Saxe, Franklin, Robespierre, Napoleon, etc., etc., etc., made it their place of frequent resort for the purpose of playing at chess. I am about to give a daguerreotype of the Regence as Morphy and I found it, and as any one will find it at the present day.

The first thing we caught sight of, on entering, was a dense cloud of tobacco smoke, the product of _tabac de Caporal_ and _cigars de la Regie_.

The second object was a ma.s.sive individual, with t.i.tanic shoulders, whom we afterwards learned was Monsieur Morel, or, as they call him there, "Le pere Morel," and "The Rhinoceros." Having turned the flank of this gentleman, and our eyes becoming used to the peculiar atmosphere, we observed that tables were placed as close to each other as would admit of one's pa.s.sing between them, and that chess was being played on some, draughts, cards, and dominoes on others. In a second room, two billiard-tables were in full action, surrounded by still other chess and card parties, whilst the unceasing hubbub arising from the throng seemed to render mental abstraction an impossibility. At a table in the first room, a small crowd was watching the contest between two amateurs of "ye n.o.ble game of chesse playe," and Morphy's attention was immediately arrested. I stepped up to the _dame du comptoir_ and made inquiries as to who was then in the room, and learned from her that one of the two players Morphy was watching was Monsieur Journoud, "un de nos plus forts," the lady added, as though aware I was a stranger. She informed me that Mr.

Harrwitz was then at Valenciennes, but intended to return to Paris at the end of the week, in order to meet Mr. Morphy. On my not expressing any surprise at the mention of the latter's name, she volunteered the information that Mr. Morphy was a celebrated American player, who had beaten everybody he had played with, and that they expected him yesterday.

The lady was pleasingly voluble, and I encouraged her; this induced her to add that Monsieur Arnoux de Riviere had just received a letter from a friend in London, apprising him that our hero had left the English capital, and was _en route_ for Paris.

Having learned as much as the _dame du comptoir_ was able to communicate, I rejoined Morphy, and we took a second look round the room. Sounds of all European languages saluted our ears, and types of different races our eyes. In one corner, a knot of Italians talked, amicably no doubt, in their rapid, quarrelsome manner. At one of the billiard tables, a party of Russians were having it their own way, without fear of listeners; Americans and English, Germans, Danes, Swedes, Greeks, Spaniards, etc., jabbered together regardless of bystanders, making the cafe a very Babel.

Scores of journals were lying here and there--the leading newspapers, in fact, throughout Europe--so that every visitor, no matter what his nationality, could obtain news of home.

The crowd seemed, as it always does, to represent every rank of society.

There were military men, from colonels to privates; one or two priests, who seemed somewhat out of their element; well-dressed, aristocratic-looking individuals, who kept together in knots in different corners; and the invariable _pillier de cafe_, who pa.s.ses half his existence in such establishments, and the other half in bed. The Cafe de la Regence opens at eight o'clock in the morning, but little or nothing is done until noon, barring the daily visit of some three or four patrons who drink their coffee in silence, and are not seen again until early next day. But at noon men begin to drop in quickly, and, by two o'clock, the room is as full as it can conveniently hold, and so continues until midnight.

The Cafe de la Regence has only existed on its present site for a few years; in fact, since Louis Napoleon has made the many magnificent alterations in the French capital. Previously, it was next door, in a _locale_ not half so convenient as the present one. The cafe is separated into two rooms on the Rue St. Honore; in the larger one, which we have already described, smoking is permitted to a frightful extent; in the other, it is strictly forbidden. The latter chamber is well fitted up, and the ceiling, which is ma.s.sive, contains four s.h.i.+elds in the cornices, bearing the names of Philidor, Deschappelles, and Labourdonnais. The fourth bears the date of the cafe's foundation, and the proprietor has stated his intention of placing therein the name MORPHY. Perhaps it is already done.

At the time of our arrival in Paris, the _Cercle des Echecs_, or in other words, the Chess Club, met in rooms over the cafe. The a.s.sociation had three rooms set apart for chess, and one for billiards, and Saint Amant, Devinck, Guibert, Preti, Doazan, Delannoy, Seguin and Lecrivain were amongst the members. But the great room down stairs prevented their receiving any accession of numbers, and the rent being very high, and funds very low, they gave up their quarters at the end of last year, and are now to be found in the cafe below.

Morphy would not announce his arrival on his first visit, preferring to postpone it until the following day. When it was known that the so much looked-for player was in Paris, the excitement was great; Frenchmen live for excitement. M. de Riviere had not been there lately, but we found Messrs. Lecrivain, Journoud, Guibert, and numbers of knight and rook-players. The first-named gentleman, by general request, offered himself as the initiatory sacrifice, accepting the odds of p.a.w.n and two moves, and managed to score some two games to Morphy's six or seven. Then M. de Riviere arrived, and getting the move, played the Ruy Lopez, which eventuated in "a draw;" and he was subsequently followed by M. Journoud, who, though one of the best French players, failed to score a victory.

Morphy had made his mark, and everybody looked forward to the arrival of Herr Harrwitz, when they hoped to see fun.