- 
 
<t&^ #*££~-^ &z?^» 
 
 PAUL'S LETTERS 
 
 TO 
 
 HIS KINSFOLK. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 
 Printed by James Ballantyne and Co. 
 
 FOR ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND COMPANY, 
 
 EDINBURGH ; 
 
 AND LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, 
 
 AND JOHN MURRAY, LONDON. 
 
 1816. 
 
; 
 
 
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 PAUL'S LETTERS 
 
 TO 
 
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 ff<i>t*As A ^i>t^ 
 
 LETTER L 
 
 PAUL TO HIS SISTER MARGARET. 
 
 It is three long weeks since I left the old 
 mansion-house, which, for years before, has 
 not found me absent for three days, and yet 
 no letter has assured its quiet inmates and 
 neighbours whether my curiosity has met its 
 punishment. Methinks I see the evening 
 circle assembled, and anxiously expressing 
 their doubts and fears on account of the ad- 
 yenturous traveller. The Major will talk of 
 the dangers of outposts and free corps, and 
 
 A 
 
 1 . 454 
 
Paul's letters 
 
 shall be somewhat disappointed, if the Major 
 has displayed alacrity in putting his double- 
 barrel in order for the moors ; or if the Laird 
 has shewn his usual solicitude for a seasonable 
 sprinkling of rain to refresh the turnip-field. 
 Peter's speculations on politics, and his walks 
 to the bowling-green, have been darkened, 
 doubtless, and saddened by the uncertainty of 
 my fate ; and I even suspect the Parson has 
 spared his flock one Seventhly of his text in 
 his anxiety upon my account. 
 
 For you, my dear Margaret, can I doubt 
 the interest you have given me in your affec- 
 tions from the earliest period of recollection, 
 when we pulled gowans together upon the 
 green, until the moment when my travelling 
 trunk, packed by your indefatigable exer- 
 tions, stood ready to be locked ; but, ere the 
 key could be turned, reversing the frolics of 
 the enchanted chest of the Merchant Abudah, 
 sprung once more open, as if in derision of 
 your labours. To you, therefore, in all justice, 
 belong the first fruits of my correspondence ; 
 and while I dwell upon topics personal to my- 
 self, and therefore most interesting to you, do 
 
/ TO HIS KINSFOLK. 5 
 
 not let our kind friends believe that I have for- 
 gotten my promise, to send each of them, from 
 foreign parts, that species of information with 
 which each is most gratified. No ! the Major 
 shalJ hear of more and bloodier battles than 
 ever were detailed to Young Norval by his 
 tutor the Hermit. The Laird shall know all 
 I can tell him on the general state of the 
 country. Peter shall be refreshed with poli- 
 tics, and the Minister with polemics $ that is, 
 if I can find any thing of the latter description 
 worth sending ; for if ever there existed a 
 country without a sense of religion of any 
 kind, it is that of France. The churches in- 
 deed remain, but the worship to which they 
 are dedicated has as little effect upon the 
 minds of the people, as that of the hea- 
 then Pantheon on the inhabitants of modern 
 Rome. I must take Ovid's maxim, " Ta- 
 men excuti nullum-" and endeavour to de- 
 scribe the effects which the absence of this 
 salutary restraint upon our corrupt and selfish 
 passions, of this light, which extends our views 
 beyond the bounds of a transitory world, has 
 produced upon this unhappy country. More 
 
6 Paul's letters 
 
 of this, however, hereafter. My first letter is 
 addressed to you, my dear sister, and must 
 therefore be personal. 
 
 Even your partiality would be little inte- 
 rested in my journey through England, or 
 the circumstances attending my embarkation. 
 And of my passage, it is enough to say, that 
 sea-sick I was even unto the uttermost. All 
 your fifteen infallible recipes proved unavail- 
 ing. I could not brook the sight of lavender- 
 drops ; gingerbread-nuts were detestable to 
 my eyes, and are so to my recollection even 
 at this moment. I could as soon have swal- 
 lowed the horns of the Arch-fiend himself as 
 the dose of hartshorn ; and for the great go- 
 blet of sea-water, " too much of water had I, 
 poor Ophelia." In short, he that would see 
 as much misery, and as much selfishness, as 
 can well be concentrated, without any perma- 
 nent evil being either done or suffered, I in- 
 vite him to hire a birth aboard a packet. De- 
 licacy is lost ; sympathy is no more ; the bands 
 of love and friendship are broken ; one class of 
 passengers eat and drink joyously, though in- 
 termingled with another, who are expressing 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 7 
 
 their inward grievances, in a manner, which, 
 4n any other situation, seldom fails to excite 
 irresistible sympathy. The captain and the 
 mate, comforters by profession, indeed exhort 
 you, from time to time, to be of good cheer, 
 and recommend a glass of grog, or possibly a 
 pipe of tobacco, or it may be a morsel of fat 
 bacon, to allay the internal commotion j but 
 it is unnecessary to say how ill the remedies 
 apply to the disorder. In short, if you are 
 sick, sick you must be ; and can have little 
 better comfort than in reflecting that the 
 evil must be of short duration, though, were 
 you to judge from your immediate feelings, 
 you might conceive your life was likely to 
 end first. As I neither met with a storm nor 
 sea-fight, I do not know what effect they 
 might produce upon a sea-sick patient j but 
 such is the complete annihilation of energy j 
 such the headache, the nausea, and depres- 
 sion of spirits, that I think any stimulus, 
 short of the risque of being shot or drowned, 
 would fail of rousing him to any exertion. 
 The best is, that arrival on the land proves a 
 certain remedy for the sorrows of the sea j 
 
8 Paul's letters 
 
 and I do not think that even your materia 
 medica could supply any other. 
 
 Suppose your brother then landed among 
 the mynheers and yafrows of Holland and 
 Belgium, as it is now the fashion to call 
 what, before our portentous times, was usual- 
 ly named Flanders. Strange sights meet his 
 eyes ; strange voices sound in his ears ; and 
 yet, by a number of whimsical associations, 
 he is eternally brought back to the land of his 
 nativity. The Flemings, in particular, re- 
 semble the Scotch in the cast of their fea- 
 tures, the sound of their language, and, ap- 
 parently, in their habits of living, and of pa- 
 tient industry. They are, to be sure, a cen- 
 tury at least behind in costume and manners ; 
 but the old chateau, consisting of two or three 
 narrow houses, joined together by the ga- 
 bles, with a slender round turret ascending in 
 the centre of the building, for the purpose 
 of containing the staircase, is completely in 
 the old style of Scottish dwelling-houses. 
 Then the avenue, and the acre or two of 
 ground, planted with fruit-trees in straight 
 lines ; the garden, with high hedges, clipped 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. . V 
 
 by the gardener's art into verdant walls ; the 
 intermixture of statues and vases ; the foun- 
 tains and artificial pieces of water, may still 
 be seen in some of our ancient mansions ; and, 
 to my indifferent taste, are no unnatural de- 
 corations in the immediate vicinity of a dwell- 
 ing-place, and infinitely superior to the mea- 
 greness of bare turf and gravel. At least they 
 seem peculiarly appropriate to so flat a coun- 
 try as Belgium, which, boasting no objects of 
 natural beauty or grandeur, and being de- 
 prived, in a great measure, even of the grace 
 of living streams of water, must necessarily 
 supply these deficiencies by the exertions of 
 art. Nor does their taste appear to have 
 changed since the days of William III. There 
 seem to be few new houses built; and the 
 old chateaux, and grounds around them, are 
 maintained in the original style in which they 
 were constructed. Indeed, an appearance of 
 antiquity is one of the most distinguishing 
 features which strikes the traveller in the Low 
 Countries. Dates, as far back as the fifteenth, 
 and even fourteenth centuries, are inscribed 
 upon the front of many of the houses both in 
 
10 Paul's letters 
 
 the country and in the towns and villages. 
 And although I offended your national pride, 
 my dear sister, when I happened to observe, 
 that the Scotch, who are supposed to boast 
 more than other nations of their ancient de- 
 scent, in reality know less of their early his- 
 tory than any other people in Europe, yet, I 
 think, you will allow, that our borough towns 
 afford few visible monuments of the high 
 claims we set up to early civilization. 
 
 Our neighbours, the English, are not much 
 more fortunate in this respect, unless we take 
 into the account the fortresses built for the 
 purpose of defence on the- frontiers of Wales 
 and Scotland, or their ancient and beautiful 
 churches. But we look in vain for antiquity 
 in the houses of the middling ranks ; for the 
 mansions of the country gentlemen, and the 
 opulent burghers of the fifteenth and sixteenth 
 centuries, have, generally speaking, long since 
 given place to the town-mansions of the ear- 
 lier part of the last age, or the more fantastic 
 structures of our own day. It is in the streets 
 of Antwerp and Brussels that the eye still 
 rests upon the forms of architecture which ap- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 11 
 
 pear in the pictures of the Flemish school ; 
 those fronts, richly decorated with various 
 ornaments, and terminating in roofs, the slope 
 of which is concealed from the eye by win- 
 dows and gables still more highly ornament- 
 ed ; the whole comprising a general effect, 
 which, from its grandeur and intricacy, amu- 
 ses at once and delights the spectator. In fact, 
 this rich intermixture of towers, and battle- 
 ments, and projecting windows, highly sculp- 
 tured, joined to the height of the houses, and 
 the variety of ornament upon their fronts, 
 produce an effect as superior to those of the 
 tame uniformity of a modern street, as the 
 casque of the warrior exhibits over the slouch- 
 ed broad-brimmed beaver of a Quaker. I in- 
 sist the more on this, for the benefit of those 
 of the fireside at * # # *, who are accustomed 
 to take their ideas of a fine street from Port- 
 land place, or from the George's street of 
 Edinburgh, where a long and uniform breadth 
 of causeway extends between two rows of 
 ordinary houses of three stories, whose ap- 
 pearance is rendered mean, by the dispro- 
 
12 Paul's letters 
 
 portioned space which divides them, and tame 
 from their unadorned uniformity. 
 
 If you talk, indeed, of comforts, I have no 
 doubt that the internal arrangement of the 
 last-named ranges of dwellings is infinite- 
 ly superior to those of the ancient Flemings, 
 where the windows are frequently high, nar- 
 row, and dark ; where the rooms open into 
 each other in such a manner as seems to ren- 
 der privacy impossible ; where you sometimes 
 pass into magnificent saloons, through the 
 meanest and darkest of all possible entrances 5 
 and where a magnificent corridore conducts 
 you, upon other occasions, to a room scarce 
 worthy of being occupied as a pig-stye, — by 
 such pigs at least, whose limbs are bred in 
 England. It is for the exterior alone that I 
 claim the praise of dignity and romantic cha- 
 racter ; and I cannot but think, that, without 
 in the least neglecting the interior division 
 necessary for domestic comfort, some of these 
 beauties might, with great advantage, be 
 adopted from the earlier school of architec- 
 ture. That of the present day seems to me 
 too much to resemble the pinched and pared 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 13 
 
 foot of the ambitious Princess, who submitted 
 to such severe discipline, in order to force her 
 toes into the memorable glass-slipper. 
 
 These marks of ancient wealth, and burgh- 
 er-like opulence, do indeed greatly excel what 
 could be expected from the architecture of 
 Scotland at the same period. But yet, to re- 
 turn to the point from which I set out, there 
 is something in the height of the houses, and 
 the mode of turning their gables toward the 
 street, which involuntarily reminds me of 
 what the principal street of our northern ca- 
 pital was when I first recollect it. 
 
