may, in some small degree, assist in making you hesitate before you again plunge us into another long and sangui WM. CORBETT. To be sure, France has not yet furnished us with so tempting an example; but, if she should not do it, what will then be said against admitting alinary war, I am, &c. &c. Enghshmen paying direct taxes to participate in chasing their representatives, leaving the privileges and prerogatives of the Peers and the Crown wholly untouched? I am at a loss to guess; but It is a truth, confirmed by univerI am at no loss to foresee what would sal history, that the happiness or misery be the consequence of the refusal. This of a people depends almost entirely upon is the rare; this is the rivalship, which the principles of their government, and I wish to see between England and the conduct of their rafers. Wherefore France. Not a rivalship in war; notis it that in Emope there is more PRESENT STATE OF FRANCE. com a rivalship in commercial restrictions; forts enjoyed, and greater progress made but a rivaiship in the pursuit of freedom: in the arts and sciences, than in Asia? a rvalship in which I am not at all It is because the Asiatic governments afraid that we should surpass her. Our are more despotic and tyrannical than natural character; our persevering at the European. It is front a similar cause tachments to country; our unwearied that the improven.ent of society in Spain, loyalty; that modesty which indisposes and in Portugal, is, at the present moindividuals to aim at predominance; that ment, a century, at least, behind our moderation which limits our views of own country. It is following this crite exaltation; that plain good sense, that rion only, by adepting it as a rule to form justice, that mercy, which, if left to our the judgment, that we shall be able, at selves, guide us in all our decisions, that all times, to arrive at correct ideas realmost unbounded confidence between specting the condition of any people. man and man, which gives to words the Whenever we abandon this guide, we give value of gold; our happy local situation; ourselves up to error, and to all its conseand a hundred other traits and circum- quent evils; we become, by habit, the stances: all seem to personify themselves creatures of prejudice; and we seldom and to exclaim? Why is not England the discover our mistale till dear bought 'freest and happiest country in the experience has taught us the folly of our 'word? What need has she of armies in departure hom truth. In nothing is the time of peace! Why should she know mistakes, which have arisen in conse of any force beyond the Sheriff's Wand quence of this departure from rectitude, and the Constable's Staff? Why should more obvious and extravagant, than in *her Government be uneasy at the pro- the opinions now almost generally prepagation of any opinions or principles, vailing as to the present state of society political or religious ! in France. Fully aware that the improveHow happy should I be, my Lord, ment which has taken place there, since if I could hope that you and your col- the revolution, in the condition of the leagues would take these questions into people, is the best proof that can be your scriou › consideration; if, having now given of the superior excellence of the goseen that foreign war and domestic crer-vernment, almost all our political writers, tion, have so completely failed, at the particularly our news-paper press, have end of so many years, to produce that unceasingly represented the people of sajety, which has been the professed ob- France to be completely demoralized, ject of your predecessors, in power, as her fields uncultivated, her manufactures well as of your elves; if after these annihilated, and the whole aspect of the frustless endeavours, I could hope, that country reduced to a state of dreary waste you would make merely a trial of Par-and desolation. It was by base attempts tamentary reform; of that great mea-ike these that a too successful clamour sure, which would renovate the natural against the republicans was first excited; spirit, make us bear our inevitable burdat the nations of Europe were infuriated dens with cheerfulness, and strengthen to embark in a bloody contest, and that Our love to cur country! But, if i am they continued, for upwards of twenty Borbidden to entertain this hope, I will years, to sacrifice their lives for the estastui flatter pay, chi, that what I have said Iblishment of that "Social System," and ary remarks on the appearance of the houses, &c. at Dieppe, where Mr. Birbeck and his friends landed, he proceeds as follows. Walking near the barracks, I was struck with the respectable appearance of the soldiers; several were seated under the trees, reading.In the evening the streets, the boulevards, the bourse, groups of every convenient place was filled with people, of all descriptions, engaged in conversation.No rudeness in the men, no levity in the females politeness and cheerful, sincere, good