The approach downhill from Roccabruna to Mentone offers one of the most pleasing sights in the Riviera. Before us is the town, skirting the sea-shore, backed by hills clothed in evergreens of varying tints. On our right is the wide expanse of the Mediterranean; and in the distance to the east are seen the headlands of Ventimiglia and Bordighera. It is a peaceful, secluded scene, and, lying full in the blaze of sunshine, comes up to our ideas of what is befitting as a resort for those in quest of health, or who wish to reside for a time away from the turmoil of the outer world. It is customary to say of Mentone, that here civilisation ends. We have arrived at the last town in France. Going farther in this direction, we enter Italy, where, generally speaking, matters are in a less advanced condition. The whole of Mentone is comprehended in the curve of a bay, which, from Cap Martin on the west to Cap Murtola on the east, may measure five to six miles, by following the line of coast; but the curve is divided near the centre by a projecting ledge of rocks, on which stands a conspicuous square bastion or martello tower, forming an outwork of the older part of the town. The sweep of the shore is therefore broken into two bays, the western and eastern, a circumstance which imparts a divided character to the place. As regards the residences of strangers, there may indeed be said to be two towns, distinctly So closely do the mountains infringe on the shore of the eastern bay, that in this quarter there is space on the level ground for only a single range of hotels, with a roadway in front of them. On the western bay, the level ground is much broader; it allows space for a public promenade along the beach, also a succession of hotels and villas, not very symmetrically arranged, and a long street, in which the chief business of the town is conducted. Besides this degree of accommodation, the western bay offers some scope for building in certain lateral valleys, reaching to the base of the mountains. The valley first crossed is the Gorbio, and then the Borigo and Carei, the two last mentioned being the principal. They take their names from the torrents from the north which empty themselves into the sea—that is to say, when they have any running water in them, which is not very often the case. The valley of the Carei is the most spacious, and has already been built on to a considerable extent on both sides. The thoroughfare on the right bank, overshadowed with plane-trees, is known as the Route de Turin, and conducts to the railway station. The grand thing in the scenery of Mentone is the picturesque hilly ground behind it. Standing on the bridge which crosses the Borigo at the entrance to the town, we are presented with an amphitheatre of almost matchless beauty. In the foreground is a series of round-topped hills, detached from each other, and mostly laid out as groves of olive, orange, and lemon trees, interspersed with vine terraces, and dotted here and there with the cottages of the peasant proprietors. The height of these hills, or collines as the French call them, is from four hundred to six hundred feet above the sea-level, an altitude that admits of As now seen, Mentone is of comparatively recent date. Its reputation as a resort for health-seekers is only of ten or twelve years’ standing, and the larger part of its extensions has taken place within that period. At the end of last century, the town consisted of little more than a dense cluster of antiquated buildings, covering a conical hill, which rises from the sea-shore; the whole hemmed in by defensible walls, with the remains of a castle crowning the summit (since transformed into a cemetery), and a kind of sea-port claiming protection from the bastion on the projecting reef. While in this antiquated condition, there was no road through it fit for wheeled carriages. The only thoroughfare was the old Roman road, about twelve feet in width, sufficient alone for foot-passengers or mules, which wound its way as it best could along the coast—sometimes creeping up hills, at other times diving into ravines, and when arriving at towns, getting through them by narrow passages, well guarded at each end by gates. Such was the sole means of communication along the shore of the Western Riviera till within the memory of persons still living. Good reasons for this backward state of things might be found in political distractions, and more specially in the fact, that the whole of this part of the coast was for ages so much beset by predatory bands of Moors or Saracens, that it was advantageous to make every place as inaccessible as possible. Villages were placed far up the mountains, with a good outlook to the sea, Except as being involved in the wars of the Guelfs and Ghibellines, little is heard of the Grimaldis for two or three hundred years. They were known as seigneurs or counts, holding some local sway, but always under the protection of superior neighbours, to whom they stood in the relation of vassals. Any one curiously disposed regarding their intermarriages and ongoings, will get full particulars in the recent work of Mr Pemberton (History of Monaco, Past and Present), also in the French work of M. Abel Rendu (Menton et Monaco); but it is not easy to burden the memory with the annals of this noble and not always well-behaved family. But for their instinctively clinging to France, they would long since have disappeared. By Louis XIII., the family were raised to the rank of Princes of Monaco, and they were likewise invested with the Dukedom of Valentenois in the peerage of France. From this time, they fought in the French wars, and were The old town of Mentone with Quai Bonaparte, as seen from Eastern Bay. It does not appear that the new branch of the clan Grimaldi was a marked improvement on the old one. When the revolution of 1789 broke out in France, it spread to the principality; and so much was Honore III. disliked for his arbitrary measures, that he had to flee for his life, leaving his patrimony to its fate, which consisted in being absorbed into the French republic. After having been connected with France for more than twenty years, the principality of Monaco was assigned, by the treaty of Vienna, to its hereditary claimants, who were to be under the protection of Piedmont. Delivered up to Honore V., as the reigning Grimaldi was designated, the unhappy people, to their dismay, soon felt themselves in the grasp of a rapacious tyrant. Honest, industrious, and confiding, they were willing to render loyal obedience to the old family; but so far from being sympathised with, they were viewed as mere objects of the most uncompromising extortion. What now occurred in the communes of Monaco, Roccabruna, and Mentone—such being the entire territory—would, if minutely told, form a history unexampled for despicable selfishness on the part of the ruling authority. The account given by Pemberton, and also by local French writers, regarding the fiscal abuses