one battle, and conquered France. The friends of "the ancient social system" may here interpose, and declare no sacrifice of blood or treasure too great for the extinction of the revolutionary spirit; but these gentlemen must see, or they will see, that they have scotched the snake of jacobinism, not killed it. They may have the consolation of concluding, that they have blasted by one vast unnatural effort the best promise of rational freedom that the imperfection of humanity could admit of being displayed in France, or any other country. But if this their triumph were lasting, are we to partake of their joy, or participate in their fatal success in a bad cause, so blindly as not to see and shudder at the ruin that stares us in the face? In the glare and crash of victory, our eyes and ears are shut against the suggestions of prudence. The magnificent titles, arbiters of Europe, preservers of thrones, masters of the seas, and disposers of the land, ring round our heads, and exert with us the power with which the universal charm enchants all bosoms, but mostly such as are formed of better clay. We have before us an example more complete than the fickleness of fortune ever before furnished, of the reverses in store for those who are ravished with the whistling of a name, and yet if any one should dare to raise his voice and implore a moment's reflection upon the real value, and the actual price, paid and unpaid, of our late successes, no terms would be judged sufficiently pointed, or too harsh, to characterise and condemn the intrusion of such a calculator, who would, besides presumption, be charged with no little malignity, and not less ignorance. The nation is no less averse than Goldsmith's squire to being snubbed, when in spirits, nor will bear those dirty speculations of finance, and those dull details, which prove as clearly as uncontroverted facts can carry conviction, that no system of taxation can be adopted which can give any hopes that the country will be able, for any protracted period, to supply the payment of the national debt, and the expenses of the national establishment. Without pretending to have strayed amongst the columns of calculation, by which the chancellor of the exchequer proved that his regulations would enable him to entrench upon the sinking fund, without affecting the forty years result of that provision, I may still venture to say, that Mr. Vansittart has not, by the magic of his numbers, moved either the fields, or the beasts of the fields, to incline a willing ear to his moving appeal in favour of the renewal of that tax, which, very many cases, will be the only portion of the landed rent paid for the current year. It is not necessary to be versed in the lucid lucubrations of this gentleman, or other political arithmeticians, to assert, that the financial schemes hitherto adopted have been proved to be inconsistent with the very existence of

in

the landed interest, and that unless some means be adopted to relieve its unexampled depression, not only that, but every other interest dependant and founded upon that staple source of pros perity and power, must either fall to the ground, or rise in opposition to the government, and, pulling down the pillars of the state, be crushed themselves, and crush the nation beneath their ruins.

We have at last arrived at the certitude, that there is no conpection between the accomplishment and success of any system of ministerial foreign policy, and the internal prosperity of the country. The political preponderance of England is, or ought to be, at a greater height than it has ever before attained-it can be only equalled by her individual distress. The bloated body occupies no less, or perhaps greater, space than a sound frame. I would not be thought to join in the lament of those who deplore the loss or the decay of all those characteristics by which the Englishman was supposed to be distinguished from his continental cotemporaries. It does appear that the principles of the revolution have lost some of that salutary influence amongst our politicians, which is the surest safeguard against despotism. But the individual honour of private character is still intact; our social institutions are still inviolate; our establishments, our virtues, domestic and national, to the man of whatever country, who is willing, and has had the opportunity, to appreciate the comparative qualities of peoples, must still raise us far above our rivals, or our associates, in the scale of humanity. The majority even of our prevailing statesmen are not tainted with any of the baser vices, nor with a settled design against the constitution, and may be acquitted of every delinquency not included in prejudice, presumption, and obstinacy. A pamphlet, with the title de l'Angleterre et les Anglais, by M. T. B. Say, which was in considerable vogue during the latter part of my stay at Paris, attempted to show the exceeding degeneracy and distress of England; but, as the author's complaint or pity was chiefly directed towards us, because we had given a pension to the family of Nelson, an admiral killed in battle; because there were no workmen desœuvrés to be seen in our coffee-houses; because the studies at Oxford were un peu Gothiques, and books were getting so dear that few could read; because there were no people in Great Britain idle by profession; and, lastly, because we drank bad port; I thought Mr. Say might as well have confined himself to the copious quotations he made from Hamilton on the Public Debt, and, accordingly, took occasion to tell him so in a short answer to his pamphlet, written for one of the French journals. Certainly, books are too dear, and our port wine is very bad; but these evils hardly deserve to be put by the side

of our great national calamity, which promises certain destruc

tion.