humour preoiling on all sides. How different, thought J, from an evening scene in a British sea-port! Yet Dieppe is said to be one of the coarsest places in France. There is more appearance of enjoyment, and less of positive suffering than I ever beheld before, or had any conception of; but it is not the sort of enjoyment which suits my habits; I ques about living, that we really have not time to live! and our recreations have so much of vice in them, that serious folks have imagined it impossible to be both merry and wise. The people here, though infinitely behind us in the accommodations of life, seem to be as much our superiors in the art of living. I am informed that all the children of the labouring class learn to read; and are generally taught by their parents. that "holy religion, "which, it is said, hadgrity of her people.--After some prelimibeen overthrown and profaned by the jacobins of France. The repose which the treaty of Paris had given to the continent, has served in a great measure to dissipate the delusion. Liberal minded and sensible men, who could not understand how a country demoralized and debased as France was represented to be, should be able to maintain its existence against the combined attacks of Eur pe, were desirous to satisfy themselves as to the cause of this unaccountable phenomenon. They visited France; they observed the customs and manners of the people; they investigated the progress of the arts, of manufactures, of agriculture, of Education; they particu. larly informed themselves as to the national character of the people, and the general aspect of the country; and the result of these inquiries, and observations bastion if I could be happy in their way. What a been, that the public are now in posession | pains-taking unfortunate race are we! So busy of a real picture of Fianer, drawn from actual survey, by persons of undoubted credit,and who were under no temptation whatever to give a false colouring to the Of the many works which subject. have issued from the press on the present state of France, I have seen noLe so well calculated to give correct ideas respecting it, as that pubished by Mr. Birteek. It is entitled "Notes of a a good euucation and good morals might be studied. Journey through France from Dieppe here, to advantage, by the opposers of our in threngh Paris and Lyons to the Py-proved modes of teaching the children of the poor. rennces, and back through Toulouse, "in July, August and September, 1814; "describing the habits of the people, "and the agriculture of the coun"try."It is my intention, as already stated, to give a summary analysis of this valuable production. It will form a striking contrast to the view of society and manners in France, before the revolution, as given by Mr. Arthur Young, and which has already appeared in the Register. The reader wift observe that Mr. Birbeck is not an admirer of Napoleon. On the contrary, he freely censures what he considers reprehensible in his conduct, and more than once stigmatizes him with the epithet of “ tyrant."--Yet it was under tyrant" that the Government of this " France made such prodigious progress, in the arts and sciences, and has acquired so high a character for moral conduct, and, what may be truly called the glory of a nation, for the strict inte ог The relation between On the subject of Education, our author afterwards says, that at Deville At a very poor inn, in a remote village, whers we stopped on our morning's ride, the landlady kept a child's school, and her daughter was weaving. cotton check; her sister kept a little shop, and was reading a translation of Young's Night Thoughts. This was more than we should have exp.c.ed, in a village Ale-house, in England. The habits of the people more towards the South, he thus describes: Having quitted the Pyrennces, and entered on a district, where, instead of small fields, numerous villages, and a thick population, are large towns large divisions of land, and fewer prople; I have to remark, on taking leave of my mountain friends, that their poverty is more in appearance than, reality. They have frogal habits; and consider as luxuries, some things which may perhaps be among the necessaries of life in the estimation of their lowland neighbours. They are not an alms-taking indigent peasantry; but laborious and independent; living upon little, and heedless how: but nothing of the negligence which is the constant companion of hopeless poverty, is discoverable in their fields; on the contrary, these are cultivated with garden-like exactness. Their lands and their cattle shew that they are far removed from beggary and want. In the richer tracts, where their little estates are productive with moderate toil, the inhabitants are living in great plenty and comfort. Those beautiful and fertile vallies which converge at Tarascon, seem to unite lowland abundance with mountain simplicity. On the labouring class, and farm Servants, Mr. Birbeck has furnished the following interesting facts, which I have extracted from his work without any regard to the order in which they are there placed. On my first landing, I was struck with the respectable appearance of the labouring class; I see the same marks of comfort and plenty, every where as I proceed. I ask for the wretched peasantry, of whom I have heard and read so much; but I am always referred to the revolution; it seems they vanished, the n.