 If you enter one of these mansions, the 
 likeness is far from disappearing. The owner, 
 if a man of family, will meet you with his 
 scraggy neck rising in shrivelled longitude 
 out of the folds; of a thinly-plaited stock. 
 The cut of his coat, of his waistcoat, his well- 
 preserved cocked -hat, his periwig, and camb- 
 let riding-coat, his mode of salutation, the 
 kiss bestowed on each side of the face, all re- 
 mind you of the dress and manners of the old 
 Scotch laird. The women are not, I think, so 
 handsome as my fair countrywomen, or my 
 
14 PAUL*S LETTERS 
 
 walks and visits were unfortunate in the spe- 
 cimens they presented of female beauty. But, 
 then, you have the old dress, with the screen, 
 or mantle, hanging over the head, and falling 
 down upon each shoulder, which was former- 
 ly peculiar to Scotland. The colour of this 
 mantle is indeed different — in Scotland it was 
 usually tartan, and in Flanders it is uniform- 
 ly black. The inhabitants say they derive the 
 use of it from the Spaniards, of whose domi- 
 nions their country was so long a principal 
 part. The dress and features of the lower 
 class bear also close resemblance to those of 
 Scotland, and favour the idea held by most 
 antiquaries, that the lowlanders, at least, are a 
 kindred tribe. The constant intercourse our 
 ancestors maintained with Flanders, from 
 which, according to contemporary accounts, 
 they derived almost every article which re- 
 quired the least skill in manufacture, must 
 have added greatly to those points of original 
 similarity. 
 
 The Flemings are said to be inferior to their 
 neighbours of Holland in the article of scru- 
 pulous attention to cleanliness. But their cot- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 15 
 
 tages are neat and comfortable, compared to 
 those of our country ; and the garden and 
 orchard, which usually surround them, give 
 them an air of ease and comfort, far prefer- 
 able to the raw and uninviting appearance of 
 a Scotch cottage, with its fractured windows 
 stuffed with old hats and pieces of tattered 
 garments, and its door beset on one side by a 
 dunghill, on the other by a heap of coals. 
 
 These statistics, my dear Margaret, rather 
 fall in the Laird's province than yours. But 
 your departments border closely upon each 
 other j for those facts, in which he is interest- 
 ed as a Seigneur de Village, affect you as a 
 Lady Bountiful, and so the state of the cotta- 
 ges is a common topic, upon which either 
 may be addressed with propriety. 
 
 Adieu ! I say nothing of the pad nag and 
 poor old Shock, because I am certain that 
 whatever belongs peculiarly to Paul will be 
 the object of special care during his absence. 
 But I recommend to you to take some of the 
 good advice which you lavish upon others j 
 to remember that there are damps in Scotland 
 as well as in Holland, and that colds and slow 
 
16 Paul's letters 
 
 fevers may be caught by late evening walks 
 in our own favoured climate, as well as in 
 France or Belgium. Paul ever remains your 
 affectionate Brother. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 17 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 PAUL TO HIS COUSIN THE MAJOR. 
 
 After all the high ideas, my dear Major, 
 which your frequent and minute and reitera- 
 ted details had given me, concerning the ce- 
 lebrated fortress of Bergen-op-Zoom, in for- 
 mer years the scene of your martial exploits, 
 I must own its exterior has sadly disappoint- 
 ed me. I am well enough accustomed, as you 
 know, to read the terms of modern fortifica- 
 tion in the Gazette, and to hear them in the 
 interesting narratives of your military expe- 
 riences ; and I must own, that bastions and 
 ravelins, half-moons, curtains, and palisades, 
 have hitherto sounded in my ears every whit 
 as grand and poetical as donjons and barbi- 
 cans and portcullisses, and other terms of an- 
 cient warfare. But I question much if I shall 
 
18 paul's letters 
 
 hereafter be able to think of them with exact- 
 ly the same degree of respect. 
 
 A short reflection upon the principles of 
 modern defence, and upon the means which 
 it employs, might, no doubt, have saved me 
 from the disappointment which I experien- 
 ced. But I was not, as it happened, prepared 
 to expect, that the strongest fortress in the 
 Netherlands, or, for aught I know, in the 
 world, the masterpiece of Coehorn, that prince 
 of engineers, should, upon the first approach 
 of a stranger, prove so utterly devoid of any 
 thing striking or imposing in its aspect. Camp- 
 bell is, I think, the only English poet who 
 has ventured upon the appropriate terms of 
 modern fortification, and you will not be sur- 
 prised that I recollect the lines of a favourite 
 author, — 
 
 v — the tower 
 
 That, like a standard-bearer, frown'd 
 Defiance on the roving Indian power. 
 Beneath, each bold and promontory mound, 
 With embrasure emboss'd and armour- crownM, 
 And arrowy frize, and wedged ravelin, 
 Wove like a diadem its tracery round 
 The lofty summit of that mountain green. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 19 
 
 But, in order to give dignity to his arrowy 
 frize and ravelin, the Bard has placed his 
 works on the edge of a steepy ascent. Ber- 
 gen- op-Zoom is nothing less. Through a 
 country as level as the surface of a lake, you 
 jolt onward in your cabriolet, passing along a 
 paved causeway, which, as if an inundation 
 were apprehended, is raised upon a mound 
 considerably higher than the champaign coun- 
 try which it traverses. At length, you spy the 
 top of a poor-looking spire or two, not rising 
 proudly pre-eminent from a group of build- 
 ings, but exhibiting their slender and mean 
 pinnacles above the surrounding glacis, as if 
 they belonged to a subterranean city, or indi- 
 cated the former situation of one which had 
 been levelled with the ground. The truth is, 
 that the buildings of the town, being sunk to 
 a considerable depth beneath the sloping 
 ramparts by which it is surrounded and pro- 
 tected, are completely hidden, and the de- 
 fences themselves, to an inexperienced eye, 
 present nothing but huge sloping banks of 
 earth, cut into fanciful shapes and angles, and 
 carefully faced with green turf. Yet the ar~ 
 
20 Paul's letters 
 
 rangement of these simple barriers, with re- 
 ference to the command of each other, as 
 well as of the neighbouring country, has been 
 held, and, 1 doubt not, justly, the very per- 
 fection of military science. And, upon a 
 nearer approach, even the picturesque travel- 
 ler finds some gratification. This is chiefly ex- 
 perienced upon his entrance into the town. 
 Here, turning at a short angle into a deep and 
 narrow avenue, running through these mounds 
 which at a distance seemed so pacific and un- 
 important, he finds himself still excluded by 
 draw-bridges and ditches, while guns, placed 
 upon the adjoining batteries, seem ready to 
 sweep the ground which he traverses. Still 
 moving forward, he rolls over draw-bridges, 
 whose planks clatter under the feet of his 
 horses, and through vaulted arches, which re- 
 sound to the eternal smack of his driver's 
 whip. He is questioned by whiskered senti- 
 nels, his passports carefully examined, and 
 his name recorded in the orderly -book ; and 
 it is only after these precautions that a stran- 
 ger, though as un warlike as myself, is permit- 
 ted to enter the town. The impression is a 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 21 
 
 childish one 5 yet a Briton feels some degree 
 of unpleasant restraint, not only at undergo- 
 ing a scrutiny, to which he is so little accus- 
 tomed, but even from the consciousness of 
 entering a place guarded with such scrupu- 
 lous minuteness. It is needless to tell you, 
 my dear Major, how much this is a matter of 
 general routine in fortified places on the con- 
 tinent, and how soon the traveller becomes 
 used to it as a matter of course. But I con- 
 clude you would desire to have some account 
 of my first impressions upon such an occasion. 
 To you, who speak as familiarly of roaring 
 cannon 
 
 As maids of fifteen do of puppy-dogs. 
 
 my expectations, my disappointment, and my 
 further sensations, will probably appear ridi- 
 culous enough. 
 
 These formidable fortifications will soon be 
 of little consequence, and may probably be 
 permitted to go to decay. Bergen-op-Zoom, 
 a frontier town of the last importance, while 
 the Princes of Orange were only Stadtholders 
 
22 paul's letters 
 
 of the Seven United Provinces, is a central 
 part of their dominions, since the Netherlands 
 have been united into a single kingdom. 
 Meantime, the town is garrisoned by a body 
 of Land-poliz, which corresponds nearly to 
 our local militia in the mode in which it is le- 
 vied. All the disposable forces of the Nether- 
 lands have been sent forward into Trance, 
 and more are still organizing to be dispatched 
 in the same direction. 
 
 In the evening, by permission of the com- 
 mandant, I walked round the scene of your 
 former exploits. But you must forgive me, if 
 my attention was chiefly occupied by the more 
 recent assault under our brave countryman, 
 Lord Lyndoch, which was so boldly underta- 
 ken, and so strangely disappointed, when suc- 
 cess seemed almost certain. I was accompa- 
 nied in my walk by a sensible native of the 
 place, a man of Scotch descent, who spoke 
 good English. He pretended to point out with 
 accuracy the points on which the various as- 
 saults were made, and the spots where several 
 of the gallant leaders fell. I cannot rest im- 
 plicit faith in his narrative, because I know, 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 23 
 
 and you know still better, how difficult it is 
 to procure a just and minute account of such 
 an enterprise, even from those who have 
 been personally engaged in it, and how im- 
 perfect, consequently, must be the informa- 
 tion derived from one who himself had it 
 at second hand. Some circumstances, how- 
 ever, may be safely taken upon my guide's 
 averment, because they are such as must have 
 consisted with his own knowledge. But, first, 
 It may be observed in general, that the his- 
 tory of war contains no example of a bolder 
 attempt ; and, if it failed of success, that 
 failure only occurred after almost all the dif- 
 ficulties which could have been foreseen had 
 been encountered and surmounted. In fact, 
 the assailants, successful upon various points, 
 were already in possession of the greater 
 number of the bastions ; and had they fortu- 
 nately been in communication with each 
 other, so as to have taken uniform measures 
 for attacking the French in the town, they 
 must have become masters of the place. It 
 is even confidently said, that the French com- 
 mandant sent his aid-de-camp to propose a 
 
24 paul's letters 
 
 capitulation ; but the officer being killed in 
 the confusion, other and more favourable in- 
 telligence induced the Frenchman to alter his 
 purpose. It has been generally alleged, that 
 some disorder was caused by the soldiers, 
 who had entered the town, finding access to 
 the wine-houses. My conductor obstinately 
 denied this breach of discipline. He said, 
 that one of the attacking columns destined to 
 cross the stream which forms the harbour, 
 had unhappily attempted it before the tide 
 had ebbed, and were obliged to wade through 
 when it was of considerable depth ; and he 
 allowed, that the severity of the cold, joined 
 to the wetting, might give them the appear- 
 ance of intoxication. But when the prisoners 
 were put under his charge in the church, of 
 which he was sexton, he declared solemnly, 
 that he did not see among them one individual 
 who seemed affected by liquor. 
 
 The fate of a Dutch officer in our service, 
 who led the attack upon one of the bastions, 
 was particularly interesting. He was a native 
 of the town, and it was supposed had been 
 useful in furnishing hints for the attack. He 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 25 
 
 led on his party with the utmost gallantry j 
 and although the greater number of them fled, 
 or fell, under a heavy fire, — for the enemy 
 were by this time upon the alert, — he descend- 
 ed into the main ditch, crossed it upon the 
 ice, and forced his way, followed by a handful 
 of men, as far as the internal defences of the 
 place. He had already mounted the inner 
 glacis, when he was wounded in many places, 
 and precipitated into the ditch j and, as his 
 followers were unable to bring him of£ he re- 
 mained on the ice until next morning, when, 
 being still alive, he became a prisoner to the 
 French. Their first purpose was to execute 
 him as a traitor, from which they were with 
 difficulty diverted by a letter from the British 
 general, accompanied by documents to es- 
 tablish how long he had been in the English 
 service. The unfortunate gentleman was then 
 permitted to retire from the hospital to his 
 own house in the town, where he did not 
 long survive the wounds he had received. 
 