So many predictions have been falsified, so many periods assigned for a general bankruptcy have passed harmless and unnoticed, that the prevalent persuasion has, until lately, been, that a resisting power resides in the public purse, which is augmented by, and will perpetually reply to increased pressure. The affluence of the country has appeared inexhaustible, since, whatever draughts are drawn from this reservoir, the source, like the end of Odin's horn, is sunk into the sea. When our financiers found that the sum beyond which even Mr. Pitt had considered an extension of the debt totally impracticable had been exceeded by two hundred millions, they saw no end to the credit of the government, nor to the principle of supply. The facility with which their loans are always negotiable must have aided the delusion; and the occasional success of a scheme of taxation, as it flattered their vanity, so it increased their hopes, until at last they were bold enough to adduce the length to which they had already stretched the rope, as a proof that it would bear farther tension; although, to the uninstructed capacity of common men, all former experiments reduced, rather than increased, the chance of future resistance. Now, however, that it seems decided, that not only we cannot bear more because we have borne so much, but that what we now bear can be no longer borne, we begin to question the merit of that system pursued for so many years, which has terminated in advantages of a doubtful nature, but in an evil unquestionable, weighing upon all, and coming home to every apprehension, and to all classes of society. At least one half of those who have ever turned to political reflections, either as a study or an amusement, are disinclined to the establishment of Lord Castlereagh's ancient social system, and conceive all our blood and treasure to have been squandered in a cause which, notwithstanding its apparent success, neither can be able, nor ought, finally to triumph. Whilst not one individual amongst us, no, not Lord Castlereagh himself, can deny, that the sacrifices, indispensable perhaps with the perseverance of such a system, have brought us to the verge of a gulf which has swallowed up many other states and nations, and may therefore be expected to be fatal to our own. Our military glory may illustrate, but not prevent our fall; and ruin may follow upon victory no less certainly than disgrace has been the companion of defeat.

Κλάιει νικηθεις ὁδε νίκησας ἀπόλωλεν.

X X

ADDITIONAL NOTES

ON

THE LETTERS.

1. IN page 17 it is stated, that an aide-de-camp held the Emperor's stirrup. I am informed that it was either the Duke of Vicenza, or General Fowler, or an equerry, as those details were regulated with great exactness.

2. In page 18 it is mentioned, that the Emperor Napoleon had a habit of retracting his lips and apparently chewing. I since learn, that this movement was occasioned by a custom of keeping a piece of liquorice or comfits in his mouth, as a remedy against a cough, which frequently tormented him.

3. Colonel Charles Labédoyère is incorrectly called Colonel Henry Labédoyère in page 24, and page 59, and it must be mentioned that the statement respecting the regiments is inexact; it was the 7th regiment of the line which Colonel Labédoyère commanded. The 7th regiment of the line was composed of the 112th, and several other regiments; and the eleventh regiment had served with the Emperor. Labédoyère and his regiment, as is mentioned, marched out, or rather leapt from the ramparts, in the afternoon of Napoleon's arrival at Grenoble. The Colonel then drew an eagle from his pocket, placed it on a pole, and embraced it before the troops, who shouted Vive l'Empereur. He then broke open a drum, which was full of tri-coloured cockades, and distributed them to his regiment.

4. The name of another general, and not Count Rapp, should be mentioned here. He did make dispositions to check the invasion, as may be judged from the anecdote afterwards mentioned of him.

5. In reading the account of the king's flight, the reader is desired to remark, that the story of the attempt to arrest Louis at Lille is mentioned with reserve. And it may here be told that Marshal Ney said, on his trial, that he had received the order from the Emperor Napoleon, "to treat the royal family with the respect due to misfortune." The conduct of Napoleon to the Duke of Angouleme shows how much he wished the family of the Bourbons fairly safe out of France.

347

6. To the statement made respecting Augereau, I must add that the Emperor told his friend, that the reason of Augereau's disgrace was to be attributed to the following fact. Napoleon, travelling to Elba, met the marshal; got out of his carriage, had a long conversation with him, and embraced him at parting. When they stopped for the night, the Austrian commissary said to Bertrand, that he wondered at the manner in which the marshal had been received by the Emperor, as he had for some time been in good understanding with the allies. This conversation was related to the Emperor, who learnt also that it was believed at Lyons that the marshal had delivered up the town for a sum of money. This last persuasion may not be well founded, but it was believed at Lyons, where, when the marshal appeared at the theatre, some one shouted out, 66 are there any more towns on sale? The Emperor was convinced of the fact, and said "he would forgive the injury personal to himself, but not that which had been so fatal to France."

7. It may be worth while to mention an anecdote relative to the mass at the Champ de Mai. The question whether or not there should be any mass at that ceremony was a long time agitated before and by the Emperor. Many thought it would give an air of ridicule to introduce it; but the Emperor decided in the affirmative, in order, as he said, to put an end to the cries of à bas la Calotte, à bas les prêtres, and to shew the nation that he did not approve such a spirit.

8. In page 250, the name of Count Flahaut, by a mistake, originating in the Moniteur, is put for that of Count Drouot.

9. The account of Malmaison being neglected when Napoleon accepted the crown, must only apply to his first reign, for during his last he frequently visited that country house, and took great delight in looking at those trees which he had himself planted. I must here mention, that although the relation given of the last days at Malmaison was communicated to me by a person who had just quitted the spot, yet I have received from another eyewitness a different story. He told me, that in his last visit there were no chamberlain, no courtiers attendant upon Napoleon, and only Count Labédoyère and another aide-de-camp, were habitual visitants. The number of impatient creditors was diminished, by the same authority, to two generals. And he informed me, that the Princess Hortense quitted the place half an hour before Napoleon got into his carriage; adding that the Emperor was exceedingly affected when he took leave of the aide-de-camp above alluded to, and embraced him four times on stepping into his carriage. It may belong to this note to state, that perhaps I have not given the exact spirit of the words made use of by Napoleon, when he declared he would not destroy himself: the ex