---Wages about Lunel; 20-1, a day the men; 10d. to 15d. the women. Asked some men who were digging in a vineyard, how many shirts they had --fifteen to twenty, “ suivant la | personne," was the reply. I have met with this unequivocal prout of sickes in every part of the country. The labouring class, formerly the poor, are now rich, in consequence of the national domains having been sold in small pilotinents, at very low rates, and with the indulgence of five years for completing the payment. Thus here are few labourers or domestic servants who are not proprietors of land. the busy season (which is of pretty long daration. including harvest and threshing, then the vintage, and afterwards the olives) 40 sous and board women 25 sous, without board The allowance of board is 3ib of bread, 1lb of meat, besides vege. table dishes, such as haricos, &c and three bottles of wine, per day: in harvest and threshing. six bottles of wine. The pound French. is about equal to 18 ounces, English. The Shepherd is a wealthy man His wife shewed us her ample stores of home-spun linen, She sows the hemp, prepares and spins it herself. The labouring class here [at Isy n ar Paris] is certainly much higher, on the social sale, than with ns. Every opportunity of collecting information on this subject confirms my first impression, that there are very few really poor people in Fr nce. In England a poor man and a labourer are synonymous termis; we speak familiarly of the poor, meaning the labouring class: not so here. I have now learnt enoug to explain this difference: and having received the same information from every quarter, there is no room to doubt its correctness. The general character of the French, and the beneficial effects which the revoIntion has produced, particularly on the habits of the people, are thus spoken of : The approach to Rouen is noble: every object denotes prosperity and comfert. Since I entered the country I have been looking, in all directions," for the ruins of France: for the horrible effects of the revolution, of which so much is said ou our side of the water: but instead of a ruined country, I see fields highly cultivated, and towns full of inbabitants. No houses tumbling down, or cripty, no ragged, wretched-looking, people. I hate enquired, and every body assures me, that agriculture has been improving rapidly for the last twenty-fiva Lying between the Tyrennces and the Medi- years; that the riches and comforts of the cultivators terranean, Roussillon enjoys mountain gates and of the soil have been doubled during that period; sen breezes, with the fertility of a southern vale, [ and that vast improvement bas taken place in the and, what adds much to the delights of this para-condition and character of the common people. In dise, a happy peasantry. M. the early part of the revolation, more was done in the promoting the in-truction of the lower order than the sister policy of the late Emperor was able to destroy: and, though much remains to be desired on this point, enough has been effected to shew that a well-educated cominonaly would not he wanting in industry or subordination. The Na confirmed my general observations on this head. He also jutormed me that it was usual for a youth of sixteen, 10 hire himself, as a domestic servant in griculture; and, when he arrives at twenty-one or twenty-two, to have Lud up 400 or 600 tooks, 181. or 201. sterling. With 40 tranks, he buys a cotrage and arrrtes: his wife has probational Domains, consisting of the confiscated estates bly a link portion. He has an opportunity also of buying 1500 square toises (nearly an acre and halt English) of uncultivated mountain land, rocky and poor, but fit for vines; for this he pays Bitteen or twenty franks, and becomes a proprietor; having a constant resource of profitable industry, in-winter, whom work may be scarce, Wages, in of the church and the emigrant nobility, were ex. posed to sale during the pecuniary distresses of the revolutionary government in small portions, for the accommodation of the lowest order of purchasers. and five years allowed for completing the payment. This indulgence, joined to the depreciation of assig nats, çnabled the poorest description of peasants to -I have had constant occasion to remark the xcellent condition of the labouring class; their .ccent respectable appearance. This was more than I had expected. become proprictors; and such they are almos universally; possessing from one to ton acres. A as the education of the poor was sedulously promoted during the carly