 I did not, you may believe, fail to visit the 
 unfortunate spot where Skerret, so celebrated 
 for his gallantry in the peninsula, Gower, 
 
26 paul's letters 
 
 Mercer, Carleton, Macdonald, and other offi- 
 cers of rank and distinction, fell upon this 
 unfortunate occasion. It is said that General 
 Skerret, after receiving a severe wound by 
 which he was disabled, gave his watch and 
 purse to a French soldier, requesting to be 
 carried to the hospital ; but the ruffian drag- 
 ged him down from the banquette only to 
 pierce him with his bayonet. 
 
 While I listened to the details of this un- 
 happy affair, and walked slowly and sadly 
 with my conductor from one bastion to an- 
 other, admiring the strength of the defences 
 which British valonrhad so nearly surmount- 
 ed, and mourning over the evil fate which 
 rendered that valour fruitless, the hour of 
 the evening, gradually sinking from twilight 
 into darkness, suited well with the melan- 
 choly subject of my enquiries. Broad flashes 
 of lambent lightning illuminated, from time 
 to time, the bastions which we traversed - 7 
 and the figure of my companion, a tall, thin, 
 elderly man, of a grave and interesting ap- 
 pearance, and who seemed, from his voice 
 and manner, deeply impressed by recollection 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 27 
 
 of the melancholy events which he detailed, 
 was such as might appear to characterize their 
 historian. A few broad and heavy drops of 
 rain occasionally fell and ceased. And to aid 
 the general effect, we heard from below the 
 hollow roll of the drums announcing the set- 
 ting of the watch, and the deep and sullen 
 Wer da of the sentinels, as they challenged 
 those who passed their station. I assure you 
 this is no piece of imaginary scenery got up to 
 adorn my letter, but the literal circumstances 
 of my perambulation around the ramparts of 
 Bergen-op-Zoom. 
 
 I presume you are now in active prepara- 
 tion for the moors, where I wish you much 
 sport. Do not fail to preserve for me my due 
 share in your friendship, notwithstanding that, 
 on the subject of Bergen-op-Zoom, I am now 
 qualified to give you story for story. Such 
 are the advantages which travellers gain over 
 their friends. My next letter to you shall 
 contain more interesting, as well as more re- 
 cent and more triumphant, military details. 
 
 I must not omit to mention, that in the 
 ehurch of Bergen-op-Zoom, a tablet of mar- 
 
28 paul's letteus 
 
 ble, erected by their brother officers, records 
 the names of the brave men who fell in the 
 valorous but ill-fated attack upon this famous 
 fortress. For them, as for their predecessors 
 who fell at Fontenoy, the imagination of the 
 Briton will long body forth the emblematic 
 forms of Honour and Freedom weeping by 
 their monuments. Once more farewell, and 
 remember me. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 29 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 PAUL TO HIS COUSIN PETER. 
 
 Thy politics, my dear Peter, are of the 
 right Scottish cast. Thou knowest our old 
 proverbial character of being wise behind the 
 hand. After all, the wisdom which is rather 
 deduced from events than formed upon pre- 
 dictions, is best calculated for a country po- 
 litician, and smacks of the prudence as well 
 as of the aforesaid proverbial attribute of our 
 national character. Yet, believe me, that 
 though a more strict seclusion of the de- 
 throned emperor of France might have pre- 
 vented his debarkment at Cannes, and al- 
 though we and our allies might have spared 
 the perilous farce of leaving him a globe and 
 sceptre to play withal, there were, within 
 France itself, elements sufficiently jarring to 
 
 6 
 
SO paul's letters 
 
 produce, sooner or later, a dreadful explosion. 
 You daily politicians are so little in the prac- 
 tice of recollecting last year's news, that I 
 may be excused recalling some leading facts 
 to your recollection, which will serve as a 
 text to my future lucubrations. 
 
 The first surrender of Paris had been pre- 
 ceded by so much doubt, and by so many 
 difficulties, that the final victory seems to have 
 been a matter not only of exultation, but 
 even of surprise, to the victors themselves. 
 This great event was regarded, rather as a 
 gratification of the most romantic and extra- 
 vagant expectations, than as a natural conse- 
 quence of that course of re-action, the ebb of 
 which brought the allies to the gates of Paris, 
 as its tide had carried Buonaparte to those of 
 Berlin and Vienna. Pleased and happy with 
 themselves, and dazzled with the glory of their 
 own exploit, the victors were in no humour 
 to impose harsh conditions upon the van- 
 quished ; and the French, on their part, 
 were delighted at their easy escape from the 
 horrors of war, internal and external, of siege, 
 pillage, and contribution. Buonaparte's go. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 31 
 
 vernment had of late become odious to the 
 bulk of the people, by the pressure of taxa- 
 tion, by the recurring terrors of the proscrip- 
 tion, but, above all, by the repeated disasters 
 which the nation had latterly sustained. The 
 constitutional charter, under which the Bour- 
 bon family were restored, was not only a va- 
 luable gift to those who really desired to be in- 
 sured against the re- establishment of despot- 
 ism, but operated as a salvo to the wounded 
 feelings of the still more numerous class who 
 wished that the crimes and calamities of the 
 Revolution should not appear to be altogether 
 thrown away, and who could now appeal to 
 this Bill of Rights, as a proof that the French 
 nation had not sinned and suffered in vain. 
 The laboratory and chemical apparatus which 
 was to have produced universal equality of 
 rights, had indeed exploded about the ears of 
 the philosophical experimentalists, yet they 
 consoled themselves with the privileges which 
 had been assured to them by the King upon 
 his Restoration. 
 
 So though the Chemist his great secret miss, 
 For neither it in art or nature is, 
 
32 paul's letters 
 
 Yet things well worth his toil he gains, 
 
 And doth his charge and labour pay, 
 
 With good unsought experiments by the way. 
 
 All parties being thus disposed to be pleased 
 with themselves, and with each other, the 
 occupation of the capital was considered as 
 the close of the disasters which France had 
 sustained, and converted into a subject of ge- 
 neral jubilee, in which the Parisians them- 
 selves rejoiced, or affected to rejoice, as loud- 
 ly as their unbidden guests. But this desi- 
 rable state of the public mind was soon over- 
 cast, and the French, left to their own re- 
 flections, began speedily to exhibit symptoms 
 both of division and dissatisfaction. 
 
 The first, but not the most formidable of 
 their causes of discontent, arose from the pre- 
 tensions of the emigrant noblesse and clergy. 
 
 At the restoration of Charles II., (to which 
 we almost involuntarily resort as a parallel 
 case,) the nobility and gentry of England, who 
 had espoused the cause of his father, were in 
 a very different condition from the emigrant 
 nobles of France. Many had indeed fallen 
 in battle, and some few by the arbitrary sen- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 33 
 
 tence of the usurper's courts of justice; 
 but the majority, although impoverished by 
 fines and sequestrations, still resided upon 
 their patrimonial estates, and exercised over 
 their tenantry and cottagers the rights of pro* 
 prietors. ' Their influence, though circum- 
 scribed, was therefore considerable $ and had 
 they been disposed to unite themselves into 
 a party, separate from the other orders of the 
 state, they had power to support the preten- 
 sions which they might form. But here the 
 steady sense and candour, not alone of Or- 
 mond and Clarendon, but of all the leading 
 Cavaliers, induced them to avoid a line of 
 conduct so tempting yet so dangerous. The 
 dangers of re-action, according to the modern 
 phrase, were no sooner sounded into the pub- 
 lic ear by the pamphlets and speeches of 
 those who yet clung to a republic, than every 
 purpose, whether of revenge, or of a selfish 
 and separate policy, was disowned in a mani- 
 festo, subscribed by the principal Royalists, 
 in which they professed to ascribe their past 
 misfortunes, not to any particular class of 
 their fellow-citizens, but to the displeasure of 
 
34 Paul's letters 
 
 the Almighty, deservedly visiting upon them 
 their own sins and those of the community. 
 Such was the declaration of the Cavaliers at 
 that important crisis ; and though there were 
 rfot wanting royalist es purs et par excellence, 
 who, like Swift's correspondent, Sir Charles 
 Wogan, censured the conduct of Clarendon 
 for suffering to escape so admirable an oppor- 
 tunity to establish despotic authority in the 
 crown, and vest feudal power in the nobility, 
 I need not waste words in vindicating his 
 moderate and accommodating measures to my 
 discerning friend Peter. 
 
 The scattered remnants of the French no- 
 blesse, who survived to hail the restoration of 
 the Bourbons, while they possessed no efficir 
 ent power, held much more lofty pretensions 
 than had been preferred by the aristocracy of 
 Britain at the Restoration. It would be un- 
 just to subscribe to the severe allegation, that 
 they had forgot nothing, and learned nothing, 
 during their long exile ; yet it can hardly be 
 either doubted, or wondered at, that they re- 
 tained their prejudices and claims as a sepa- 
 rate and privileged class, distinguished alike 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 35 
 
 by loyalty and sufferings in the cause of the 
 exiled family, to a point inconsistent with the 
 more liberal ideas of a community of rights, 
 which, in despite both of the frenzy of the 
 Revolution and the tyranny of Buonaparte, 
 had gradually gained ground among the peo- 
 ple at large. And, while the once-privi- 
 leged classes maintained such pretensions, 
 they were utterly devoid of the means of 
 effectually asserting them. Long years of 
 banishment had broken off their connection 
 with the soil of France, and their influence 
 over those by whom it is cultivated. They 
 were even divided amongst themselves in- 
 to various classes j and the original emi- 
 grants, whose object it was to restore the 
 royal authority by the sword, looked with 
 dislike and aversion upon the various classes 
 of exiles of a later date, whom each succes- 
 sive wave of the Revolution had swept from 
 their native land. Their own list did not ap- 
 pear to exhibit any remarkable degree of ta- 
 lent j those among them, whose exile was 
 contemporary with their manhood, were now 
 too old for public business, and those who 
 were younger, had become, during their long 
 
36 Paul's letters 
 
 residence abroad, strangers, in a manner, to 
 the customs and habits of their country ; while 
 neither the aged nor the young had the be- 
 nefit of practical experience in public affairs. 
 It was not among such a party, however dis- 
 tinguished by birth, by loyalty, by devotion 
 in the royal cause, that Louis XVIII. could 
 find, or hope to find, the members of an use- 
 ful, active, and popular administration. Their 
 ranks contained many well qualified to be the 
 grace and ornament of a court 5 but few, it 
 would seem, fitted for the support and defence 
 of a throne. Yet who can wonder, that the 
 men who had shared the misfortunes of their 
 sovereign, and shewn in his cause such proofs 
 of the most devoted zeal, were called around 
 him in his first glimpse of prosperity ; and 
 that, while ascending the throne, he entertain- 
 ed towards this class of his subjects, bound to 
 him, as they were, 
 
 " By well-tried faith and friendship's holy ties," 
 
 the affections of a kind and grateful master. 
 One distinguished emigrant, observing the 
 suspicion and odium which so excusable a 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 37 
 
 partiality awakened against the monarch, 
 had the courage to urge, that, to ensure the 
 stability of the throne, their sentence of ba- 
 nishment should have continued by the royal 
 edict for ten years at least after the restora- 
 tion of the house of Bourbon. It was in 
 vain that the advocates of Louis called up- 
 on the people to observe, that no open steps 
 had been taken in favour of the emigrants. 
 Their claims were made and pleaded upon 
 every hand ; and, if little was expressly done 
 in their favour, suspicion whispered, that the 
 time was only waited for when all could be 
 granted with safety. These suspicions, which 
 naturally occurred even to the candid, were 
 carefully fostered and enlarged upon by the 
 designing j and the distant clank of the feudal 
 fetters were sounded into the ears of the 
 peasants and burghers, while the uncertainty 
 of property alarmed the numerous and power- 
 ful proprietors of forfeited domains. 
 