of Honore and his successor, raises the deepest emotions of compassion. It is painful even to allude to matters of this kind, and I do so only because a knowledge of what took place enables us to understand why Mentone has been absorbed into the French empire. The story—fit to form the subject of a romance—is also not without interest, as revealing to what lengths a despotic ruler Living at a safe distance in Paris, and governing by deputies, Honore V. maintained a fair face to the world while issuing ordinance after ordinance calculated to reduce his patrimonial territory to utter poverty and ruin. Plausible and refined in manners, his hypocrisy was equalled only by his intense avarice. What he wanted was money, and that he was resolved to wring by every available means from his helpless subjects. He began operations by taking possession of all property belonging to communes, hospitals, and ecclesiastical establishments, all of which were in future to depend on his bounty. Next, he imposed duties on every article entering or going out of the country, or which was consumed as food. The principal produce consisting of olives, oranges, lemons, citrons, figs, and grapes, these were all placed under rigorous surveillance, and subjected to heavy imposts. There had long been manufactures of oils, essences, perfumes, and confections from one or other of these fruits, for purposes of export, and the taxes now levied upon them rendered the trade not worth carrying on. Then were issued ordinances assigning to the prince an entire monopoly in the manufacture and sale of linen, gunpowder, pipes, and tobacco. No one dared to purchase linens for clothing or domestic use, or to be used as sails for boats and shipping, unless they came from the prince’s factories at such prices as he was pleased to impose. Following on these arbitrary measures came the monopoly of selling vermicelli. This was a hard blow on the poor, but nothing in comparison to the next financial device, which was a monopoly in the importation of corn, meal, and flour. As it happened that the territory produced scarcely any cereals, the people depended on imports, and under this new policy they were placed at the mercy of a To advantageously carry out this last ordinance, Honore procured the assistance of a Frenchman named Chappon, with whom he divided profits. Established as the grand purveyor of corn, Chappon became a terror to the unfortunate community. At the very outset, there was experienced a want of mills to grind the imported corn, nor could mills be erected unless where there was water-power. The valley of the Carei at Mentone offered this convenience, but its water-privileges were all secured by olive-mills, and these necessarily had to be bought up. This was speedily accomplished. The oil-mills were forcibly purchased at certain prices; but as these prices were never paid, the transaction was nothing else than a robbery. Possessed of the mills, the next thing was to make a road to them fit for wheeled carriages. Instead of making the road at his own cost, Honore obliged the proprietors of land on the right bank of the Carei to construct a thoroughfare at their own expense, at the same time mulcting them in sums to keep it up. The road so formed, lined with plane-trees, is that now known as the Route de Turin. The construction of such a road was certainly a great improvement; and the only matter for regret is the injustice of the whole affair. Having set the mills to work, Chappon imported parcels of damaged or inferior corn, which, being ground to flour, was sold at such high prices as he was pleased to impose. This extortion was not enough. It was discovered that a good profit could be made by a monopoly in baking. The prince now became baker in general for the principality, and the baking and selling of bread, except under his authority, were declared to be penal. A cry of despair—the wail of the poor—sounded through the land. Earnest, piteous remonstrances were made to Honore. All were unheeded. Things were not yet by any means at their worst. The only fuel used was old decayed olive and fruit trees, and here was a fresh means of exaction. An ordinance was issued forbidding any tree to be cut down, or any branch removed, unless by a special license, which had to be paid for, amounting to a tax on the fuel used for warmth or the preparation of victuals. The next form of extortion was to impose a fine on any one leaving his house after ten o’clock without a lantern. A fine of three francs was also imposed on every license for a person going out of the country. Hungered in the article of bread, taxed on Honore V. died in 1841, carrying with him to the grave the execrations of all he had misused and misgoverned. Strange to say, the people, from a hereditary sentiment of loyalty, did not embrace the opportunity of repudiating the Grimaldis. The heir of the principality was Florestan I., of whom good hopes were entertained; but he continued the former extortions and monopolies, adding the obligation, that the crushing of all the olives in his territory should take place at his own mills, under excessive penalties. This was little else than a sentence of annihilation to the olive-growers, and general ruin was in prospect. But the time had now come when the odious tyranny could be safely thrown off. The ferment of the revolution in France in 1848 spread to the principality of Monaco, and by a popular outburst of outraged feeling, the authority of the prince was denounced and rejected. Florestan appealed for help to Sardinia, but in vain. He made some overtures at conciliation. They were treated with derision, and he was ordered to quit the territory. It says not a little for the character of the people, that in carrying through their revolution, not a single personal injury was inflicted. Having rid themselves of the Grimaldis, the communes of Monaco, Roccabruna, and Mentone declared their political independence, in which condition, and unmolested, they remained for twelve years. During this period they did much to restore general concord and prosperity, and it was at this time that some improvements were effected in the various towns. Florestan died in 1856, an Since 1861, accordingly, Mentone has in all respects been part and parcel of France, and participated in its national progress. Monaco alone, consisting of a patch of territory extending three and a half miles along the coast, by a width at broadest of one mile, remains a petty dependent sovereignty under Charles III., who lives part of the year at Paris, and at other times in his palace in the town of Monaco. His son and heir-apparent, Charles-Honore, born in 1848, was recently married to a daughter of the late Duke of Hamilton. Since it was attached to France, Mentone, with some ground in its neighbourhood, has been a commune of the Alpes Maritimes, with a mayor and council for its local administration. So smoothly are its civic affairs conducted, that one hears little |