years of the revolution, their great advance, in character as well as cuudition, is no mystery. I prefer the country character o France to that of the city. In the former, the good fruits of the Revolution are visible at every step: previous to that ava, in the country, the ines numerous class, the bulk of the population, all Lut the nobles and the priests, were wretchedly poor servile and thiev sh. This class has assumed a new character, improved in proportion to theject poverty, ab-olutely depriving them of the improvement of its conlion. Servility has va an nished with their poverty; their thievishness, effect of the same cause, has also in great measure disappeared. As a proof of the honest disposition of the lower orders, Mr. Birdeck gives the following at ecuote of a postiilion: On our arrival at cur hotel, the postillion demanded double for the last post, as a Poste Royale; armed a l'Anglois at all points agaiast imposi con, I objected he proposed going to the bureau des Postes, 10 prove his right; I curious to be introduced to a French Authority, willy consented, and away we went to the Bureau des Postes: there he established his claim.. On returning to the hotel to his voiture and hors s, an article of our bag age was misstig; the postilion declared die had not seen it, and as WO could not ascertain at what place it has been left, it w8iven up as lost; it was a se de nuit, containing sundices of some value. In three days the same postillion lest our sac at the hotel unopened, not an article missing: be bad trace:1 jt back unul he found it; and considering he mode of our schlement, it was more than we expected. I give it as a sample of French honesty As another instance and regard for coaracter. of the same kind; a postiilion ghopped alter us three oiles, with a small article which had been overlooked in shifting the luggage. The decorum of manners in both sexes which pre rails universally, surprised and delighted me yen expression. Here are none of those exhibitions of preffigncy, which disqust you at every step, even in our country villages. No ragged wretches staggering home from a filthy alehouse. One drunken man, and but one, I saw in all my journey. Now, this is not to be attributed to ab means of intoxication, as might have been the casc belo e the revolution : on the contrary, wine and brandy are cheap, and the earnings. of the labourer are at least one third more in pro Portion than in England. Such is the habituel imperance of the description of people who with us are most addicted to drinking, that the inns, frequented by postillions and waggoners, seldom have any liquor stronger than their ordinary wine. If you call for brandy, they are obliged to send for it to the Caffe. The manager of an iron forge was describing to me the severe labour which the workmen performed before their immense fires : I enquired about their drinking, and he assured me that they never drank even their own weak wine without water. Intimately connected with the temptance of the men is the modesty of the women, and equally exemplary. A habit of economy and frugality, accompanied. by a perfect indifference to stile and shew, is another characteristic of the French nation, extending through all ranks: and entirely inconsistent with the fashionable trivolity which has been attributed to them. I am a countryman, and it is France as a com.ry that I came to visit and am describing, not Paris in particular. The exceptions to my stateme will be found in the latter, where no doubt there are too many examples of every enormity, Yet Paris itself will bear me out when compared wha London. I had heard much of French beggars, and there are too many to be seen hovering around the postLowes, and on the bills of the great roads, espeen ny north of Paris: they are mostly very old or bird people who follow begging as a profession, annout calibning marks of extreme poverty, being often nearly, and even well, clad. Beggars seem o be an ess. nt al part of the Catholic system, af In several points I found the French character diderent from what I had caleived it, trom the common report. There is a sort of independence, an uprightness of manner, denoting equility and the consciousness of it, which I was not prepared for. This is sometimes, in the lower class, accompanied by something like American roughness, and is not altogether agreeable to our kabits.ording occasion for the meritorious work of giving In general however they are extremely attentive to good manners in their intercourse with each. other, and with their superiors; but you may look in vain for that deference, bordering on servility witch we are accustomed to from our dependants; who are, notwithstanding, free boin Englishmn. lms: but as the amount required to constiute t title to reward has not been exactly stated, very small coins are chiefly in request for that purpos and people generally carry a store of them. Ou at my fellow travellers from Clermont, who was of his