 The dislike to the clergy, and the fear of 
 their reviving claims upon the confiscated 
 church-lands, excited yet greater discontent 
 than the king's apprehended partiality to the 
 
38 Paul's letters 
 
 emigrants. The system of the Gallic church had 
 been thoroughly undermined before its fall. 
 Its constitution had been long irretrievably 
 shattered ; the whole head was sore, and the 
 whole heart was sick. Doctrines of infidelity, 
 every where general among the higher ranks, 
 were professed by none with more publicity 
 than by the superior orders of the clergy; 
 and respecting moral profligacy, it might be 
 said of the church of France as of Hi on, 
 
 Intra mcznia peccatur, et extra. 
 
 It is no wonder, that, in a system so pervert- 
 ed, neither the real worth of many of the 
 clergy, nor the enthusiastic zeal of others, 
 was able to make a stand against the tide of 
 popular odium, skilfully directed towards the 
 church and its ministers by the reigning de- 
 magogues. Our catholic Highland neigh- 
 bour must also pardon us, if we account the 
 superstitious doctrines of his church among 
 the chief causes of her downfall. The neces- 
 sity of manning outworks, which are incapa- 
 ble of being effectually defended, adds not a 
 little to the perplexities of a besieged garri- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 39 
 
 son. Thus the sarcasms and sneers, justified, 
 at least in our heretical eyes, by some part of 
 the catholic doctrines, opened the way for 
 universal contempt of the Christian system. 
 At any rate, nothing is more certain than that 
 a general prejudice was, during the Revolu- 
 tion, successfully excited against the clergy, 
 and that among the lower Parisians in parti- 
 cular it still exists with all its violence. Even 
 on the day when the rabble of the Fauxbourgs 
 hailed the triumphal return of Buonaparte to 
 his throne, their respect for the hero of the 
 hour did not prevent them from uttering the 
 most marked expressions of dislike and con- 
 tempt when Cardinal Fesch appeared in the 
 procession. The cry was general, A has la 
 calotte ! and the uncle of the restored empe- 
 ror was obliged to dismount from his palfrey, 
 and hide himself in a carriage. 
 
 The king and the Comte D'Artois are, in 
 their distresses, understood to have sought 
 and found consolation in the exercise of re- 
 ligious duties. They continued, in gratitude, 
 those devotions which they had commenced 
 in humble submission, and their regard was 
 
40 Paul's letters 
 
 naturally extended to the ministers of that 
 religion which they professed and practised. 
 Conduct in itself so estimable, was, in the un- 
 happy state of the public mind, misrepresent- 
 ed to their subjects. The landholders were 
 alarmed by fear of the re-establishment of 
 tithes ; the labouring poor, and the petty 
 shopkeeper, regarded the enforcing the long- 
 neglected repose of the Sabbath, as a tax up- 
 on their industry and time, amounting to 
 the hire of one day's labour out of the se- 
 ven. The proprietors of church-lands were 
 alarmed, more especially when the rash zeal 
 of some of the priesthood refused the offices 
 of the church to those who had acquired its 
 property. The protestants in the south of 
 France remembered the former severities ex- 
 ercised against them by the sovereigns of the 
 house of Bourbon, and trembled for their 
 repetition under a dynasty of monarchs, who 
 professed the catholic faith with sincerity and 
 zeal. Add to these the profligate who hate 
 the restraints of religion, and the unthinking 
 who ridicule its abstracted -doctrines, and you 
 will have some idea how deeply this cause 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 41 
 
 operated in rendering the Bourbons unpo- 
 pular. 
 
 Those who dreaded, or affected to dread, 
 the innovations which might be effected by 
 the influence of the clergy and the nobles, — 
 a class which included, of course, all the old 
 partizans of democratical principles, — assumed 
 the name of Constitutionalists, and afterwards 
 of Liberalists. The one was derived from their 
 great zeal for the constitutional charter ; the 
 other from their affected superiority to the 
 prejudices of ancient standing. Their ranks 
 afforded a convenient and decent place of re- 
 fuge for all those who, having spent their 
 lives in opposing the Bourbon interest, were 
 now compelled to submit to a monarch of 
 that family. They boasted, that it was not the 
 person of the king to which they submitted, 
 but the constitution which he had brought in 
 his hand. Their party contained many parti- 
 zans, especially among men distinguished by 
 talent. Democracy, according to Burke, is 
 the foodful nurse of ambition ; and men, who 
 propose to rise by the mere force of their ge- 
 nius, naturally favour that form of govern- 
 
 n 
 
42 PAUl/s LETTERS 
 
 ment which offers fewest restraints to their 
 career. This party was also united and 
 strengthened by possessing many of those 
 characters who had played the chief parts in 
 the revolution, and were qualified, both by 
 talents and experience, to understand and 
 conduct the complicated ramifications of po- 
 litical intrigue. 
 
 Among those best qualified to " ride on the 
 whirlwind and direct the storm," was the ce- 
 lebrated Foucht;, Duke of Otranto, whose in- 
 timate acquaintance with every intrigue in 
 France had been acquired when he exercised 
 the office of minister of the police under the 
 emperor. There is every reason to think that 
 this person had no intention of pushing op- 
 position into rebellion ; and that it w r as only 
 his purpose to storm the cabinet, not to expel 
 the monarch. It cannot be denied, that there 
 w r ere among the Liberalists the materials for 
 forming, what is called in England, a consti- 
 tutional opposition, who, by assailing the mi- 
 nistry in the two chambers, might have com- 
 pelled them to respect the charter of the con- 
 stitution. And to those amongst them, who 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 43 
 
 were actuated either by the love of rational 
 liberty, or by a modified and regulated spirit 
 of ambition, the reign of the Bourbons afforded 
 much greater facilities than the restoration of 
 the military despotism of Buonaparte. Even 
 to the very last moment, Fouch6 is said to 
 have looked round for some mezzo ttrmine, 
 some means of compromise, which might 
 render unnecessary the desperate experiment 
 of the emperor's restoration. When Napo- 
 leon had landed, and was advancing towards 
 Lyons, Fouche demanded an audience of the 
 king upon important business. The inter- 
 view was declined, but two noblemen were 
 appointed by Louis to receive his communi- 
 cation. He adverted to the perilous situation 
 of the king ; and offered even yet, provided 
 his terms were granted, to arrest Napoleon's 
 progress towards the capital. The ministers 
 required to know the means which he meant 
 to employ. He declined to state them, but 
 professed himself confident of success. His 
 terms he announced to be, that the Duke of 
 Orleans should be proclaimed lieutenant-ge- 
 neral of the kingdom \ and that Fouche him- 
 
44 paul's letters 
 
 self and his party should immediately be call- 
 ed to offices of trust and power. These terms 
 were of course rejected ; but it was the opi- 
 nion of the well-informed person from whom 
 I had this remarkable anecdote, that Fouch6 
 would have been able to keep his word. 
 
 His recipe was not, however, put to the 
 test ; and he and his party immediately acce- 
 ded to the conspiracy, and were forced onward 
 by those formidable agents, of whom it may 
 be observed, that, like fire and water, they 
 are excellent servants, but dreadful masters ; 
 I mean the army, whose state, under the 
 Bourbons, deserves the consideration of a se- 
 parate epistle. — Ever, my dear friend, I re- 
 main sincerely yours. 
 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 45 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 TO THE SAME, 
 
 I left off in my last with some account 
 of the Constitutionalists, Liberalists, or what- 
 soever they are called, who opposed, from 
 various causes, the measures of Louis XVIIL, 
 without having originally any purpose of 
 throwing themselves into the arms of Buo- 
 naparte. To this desperate step they were 
 probably induced by the frank and universal 
 adhesion of the army to the commander un- 
 der whom they had so often conquered. No 
 man ever better understood both how to gain 
 and how to maintain himself in the hearts of 
 his soldiers than Buonaparte. Brief and 
 abrupt in his speech, austere and inaccessible 
 in his manners to the rest of his subjects, he 
 was always ready to play the bon camaradt 
 with his soldiers j to listen to their complaints; 
 
46 paul's letters 
 
 to redress their grievances, and even to re- 
 ceive their suggestions. This accessibility was 
 limited to the privates and inferior officers. 
 To the mareschals and generals he was even 
 more distant and haughty than to his other 
 subjects. Thus he connected himself inti- 
 mately and personally with the main body of 
 the army itself, but countenanced no inter- 
 mediate favourite, whose popularity among 
 the troops might interfere with his own. 
 
 To the motives of personal attachment, so 
 deeply rooted and so industriously fostered, 
 must be added the confidence of the soldiers 
 in military talents so brilliantly displayed, and 
 in the long course of victory which had identi- 
 fied the authority of Napoleon with the glory 
 of the French arms. To a train of the most uni- 
 form and splendid success, they might indeed 
 have opposed the reverses of the peninsular 
 war, or the disastrous retreat from Moscow 
 and the battle of Leipsic, w T ith all the subse- 
 quent reverses. But, as soldiers and as French- 
 men, they were little inclined to dwell upon 
 the darker shades of the retrospect. Besides, 
 partiality and national vanity found excuses 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 47 
 
 for these misfortunes. In the peninsula, Buo- 
 naparte did not command ; in Russia, the 
 elements fought against him ; at Leipsic, he 
 was deserted by the Saxons ; and in France be- 
 trayed by Marmont. Besides, a great part of 
 the soldiers who, in 1814-15, filled the French 
 ranks, had been prisoners of war during 
 Buonaparte's last unfortunate campaigns, 
 and he was only experimentally known to 
 them as the victor of Marengo, Ulm, Auster- 
 litz, Jena, Friedland, and Wagram. You can- 
 not have forgotten the enthusiasm with which 
 
 the prisoners on parole at used to speak 
 
 of the military renown of the emperor ; nor 
 their frank declaration at leaving us, that 
 they might fight with their hands for the 
 Bourbons, but would fight with hand and 
 heart for Napoleon. Even the joy of their re- 
 turn seemed balanced, if not overpowered, by 
 the reflection, that it originated in the de- 
 thronement of the emperor. To recollect the 
 sentiments of these officers, unsuppressed 
 even in circumstances most unfavourable for 
 expressing them, will give you some idea of 
 the ardour with which they glowed when they 
 
48 Paul's letters 
 
 found themselves again in arms, and forming 
 part of a large and formidable military force, 
 actuated by the same feelings. 
 
 It was the obvious policy of the Bourbons 
 to eradicate, if possible, this dangerous at- 
 tachment, or to give it a direction towards 
 the reigning family. For this purpose, every 
 attention was paid to the army ; they were 
 indulged, praised, and flattered ; but flattery, 
 praise, and indulgence, were only received as 
 the surly mastiff accepts, with growling sul- 
 lenness, the food presented to him by a new 
 master. There was no common tone of feel- 
 ing to which the Bourbons could successful- 
 ly appeal. It was in vain they attempted to 
 conjure up the antiquated fame of Henri 
 Quatre to men who, if ever they had heard of 
 that monarch, must have known that his mar- 
 tial exploits were as much beneath those of 
 Buonaparte, as his moral character was su- 
 perior to the Corsican's. In the reigning 
 family there was no individual who pos- 
 sessed so decided a military character as to 
 fill, even in appearance, the loss which the 
 army had sustained in their formidable com* 
 

 TO HIS KINSFOLK. 49 
 
 mander, and the moment of national difficul- 
 ty was unfortunately arrived, in which the 
 personal activity of the monarch, a circum- 
 stance which, in peaceful times, is of little 
 consequence, was almost indispensably essen- 
 tial to the permanence of his authority. 
 
 Burke says somewhere, that the king of 
 France, when restored, ought to spend six 
 hours of the day on horseback. " I speak," 
 he adds, " according to the letter." The per- 
 sonal infirmities of the good old man, who 
 has been called to wear this crown of thorns, 
 put the required activity out of the question. 
 But the justice of the maxim has not been the 
 less evident. Not only the soldiers, but the 
 idle and gaping population of Paris, despised 
 the peaceful and meritorious tranquillity of 
 Louis XVIIL, and recalled with regret the 
 bustling and feverish movements of Buona* 
 parte, which alternately gave them terror and 
 surprise and amusement. Indeed, such was 
 the restless activity of the ex-emperor's dis- 
 position, that he contrived, as it were, to mul- 
 tiply himself in the eyes of the Parisians. In 
 an incredibly short space of time, he might 
 
50 paul's letters 
 
 be seen in the most distant quarters of the 
 city, and engaged in the most different oc- 
 cupations. Now he was galloping along a 
 line of troops, — now alone, or with a single 
 aid-de-camp, inspecting some public build- 
 ing, — in another quarter you beheld him 
 in his carriage, — and again found him saun- 
 tering among the objects of the fine arts in 
 the Louvre. With a people, so bustling, so 
 active, and so vain-glorious as the French, 
 this talent of ubiquity went a great way 
 to compensate the want of those virtues 
 which the emperor did not pretend to, and 
 which the legitimate monarch possesses in 
 such perfection. " The King," said an Eng- 
 lishman to a Frenchman, " is a man of most 
 excellent dispositions/' — " Sans doute." — 
 " Well read and well informed." — " Mais 
 ouu" — " A gentleman in his feelings and 
 manners." — <c Assure merit, Monsieur ; il est ne 
 Francois"—" Placable, merciful, moral, reli- 
 gious." — « Ah, d* accord— mais apres tout" 
 (a mode in which a Frenchman always winds 
 up his argument,) Cl il faut avouer, qu'un Rot 
 gui ne peut monter d, cheval est un bien chetif' 
 animal" — This opinion, in which the posses- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 51 
 
 sion of the equestrian art was balanced against 
 all mental qualities, is not peculiar to the 
 person by whom it was delivered ; and it is 
 certain that the king's affairs suffered greatly 
 by his being unable to shew himself, even 
 in the exterior appearance, as a military com- 
 mander. Ney, who was probably for the 
 time sincere in his professions of oal to the 
 sovereign, whom he so soon afterwards de- 
 serted, recommended that he should review 
 the regiments as they passed through Paris, 
 even if it were in a litter. But the affecting 
 apology of the king is best pleaded in the 
 words of his own manifesto : " Enfeebled by 
 age, and twenty-five years of misfortunes, I 
 cannot say, like my ancestor, Rally around 
 my white plume ; but I am willing to follow 
 to the dangers to which I cannot lead." 
 
 None of the royal family, unfortunately, 
 possessed the temper and talents necessary 
 for supplying the king's deficiencies. The 
 Duke d'Angouleme, like his father Monsieur, 
 was retired, and understood to be bigotted to 
 the catholic observances, and much ruled by 
 the clergy. The Duke de Berri, with more 
 
52 Paul's letters 
 
 activity, had a fierce and ungovernable tem- 
 per, which often burst out upon improper 
 and unseemly occasions. Under their auspi- 
 ces, the attempts to new- model the army, by 
 gradually introducing officers attached to the 
 royal family, gave much offence, without pro- 
 ducing any sensible advantage. In some in- 
 stances the new officers were not received by 
 the corps to whom they were sent ; in some 
 they were deprived of the influence which 
 should attend their rank, by the combination 
 of theisoldiers and officers; in other cases, they 
 were perverted by the universal principles of 
 the corps whom they were appointed to com- 
 mand ; and, finally, there were instances, as in 
 the case of Labedoyere, in which the court 
 were imposed upon by specious professions, 
 and induced to promote persons the most ini- 
 mical to the royal interests. The re-establish- 
 ment of the household troops, in w r hich a 
 comparatively small body of gardes de corps 
 were, at a great expence, and with peculiar 
 privileges, established as the immediate guar- 
 dians of the king's person, was resented by 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 53 
 
 the army in general, but more especially by 
 the ci-devant imperial, now royal, guards. 
 
 In a word, matters had gone so far, that 
 the army, as in Cromwell's time, existed as an 
 isolated and distinct body, not under the go- 
 vernment of the legislature, but claiming ex- 
 clusive rights and privileges, and enjoying a 
 separate and independent political existence 
 of its own. Whenever this separation be- 
 tween the civil and military orders takes 
 place, revolution and civil war cannot be far 
 distant. 
 
 But there was one powerful cause of irri- 
 tation common to the French nation in ge- 
 neral, though particularly affecting the army. 
 That very people of Europe, the most ambi- 
 tious of fame in arms, who so lately and so ful- 
 ly stood possessed of the palm of conquest, 
 which for centuries had been the object of 
 their national ambition, had at once lost that 
 pre-eminence, and with it 
 
 The earthquake- voice of victory, 
 To « them" the breath of life. 
 
 The height to which their military reputa- 
 tion had been raised, the enormous sacrifices 
 
54 paul's letters 
 
 which had been made to attain it, the rapid 
 extension of their empire, and the sudden- 
 ness of their fall in power and in esteem, 
 were subjects of the most embittered reflec- 
 tion. We in Britain vainly imagined, that 
 the real losses which France sustained in ex- 
 tending her influence and her triumphs, must 
 have disgusted her with the empty fame for 
 which she paid so dearly. But however the 
 French might feel under the immediate pres- 
 sure of each new conscription, nothing is 
 more certain than that their griefs, like the 
 irritation of men impressed into our naval 
 service, were forgotten in the eclat of the next 
 victory, and that all the waste of blood and 
 treasure by which it was obtained, was ac- 
 counted a cheap expenditure for the glory of 
 France. 
 
 When a people, with minds so constitu- 
 ted, beheld within the walls of their capi- 
 tal the troops of the nations whom they 
 had so often subdued, their first effort was 
 to disguise, even from themselves, the humi- 
 liation to which they were subjected. When 
 they had looked so long upon a stranger 
 as to be certain he was not laughing at 
 
TO HrS KINSFOLK. 55 
 
 them, which seemed to be their first ap- 
 prehension, their usual opening was a beg- 
 ging of the general question, " You know we 
 were not conquered— our reception of the 
 king was a voluntary act— our general and 
 unanimous joy bears witness that this is the 
 triumph of peace over war, not of Europe 
 over France." With such emollients did they 
 endeavour to dress the surface of a wound 
 which internally was inflamed and rankled. 
 
 These harmless subterfuges of vanity held 
 good, until they had forgotten the late alarm- 
 ing and precarious state in which their coun- 
 try had been placed, and particularly until 
 the departure of the allied troops (a measure 
 most impolitically precipitate) had removed 
 the wholesome awe which their presence 
 necessarily imposed. Then instantly opera- 
 ted the principle of Tacitus — qui timer i de- 
 sierint, odisse incipient. A thousand hostile 
 indications, trifling perhaps individually, but 
 important from their number and reitera- 
 tion, pointed out the altered state of the 
 public mind towards the allies. The former 
 complaisance of the French nation, founded 
 perhaps as much upon their good opinion of 
 
56 Paul's letters 
 
 themselves as in their natural disposition to 
 oblige others, was at once overclouded, and 
 the sight of a foreigner became odious, as re- 
 minding them of the aspect of a conqueror. 
 Caricatures, farces, lampoons, all the petite 
 guerre, by which individual malice has occa- 
 sionally sought gratification, were resorted to, 
 as the only expressions of wounded feeling 
 now competent to the Great Nation. The 
 equanimity with which the English in parti- 
 cular gave the losers leave to laugh as loudly 
 as losers and beaten men could, rather exas- 
 perated than appeased the resentment of the 
 French. The most unoffending foreigners were 
 exposed to insult, and embroiled in personal 
 quarrels with gratuitous antagonists in the 
 public places of Paris, where, in former times, 
 the name of a stranger was a sufficient pro- 
 tection even when an aggressor. All these 
 circumstances indicated a tone of feeling, 
 ulcerated by the sense of degradation, and 
 which burned to regain self-opinion by wreak- 
 ing vengeance on their conquerors. The na- 
 tion was in the situation of losing gamblers, 
 who reflect indeed upon their losses with 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 57 
 
 mortification and regret, but without repent- 
 ing the folly which caused them ; and, like 
 them also, the French only waited some fa- 
 vourable conjuncture again to peril the re- 
 mains of their fortune upon the same preca- 
 rious hazard. 
 
 The language of the government of France 
 was gradually and insensibly tinged by the 
 hostile passions of her population. The impa- 
 tient and irritated state of the army dictated 
 to her representative, even at the Congress, a 
 language different from what the European 
 republic had a right to expect from the coun- 
 sellors of the monarch whom their arms had 
 restored. It is probable the government felt 
 that their army resembled an evoked fiend 
 pressing for employment, and ready to tear 
 to pieces even the wizard whom he serves, 
 unless instantly supplied with other means of 
 venting his malevolence. But if it was a part 
 of the Bourbon policy, rather to encounter 
 the risk and loss of an external war, than to 
 leave their army in peace and at leisure to 
 brood over their discontents and disgraces, 
 they had no time allowed them to make the 
 
58 Paul's letters 
 
 ungracious experiment. A plot was already 
 on foot and far advanced, to ensure, as it 
 was supposed, the recovery of the national 
 glory, by again placing on the throne, him, 
 under whose auspices, and by whose unpa- 
 ralleled military successes, it had been for- 
 merly raised to the highest pitch of military 
 splendour, 
 
 Such was the influence of the various 
 causes which I have endeavoured to detail, 
 that the reception of the insinuations of the 
 conspirators, particularly in the army, ex- 
 ceeded their wishes, and nearly broke out be- 
 fore the time proposed. It is at least pretty 
 certain that their zeal outwent the discretion 
 of their principal, and that Napoleon more 
 than once declined the invitations which he 
 received to return from Elba. The co-opera- 
 tion of Murat was a point of extreme mo- 
 ment ; and until a Neapolitan army could 
 approach the north of Italy, Buonaparte's si- 
 tuation must have been desperate, supposing 
 him to have received a check in the south of 
 France at the outset of his expedition. A 
 series of dark intrigues, therefore, commenced 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 59 
 
 between the principal conspirators and King 
 Joachim, which ended in his winding up his 
 courage to the perilous achievement which 
 they recommended. In the north of Italy 
 were many officers and soldiers who had 
 formerly served under Eugene Beauharnois. 
 And it was reasonably believed, considering 
 the weak state of the Austrians, that Murat's 
 army, Neapolitans as they were, might have 
 at least made their way so far as to have re r 
 cruited their ranks by the union of these ve- 
 terans. 
 