way to Paris, I believe, to purchase an estate was a fine example of French economy, and Catholic charity united. He gave a beggar a sous, and took back two liards in change. The following very interesting particulars, as to the occupations of the fair sex, are highly deserving of consideration: female character in France is a proof of it. There is that freedom of action, and reliance on their own powers, in the French women, generally, which occasionally, we observe with admiration in wome of superior talents in England. The contrast drawn by our author be In every part of France women employ them-ween the ancient nobility and the pre selves in offices which are deemed with us unsuitable to the sex. Here there is no sexual distmetion of employment: the women undertake any task they are able to perform, without much notion of fitness or unfitness. This applies to all classes. The lady of one of the principal clothers at Lon viers, conducted us over the works; gave us patterns of the best cloths; ordered the machinery to be set in motion for our gratification, and was evidently in the habit of attending to the whole detail of the business. Just so, near Rouen, the wife of the largest farmer in that quarter, conducted me to the barns and stables; shewed me the various implements, and explained their use: took me into the fields, an i described the mode of husbandry, which she perfectly understood; expatiated on the excellence of their fallows; pointed out the best sheep in the flock, and gave me a detail of the in management in buying their wether lambs and fattening their wethers. This was on a farm of about 400 acres. sent occupiers of land in France, possesses no small degree of interest: The ancient nobility, before the revolution, were not very refined in their mode of living at their chatcaux. These houses, generally ruinous state and bely furnished, were occasionally visited by their own us, recompanied probably by a party of guests, and a nume.Ous tribe of domestics. These visits were the result of in a caprice sometimes; often of necessity to recover fresh vigor for the expences of Paris: but rarely for the true exjoyment of the country. Their appearance was not welcomed by their tenants, from whom certain extra services were then required. Provisions of all kinds, grain, fish, fowl, all were in requisition. The dependants, almost plundering, and insolent of course. The gentry, spending their time at cards or billards; or promenading in their strait lined gardens, in stiff Parisian dresses, were only known on their estates to be hated and des pised, A better spirit prevails at present. ProIn every shop and warehouse you see similar activity in the females. At the royal porce-prietors have acquire 1 a touch of the country gentleman, and are cultivating their estates; whilst the lain manufactory at Sevres, a woman was called to receive payment for the articles we purchased. In tenants are relieved from degrading corvers and the Halle de Bled, at Paris, women, in their little other odious oppressions. Still, much is wanting counting-houses, are performing the office of fecto render a country residence inviting to those who cannot be satisfied in the society of their own dotors, in the sale of grain and flour. In every demestic circle; or who may not be blessed with a nupartment they occupy an important station, from merous and happy family. When capital, in the one extremity of the country to the other. hands of well educated taen, begins to be directed to rural affairs, a foundation is laid for a better state of society. A broad foundation of this sort has been already laid in France. Thanks to the Revolut on 1 In many cases, where women are employed in the more laborious occupations, the real cause is directly opposite to the apparent. You see them in the south, threshing, with the men, under a burning sun;-it is a family pary threshing out the crop of their own freehold: a woman is holding a plough-the plough, the horses, the land is her's; or, (as we have it) her husband's ; who iprobably sowing the wheat which she is turning in. You are shocked on seeing a fine young woman loading a dung cart; it belongs to her fathre, who is manuring his own field, for their common sup-from Mr. Dirbick's statement, that crimes are by no means so prevailing there as in this country. port. In these instances the toil of the woman de- It is the natural We have heard muck respecting the Police, and the number of crimes in Tradesmen. Many have gone so far as to attribute the increase of crimes with us to a defect in our laws of police.But whatever may be in this, it is clear Whilst waiting for my passport of departure, at the Bureau of the Protecture, aby persons were receiving passports of removal from one section of Paris to another. A strictess of police of which I before had no conception. I imagine a register is kept of the inhabitants of every house; and from the arrangement of the numerous decks in this long |