 Internally the conspiracy proceeded with 
 the most surprising secrecy and success. The 
 meetings of the chief leaders were held under 
 the auspices of Madame Maret, Duchess of 
 Bassano. But subordinate agents were to 
 be found every where, and more especially 
 among the coffee-houses and brothels of the 
 Palais Royale, those assemblages of every 
 thing that is desperate and profligate. " Buo- 
 naparte," said a Royalist to me the other day, 
 " had with him all the rogue-men and all the 
 rogue-women, and, in our country, their num- 
 bers are nineteen out of twenty." One of 
 
60 paul's letters 
 
 these places of nocturnal rendezvous, called 
 the CaffS Montaussier, was distinguished for 
 the audacity with which its frequenters dis- 
 cussed national politics, and the vociferous 
 violence with which they espoused the cause 
 of the dethroned emperor. That the police, 
 whose surveillance, in Buonaparte's reign, ex- 
 tended to the fire-side and bed-chamber of 
 every citizen, should have either overlooked, 
 or observed with supine indifference, those 
 indications of treason in places open for pub- 
 lic rendezvous, argues the incapacity of the 
 superior directors, and the treachery of those 
 who were employed under them. Even the 
 partial discovery of Excelman's correspond- 
 ence with Murat served but to shew the im- 
 becility of a government who could not, or 
 durst not, bring him to punishment. The 
 well-known symbol of the Violet, by which 
 Buonaparte's friends intimated his return to 
 France with the re-appearance of that flower 
 in spring, was generally known and adopted, 
 at least two months before the period of his 
 landing, yet attracted no attention on the 
 part of the police. Indeed, so gross was their 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 61 
 
 negligence, that a Frenchman, finding his 
 friend ignorant of some well-known piece of 
 news, observed, in reply, Vous etes apparent- 
 ment de la police ? as if to belong to that body 
 inferred a necessary ignorance of every thing 
 of importance that was going forward in the 
 kingdom. 
 
 With so much activity on the one side, 
 and such supine negligence on the other, 
 joined to a state of public feeling so favoura- 
 ble to his enterprise, one is scarcely surprised 
 at Napoleon's wonderful success. The mass 
 of the army went over to him as one man'; 
 and the superior officers, who found their in- 
 fluence too feeble to check the progress of 
 the invader, took, with a few distinguished 
 exceptions, the resolution to swim along with 
 the stream which they could not oppose. 
 But however discontented with the govern- 
 ment of the Bourbons, the middling ranks in 
 civil life were alarmed as with a clap of thun- 
 der by this momentous event. They beheld 
 themselves once more engaged in a war with 
 all Europe, and heard once more the Prussian 
 trumpets at the gates of the metropolis. To 
 dispel these alarms, Napoleon, with a versatile 
 
62 paul's letters 
 
 address, which could hardly have succeeded 
 any where save in France, endeavoured to put 
 such a colour upon his own views as best suit- 
 ed those whom he was immediately address- 
 ing. To the army, his proclamation, issued at 
 Lyons, held forth immediate war, conquest, 
 and the re-establishment of the military fame 
 of France. But, when he reached Paris, he 
 seemed anxious to modify this declarations 
 He appealed to the Treaty of Paris, by which 
 he pretended to abide, and he expressed 
 himself contented that the rights and boun- 
 daries of France should be limited according 
 to the wishes of the allied powers as there ex- 
 pressed. He did more ; he even alleged that 
 his enterprise was executed with their conni* 
 vance. With the assurance of a shameless char- 
 latan, as one author expresses it, he asserted, 
 that his escape was countenanced by England, 
 otherwise, as he reasoned with apparent force, 
 how was he permitted to leave Elba ? and that 
 his restoration had the approbation of Austria 
 would be made manifest, he pretended, by the 
 immediate return of Maria Louisa and her son 
 to the French territory. He even carried the 
 farce so far as to prepare and send away state 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 63 
 
 carriages to meet those valued pledges of his 
 father-in-law's amity, conscious that the suc- 
 cess of this gross imposition would serve his 
 cause during the moments of general doubt 
 and indecision, though certain to be disco- 
 vered in a very few days. Meanwhile, an at- 
 tempt was actually made to carry off his son 
 from the city of Vienna, and defeated only 
 by the want of presence of mind in one of 
 the conspirators, who, being arrested by the 
 police, imprudently offered a handful of gold 
 to obtain his escape, which excited the atten- 
 tion and suspicion of the officer. No doubt, 
 had the attempt succeeded, the restoration of 
 the child would have been represented as the 
 effects of the favour of Austria towards the 
 father. 
 
 The declarations of the allied powers soon 
 removed the hopes of peace, by which those 
 who were peaceably disposed had been, for a 
 short time, flattered. A war, of a kind alto^ 
 gether new, with respect to the extent of the 
 military preparations, was now approaching 
 and imminent, and the address of Chatter ton's 
 Sir Charles Baudin to the English might have 
 been well applied to the people of France,— 
 
64 paul's letters 
 
 Say, were ye tired of godly peace, 
 
 And godly Henry's reign, 
 That you would change your easy days 
 
 For those of blood and pain? 
 
 Ah ! fickle people, ruin'd land, 
 
 Thou wilt know peace noe moe ; 
 When Richard's sons exalt themselves, 
 
 Thy streets with blood shall flow. 
 
 But there remained comfort to the more 
 peaceable part of the community in the con- 
 fidence of assured victory, so warmly express- 
 ed by the soldiers, and then they hoped that 
 the short and successful war would conclude 
 so soon as France should be restored to, 
 what they were pleased to term, her natural 
 boundaries. Paix au dela du Rhin was the 
 general wish — the soldiers affected to aim at 
 no more remote conquest — the citizen was 
 willing to face the burthens of a war for an 
 object so limited, and for the re-establish- 
 ment of la gloire nationale. And thus were 
 the versatile people of Paris induced to look 
 with an eye of hope, instead of terror, upon 
 the approaching storm. 
 
 Those who were attached to the parties of 
 
 n 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 65 
 
 the Liberalists and Royalists saw Buonaparte's 
 successful progress with other eyes. But the 
 Liberalists, severed from the family of Bour- 
 bon by the opinions and incidents which I 
 have already detailed to you, were, in a man* 
 ner, forced into the service of the new empe- 
 ror, although, doubtless, their wishes were to 
 substitute a government of a more popular 
 construction. Their chiefs too, the philosophi- 
 cal Carnot and the patriotic Fouche, did not 
 disdain to accept, from the hand of the re- 
 stored heir of the Revolution, the power, 
 dignities, and emoluments which he artfully 
 held out to them. And, in becoming a part 
 of his administration, they were supposed to 
 warrant to him the attachment of their fol- 
 lowers, while Napoleon, by professing to em- 
 brace the constitution with some stipulations 
 in favour of general freedom, was presumed 
 to give a sufficient pledge that henceforth he 
 was to regard himself only as the head of 
 a limited monarchy. How far this good un- 
 derstanding would have survived his return 
 to Paris with victory, it is scarce necessary to 
 enquire ; for not even the adhesion of Carnot 
 
 E 
 
66 paul's letters 
 
 and Fouch£ prevented some tart debates in 
 the lower Chamber of Representatives ; from 
 which it is evident, that the Imperialists and 
 Jacobins regarded each other with aversion 
 and suspicion, and that their union was not 
 likely to survive the circumstances which oc- 
 easioned it. 
 
 In the meanwhile, they were embarked 
 in a common cause ; and it does not ap- 
 pear that the Liberalists were slack in af- 
 fording assistance to Buonaparte in his pre- 
 parations for external war. Like the factions 
 in Jerusalem, during her final siege, they 
 suspended their mutual dissensions until they 
 should have repulsed the common enemy. 
 There is nevertheless a rumour, which is at 
 least countenanced by the favour which 
 Fouch6 for some time held at the court of 
 Louis XVIII., that even while that king was 
 at Ghent, the wily chief of the Liberalists 
 maintained a correspondence with his ex-mo- 
 narch. But, in genera], that party, compre- 
 hending the various classes of Liberalists, from 
 the Constitutionalist to the Jacobin, may be 
 considered as having identified themselves 
 with the Imperialists, and undertaken the 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 67 
 
 same chance of battle to which the adherents 
 of Buonaparte had made their solemn appeal. 
 There was a third party in France, and a 
 powerful one, if its real force could have been 
 mustered and called into action. For, not- 
 withstanding all that I have said of the vari- 
 ous causes which divided the opinions of the 
 nation, it must necessarily be supposed that 
 the Bourbon family had, in many provinces, an 
 equal, and in some, a predominating interest. 
 Unfortunately, the Royalists being taken at 
 unawares, remained altogether stupified and 
 paralysed by the sudden and unanimous defec- 
 tion of the army. The premature or ill-con- 
 ducted attempts of resistance at Marseilles 
 and Bourdeaux were so easily subdued, as to 
 discredit and discountenance all farther op- 
 position. In La Vendee only there was an 
 open military resistance to Buonaparte under 
 the banners of the king. The Royalists, in the 
 other provinces, contented themselves with 
 opposing a sort of vis inertia to the efforts 
 which Napoleon made for calling forth the 
 national force, and awaited with anxiety, but 
 without any active exertion, the expected 
 
68 Paul's letters 
 
 progress of the allies. This passive resistance 
 was particularly remarkable in the depart- 
 ments of the north, several of which would 
 render Napoleon no assistance, either in re- 
 cruits or money, and where entreaties, threats, 
 and even attempts at force, could not put 
 in motion a single battalion of the national 
 guard. 
 
 On the other hand, the eastern departments 
 which bordered on Germany met the wishes 
 of Buonaparte in their utmost extent. They 
 remembered the invasion of the preceding 
 year with all the feelings of irritation which 
 such recollections naturally produce. Accord- 
 ingly, they formed free corps of volunteers,— 
 laboured at fortifying towns and passes,— 
 constructed tetes-du-pont L , — and multiplied all 
 means of defence which the face of the coun- 
 try afforded. Thus it happened, fortunately 
 for Buonaparte, that the part of the kingdom, 
 whose inhabitants were most disposed to con- 
 sider the war as a national quarrel, was that of 
 which the territory was most immediately 
 open to invasion. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK, 69 
 
 I shall continue this statement, my dear Pe- 
 ter, in a letter to the Major, to whose depart- 
 ment the military details properly belong, and, 
 in the meanwhile, am ever your's. 
 
70 taul's letters 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 PAUL TO THE MAJOR. 
 
 I presume, my dear Major, that our politi- 
 cal friend has communicated to you my last 
 epistle. My next enters upon high matters, 
 which I have some scruple to treat of to you ; 
 for who would willingly read lectures upon 
 the art of war before Alexander the Great ? 
 But, after all, as Waterloo was a battle very dif- 
 ferent from that of Bunker's-hill, and from two 
 or three other later actions with the details 
 of which you often regale us, I conceive that 
 even a bungling account of it from a tactician 
 so wretched as I am, may afford some matter 
 for your military commentaries. At any rate, 
 active investigation has not been wanting ; as 
 I have surveyed the fields of action, and con- 
 versed familiarly with many of the distinguish- 
 ed officers, who there laid a claim to the eter- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK, 71 
 
 nal gratitude of their country. Your kindness 
 will excuse my blunders, and your ingenuity 
 will be applied to detect and supply my de- 
 ficiencies. 
 
 No part of Napoleon's political life, mark- 
 ed as it has always been by the most rapid 
 and extraordinary promptitude in military 
 preparation, affords such a display of activity, 
 as the brief interval which occurred between 
 his resuming the imperial sceptre and resign- 
 ing it, it is to be presumed, for ever. Al- 
 though the conciliating the Liberalists, and 
 paralysing the Royalists, occupied some time ; 
 and although it was necessary to sacrifice 
 several days to shew, and to the national love 
 of fanfaronade, he was never an instant di- 
 verted from his purpose. While he seemed to 
 be fully occupied with the political discussions 
 of the various parties, — with shews, and pro- 
 cessions, and reviews of corps of children un- 
 der twelve years old, his more serious prepara- 
 tions for the death-struggle which he expected 
 to encounter, were as gigantic in their charac- 
 ter as incessant in their progress. IJvery effort 
 was used to excite the population to assume 
 
72 Paul's letters 
 
 arms, and to move forward corps of national 
 guards to relieve in garrison the troops of the 
 line now called into more active service. And 
 while Buonaparte was convoking in the Champ 
 de Mai, as his mock assembly of the people 
 was fantastically entitled, a number of persons 
 to whom the revolution had given dangerous 
 celebrity, together with his own military ad- 
 herents, — a class of men of all others most 
 unfit for being members of a deliberative as- 
 sembly, — while, I say, this political farce was 
 rehearsing and acting, the real tragedy was in 
 active preparation. Cannon, musquets, arms 
 of every description, were forged and issued 
 from the manufactories and arsenals with in- 
 credible celerity. The old corps were recruit- 
 ed from the conscripts of 18 14 ; retired vete- 
 rans were again called forth to their banners j 
 new levies were instituted, under the various 
 names of free-corps, feder^s, and volunteers ; 
 the martial spirit of France was again roused 
 to hope and energy ; and the whole kingdom 
 seemed transformed at once into an immense 
 camp, of which Napoleon was the leader and 
 soul. One large army defiled towards Bel' 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 13 
 
 gium, where the neighbourhood of the Eng- 
 lish and Prussian troops excited alarm ; other 
 armies were assembled in Alsace, in Lorraine, 
 in Franche Compte, at the foot of the Alps, 
 and on the verge of the Pyrenees. It only 
 remained to be discovered on which side the 
 storm was to burst. 
 
 There is little doubt, that Buonaparte, reck- 
 oning upon the success of Murat, or hoping 
 at least on his making a permanent diversion, 
 had destined the north of Italy for the first 
 scene of active and personal warfare. A threat 
 in that quarter would have been sufficient 
 to divert from the main struggle the whole 
 force of Austria, already sensible, from sad 
 experience, how vulnerable she was through 
 her Italian frontier. Many of the Russian 
 troops would probably have been detached to 
 her assistance, and while a triple barrier of 
 fortresses and garrisons of the first order, with 
 a strong covering army, was opposed on the 
 frontier of Flanders to the English and Prus- 
 sian armies, Buonaparte himself might have 
 taken the field on the theatre of his original 
 triumphs, and have removed the war from 
 9 
 
74 Paul's letters 
 
 the French territory, with the certainty, in 
 case of success, that his army would be re- 
 cruited among the Cisalpine veterans of Eu- 
 gene Beauharnois. But Austria, on this press- 
 ing alarm, exerted herself with an activity 
 unknown to her annals ; and the troops which 
 she rapidly hurried forward to meet Murat, 
 exhibited, in the very first conflicts, the mili- 
 tary superiority of the northern warriors. — 
 «« These barbarians," said the Neapolitans, 
 after the skirmish at Rimini, " fight as if they 
 had two lives ; what chance have we against 
 them, who pretend only to one I" And to save 
 that single title to existence, Murat's army 
 fled with such celerity, and so little resistance, 
 that the campaign was ended almost as soon 
 as begun, and with it terminated the reign of 
 King Joachim over the delicious kingdom of 
 Naples. No king, in a fairy tale, ever obtained 
 a crown so easily, or lost it in a manner so 
 simple, and at the same time so speedy. His 
 discomfiture was attended with the most dis- 
 advantageous consequences to Buonaparte, 
 who thus appeared hermetically sealed with* 
 in the realm of France, by hostile armi^ 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 75 
 
 advancing on all hands, and compelled to 
 await the conflict upon his own ground. 
 
 But he neither lost courage nor slackened 
 his preparations on account of his relative's 
 disaster. The French grand army, already in 
 the highest order, was still farther augmented 
 in number and equipments. It became now ob- 
 vious, that Flanders, or the adjoining French 
 frontier, must be the scene of action. The ge- 
 neral head-quarters were fixed at Laon ; a very 
 strong position, where some preparations were 
 made for forming an army of reserve, in case 
 of a disaster. The first corps occupied Valen- 
 ciennes, and the second Maubeuge, commu- 
 nicating by their right wing with the armies as- 
 sembled in the Ardennes and on the Moselle, 
 and resting their left upon the strong fortifi- 
 cations of Lisle. Here they waited the nume- 
 rous reinforcements of every kind which Buo- 
 naparte poured towards their position. 
 
 The deficiency of artillery was chiefly ap- 
 prehended. The allies had, in 1814, carried 
 off most of the French field-trains. But, by 
 incredible exertions, the loss was more than 
 supplied j for, besides the usual train attach- 
 
76 Paul's letters 
 
 ed to separate corps, each division of the 
 army had a park of reserve, and the imperial 
 guard, in particular, had a superb train of 
 guns, consisting almost entirely of new pieces. 
 It is remarkable, that in casting these fine 
 engines of war, the old republican moulds 
 had, in general, been employed j for I obser- 
 ved, thai most of the guns taken at Waterloo 
 have engraved upon them the emphatic in- 
 scriptions, Liberty, Egalite, Fraternity and 
 so forth 5 not to mention others, which, in 
 honour of philosophy, bore the names of Vol- 
 taire, Rousseau, and other writers of deistical 
 eminence. The army in all possessed more 
 than three hundred guns; a quantity of ar- 
 tillery which has been thought rather beyond 
 the proportion of its numbers. 
 
 Cavalry was another species of force in 
 which Buonaparte was supposed to be pecu- 
 liarly weak. But the very reverse proved to 
 be the case. The care of Louis XVIII. had re- 
 mounted several of the regiments which had 
 suffered in the campaigns of 1813 and 1 814 j 
 and the exertions of Napoleon and his officers 
 completed their equipment, as well as the levy 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 77 
 
 of others ; so that a finer body of cavalry 
 never took the field. They were upwards 
 of twenty thousand in number ; of whom 
 the lancers were distinguished by their ad- 
 dress, activity, and ferocity ; and the cuiras- 
 siers, of whom there are said to have been 
 nine regiments, by the excellence of their 
 appointments, and the superior power of 
 their horses. This last corps was com- 
 posed of soldiers selected for their bravery 
 and experience, and gave the most decisive 
 proofs of both in the dreadful battle of Wa- 
 terloo. Their cuirasses consisted of a breast- 
 plate and back, joined together by clasps, like 
 the ancient plate-armour. Those of the sol- 
 diers were of iron, those of the officers of 
 brass, inlaid with steel. They are proof 
 against a musquet-ball, unless it comes in a 
 perfectly straight direction. To these arms 
 was added a helmet, with cheek-pieces, and 
 their weapons of offence were a long broad- 
 sword and pistols. They carried no carabines. 
 The horses of the cuirassiers, although, upon 
 trial, they proved inferior to those of our 
 heavy cavalry, were probably better than 
 those of any other corps in Europe. They 
 
78 Paul's letters 
 
 were selected with great care, and many of 
 the carriage and saddle-horses, which Buona- 
 parte had pressed for the equipment of the 
 army, were assigned to mount these formi- 
 dable regiments. 
 
 Of the infantry of the French, it was im- 
 possible to speak too highly, in point of brave- 
 ry and discipline in the field. The elite of the 
 army consisted of the imperial guards, who 
 were at least 20,000 strong. These chosen 
 cohorts had submitted with the most sullen 
 reluctance to the change of sovereigns in 
 1814 ; and no indulgence nor flattery, which 
 the members of the Bourbon family could be- 
 stow upon them, had availed to eradicate 
 their affection to their former master, which 
 often displayed itself at times and in a manner 
 particularly offensive to those who were their 
 temporary and nominal commanders. The 
 imperial guards were pledged, therefore, as 
 deeply as men could be, to maintain the new 
 revolution which their partiality had accom- 
 plished, and to make good the boast, which had 
 called France to rely " upon their stars, their 
 fortune, and their strength." The other corps 
 of infantry, all of whom participated in the 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 79 
 
 same confidence in themselves and their ge- 
 neral, might amount, including the artillery, 
 to 110,000 men, which, with the guards and 
 cavalry, formed a gross total of 150,000 sol- 
 diers, completely armed and equipped, and 
 supplied, even to profusion, with every kind 
 of ammunition. So fascinated was this bril- 
 liant army with recollection of former victo- 
 ries, and confidence in their present strength, 
 that they not only heard with composure the 
 report of the collected armies which marched 
 against them from every quarter of Europe, 
 but complained of the delay which did not 
 lead them into instant battle. They were un- 
 der a General who knew well how to avail 
 himself of those feelings of confidence and 
 ardour. 
 
 It had been supposed, as well in France 
 and in the army, as in other parts of Europe, 
 that Buonaparte meant to sutler the allies to 
 commit the first hostile act, by entering the 
 French territory. And although the reputa- 
 tion of being the actual aggressor was of little 
 consequence where both parties had so fully 
 announced their hostile intentions, it was still 
 
80 paul's letters 
 
 supposed that a defensive war, in which he 
 could avail himself of the natural and artifi- 
 cial strength of French Flanders, might have 
 worn out, as in the early war of the revolu- 
 tion, the armies and spirits of the allies, and 
 exposed them to all those privations and ca- 
 lamities peculiar to an invading army, in a 
 country which is resolutely defended. 
 
 But the temper of Buonaparte, ardent, fu- 
 rious, and impetuous, always aiming rather at 
 attack than defence, combined, with the cir- 
 cumstances in which he found himself, to dic- 
 tate a more daring system of operations. 
 
 His power was not yet so fully established 
 as to ensure him the national support during 
 a protracted war of various chances, and he 
 needed now, more than ever, the dazzling 
 blaze of decisive victory to renew the charm, 
 or prestige, as he himself was wont to call it, 
 once attached to his name and fortunes. Con- 
 siderations peculiar to the nature of the ap- 
 proaching campaign, probably united with 
 those which were personal to himself. The 
 forces now approaching France greatly ex- 
 ceeded in numbers those which that exhaust- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK, 81 
 
 ed kingdom could levy to oppose them, and 
 it seemed almost impossible to protect her 
 frontiers at every vulnerable point. If the em- 
 peror had attempted to make head against 
 the British and Prussians in French Flanders, 
 he must have left open to the armies of Rus- 
 sia and Austria the very road by which they 
 had last year advanced to Paris. On the other 
 hand, if, trusting to the strength of the garri-* 
 son towns and fortresses on the Flanders fron- 
 tiers, Napoleon had conducted his principal 
 army against those of the Emperors of Russia 
 and Austria, the numerous forces of the Duke 
 of Wellington and Blucher might have enabled 
 them to mask these strong places by a cover- 
 ing army, and either operate upon the flank of 
 Napoleon's forces, or strike directly at the 
 root of his power by a rapid march upon the 
 capital. Such were the obvious disadvantages 
 of a defensive system. 
 
 A sudden irruption into Belgium, as it was 
 more suited to the daring genius of Napoleon, 
 and better calculated to encourage the ardour 
 of his troops, afforded him also a more reason- 
 able prospect of success. He might, by a ra- 
 
 F 
 
82 paul's letters 
 
 pid movement, direct his whole force against 
 the army either of England or of Prussia, be- 
 fore its strength could be concentrated and 
 united to that of its ally. He might thus de- 
 feat his foes in detail, as he had done upon si- 
 milar occasions, with the important certainty, 
 that one great and splendid victory would 
 enable him to accomplish a levy en masse, and 
 thus bring to the field almost every man in 
 France capable of bearing arms \ an advan- 
 tage which would infinitely more than com- 
 pensate any loss of lives which might be sus- 
 tained in effecting it. Such an advantage, 
 and the imposing attitude which he would 
 be thereby entitled to assume towards the al- 
 lies, might have affected the very elements 
 upon which the coalition was founded, and 
 afforded to Buonaparte time, means, and op- 
 portunity of intimidating the weak and sedu- 
 cing the stronger members of the confederacy. 
 In Belgium, also, if successful, he might hope 
 to recruit and extend his army by new levies, 
 drawn from a country which had so lately been 
 a part of his own kingdom, and which had 
 not yet had time to attach itself to the new 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 83 
 
 dynasty of powers to whom it had been as- 
 signed. For this purpose, he carried mus- 
 quets with him to equip an insurrectionary 
 army, and officers of their own nation to com- 
 mand them ; and although the loyal Belgians 
 were much shocked and scandalized at the 
 hopes expressed by those preparations, it may 
 be presumed they would not have been so 
 confidently entertained without some degree 
 of foundation. 
 
 The proposed advance into Belgium had 
 the additional advantage of relieving the peo- 
 ple of France from the presence of an army 
 which, even upon its native soil, was a scourge 
 of no ordinary severity. The superiority which 
 long war and a train of success had given to 
 the military profession in France, over every 
 other class of society, totally reversed in that 
 country the wholesome and pacific maxim, 
 Cedant arma togce. In the public walks, in 
 the coffee-houses and theatres of Paris, the 
 conduct of the officers towards a Pekin* (a 
 cant word by which, in their arrogance, they 
 distinguished any citizen of a peaceful profes- 
 sion,) was, in the highest degree, insolent and 
 everbearing. The late events had greatly con-? 
 
84 paul's letters 
 
 tributed to inflame the self-importance of the 
 soldiery. Like the praetorian bands of Rome, 
 the janizaries of Constantinople, or the stre- 
 litzes of Moscow, the army of France possess- 
 ed all the real power of the state. They had 
 altered the government of their country, de- 
 posed one monarch, and re-elevated another 
 to the throne which he had abdicated. This 
 gave them a consciousness of power and im- 
 portance, neither favourable to moderation of 
 conduct nor to military discipline. Even while 
 yet in France, they did not hesitate to inflict 
 upon their fellow-subjects many of those seve- 
 rities, which soldiery in general confine to the 
 country of an enemy ; and, to judge from the 
 accounts of the peasantry, the subsequent 
 march of the allies inflicted upon them fewer, 
 or at least less wilful evils, than those which 
 they had experienced at the hands of their 
 own countrymen. These excesses were rarely 
 checked by the officers ; some of whom in- 
 dulged their own rapacity under cover of that 
 of the soldiers, while the recent events which 
 invited soldiers to judge and act for them- 
 selves, had deprived others, who, doubtless, 
 viewed this licence with grief and resentment. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 85 
 
 of the authority necessary to enforce a whole- 
 some restraint upon their followers. 
 
 This looseness of discipline was naturally 
 and necessarily followed by dissensions ,nd 
 quarrels among the troops themselves The 
 guards, proud of their fame in arms, and of 
 their title and privileges, were objects of the 
 jealousy of the other corps of the army, and 
 this they repaid by contumely and arrogance, 
 which led, in many cases, to bloody affrays. 
 The cavalry and infantry had dissensions of 
 old standing, which occasioned much mutiny 
 and confusion. Above all, the licence of pil- 
 lage led to perpetual quarrels, where one re- 
 giment or body of troops, who were employ- 
 ed in plundering a village of district, were in- 
 terrupted by others who desired to share with 
 them in the gainful task of oppression. 
 
 These feuds, and the laxity of discipline in 
 which chiefly they originated, may be traced 
 to Buonaparte's total disuse in this, as in his 
 more fortunate campaigns, of the ordinary 
 precautions for maintaining an army by the 
 previous institution of magazines. By ne- 
 glecting to make such provision, he no doubt 
 
86 paul's letters 
 
 greatly simplified his own task as a general, 
 and accelerated, in the same degree, his pre- 
 parations for a campaign, and the march of 
 an army unincumbered with forage-carts. But 
 he injured, in a much greater proportion, the 
 discipline and moral qualities of his soldiery, 
 thus turned loose upon the country to shift for 
 their own subsistence ; and, — had such a mo- 
 tive weighed with him, — he aggravated, in a 
 tenfold degree, the horrors of warfare. 
 
 The evils arising from the presence of his 
 army were now to be removed into the terri- 
 tories of an enemy. The marches and combi- 
 nation of the various corps d'armee were 
 marked in a distinguished manner by that 
 high military talent which planned Buona- 
 parte's most fortunate campaigns. In the 
 same day, and almost at the same hour, three 
 large armies ; that from Laon, headed by the 
 emperor himself; that of the Ardennes, com- 
 manded by the notorious Vandamme; and 
 that of the Moselle, under the orders of 
 General Girard, having broken up from their 
 different cantonments, attained, by a simul- 
 taneous movement, an united alignement up- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 87 
 
 on the extreme frontiers of Belgium. The 
 good order and combination with which the 
 grand and complicated movements of these 
 large armies were executed, was much admi- 
 red among the French officers, and received 
 as the happy augury of future success. 
 
 To his army thus assembled, Buonaparte, 
 upon the 14th of June, 1815, made one of 
 those inflated and bombastic addresses, half 
 riddle, half prophecy, which he had taught 
 the French armies to admire as masterpieces 
 of eloquence. He had not neglected his sys- 
 tem of fortunate days ; for that upon which 
 he issued his last proclamation was the anni- 
 versary of the Marengo and Friedland vic- 
 tories ; on which, as well as after those of 
 Austerlitz and Wagram, he assured his troops 
 he had fallen into the generous error of using 
 his conquests with too much lenity. He re- 
 minded his soldiers of his victory over Prus- 
 sia at Jena ; and having no such advantage to 
 boast over the English, he could only appeal to 
 those among his ranks who had been prison- 
 ers in Britain, whether their situation had not 
 been very uncomfortable. He assured them 
 
88 Paul's letters 
 
 they had the private good wishes of the Bel- 
 gians, Hanoverians, and soldiers of the con- 
 federation of the Rhine, although for the 
 present forced into the enemy's ranks > and 
 concluded, by asserting, that the moment was 
 arrived for every courageous Frenchman to 
 conquer or to die. 
 
 This speech was received with infinite ap- 
 plause (comme de raison,) and on the morn- 
 ing of the subsequent day (15th June) his 
 army was in motion to enter Belgium. 
 
 But my exhausted paper reminds me that 
 this must be the boundary of my present 
 epistle, — Yours, affectionately, 
 
 Paul* 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 89 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 PAUL TO MAJOR , IN CONTINUATION. 
 
 1 gave you, in my last, some account of 
 the auspices under which Buonaparte opened 
 the last of his fields. The bloody game was 
 now begun ; but, to understand its progress, 
 it is necessary to mark the position of the op- 
 posite party. 
 
 Notwithstanding the fertility of Belgium, 
 the maintenance of the numerous troops which 
 were marched into that kingdom from Pru*. 
 sia, and transported thither from England, 
 was attended with great burthens to the inha- 
 bitants. They were therefore considerably dis- 
 persed, in order to secure their being proper- 
 ly supplied with provisions. The British ca- 
 valry, in particular, were cantoned upon the 
 Dender, for the convenience of forage. The 
 Prussians held the line upon the Sambre, 
 
 8 
 
90 Paul's letters 
 
 which might be considered as the advanced 
 posts of the united armies. 
 
 Another obvious motive contributed to the 
 dislocation of the allied force. The enemy 
 having to chuse his point of attack along 
 an extended frontier, it was impossible to 
 concentrate their army upon any one point, 
 leaving the other parts of the boundary expo- 
 sed to the inroads of the enemy ; and this is 
 an advantage which the assailant must, in war, 
 always possess over his antagonist, who holds 
 a defensive position. Yet the British and 
 Prussian divisions were so posted, with refe- 
 rence to each other, as to afford the means of 
 sudden combination and mutual support ; and, 
 indeed, without such an arrangement, they 
 could not have ultimately sustained the at- 
 tack of the French, and Buonaparte's scheme 
 of invasion must have been successful on all 
 points. 
 
 But though these precautions were taken, it 
 was generally thought they would not be ne- 
 cessary. A strong belief prevailed among the 
 British officers, that the campaign was to be 
 conducted defensively on the part of the 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 91 
 
 French ; and when the certain tidings of the 
 concentration of the enemy's forces, upon the 
 extreme frontier of Belgium, threatened an 
 immediate irruption into that kingdom, it 
 was generally supposed, that, as upon former 
 occasions, the road adopted by the invaders 
 would be that of Namur, which, celebrated 
 for the sieges it had formerly undergone, 
 had been dismantled like the other forti- 
 fied places in Flanders by the impolicy of 
 Joseph II., and is now an open town. And I 
 have heard it warmly maintained by officers 
 of great judgment and experience, that Buo- 
 naparte would have had considerable advan- 
 tages by adopting that line of march in pre- 
 ference to crossing at Charleroi. Probably, 
 however, these were compensated by the su- 
 perior advantage of appearing on the point 
 where he was least expected. In fact, his 
 first movements seem to have partaken of a 
 surprise. 
 
 It is not to be supposed that the Duke of 
 Wellington had neglected, upon this import- 
 ant occasion, the necessary means to procure 
 intelligence, — for skill in obtaining which, as 
 
92 paul's letters 
 
 well as for talent in availing himself of the in- 
 formation when gained, he was pre-eminently 
 distinguished on the peninsula. But it has 
 been supposed, either that the persons whom 
 he employed as his sources of intelligence, 
 were, upon this occasion, seduced by Buona- 
 parte, or that false information was conveyed 
 to the English general, leading him to be- 
 lieve that such had been the case, and of 
 course inducing him to doubt the reports of 
 his own spies. The story is told both ways ; 
 and I need hardly add, that very possibly 
 neither may be true. But I have understood 
 from good authority, that a person, bearing, 
 for Lord Wellington's information, a detailed 
 and authentic account of Buonaparte's plan 
 for the campaign, was actually dispatched 
 from Paris in time to have reached Brussels 
 before the commencement of hostilities. This 
 communication was entrusted to a female, 
 who was furnished with a pass from Fouche' 
 himself, and who travelled with all dispatch 
 in order to accomplish her mission ; but be- 
 ing stopped for two days on the frontiers of 
 France, did not arrive till" after the battle of 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 93 
 
 the 1 6th. This fact, for such I believe it to 
 be, seems to countenance the opinion, that 
 Fouche maintained a correspondence with 
 the allies, and may lead, on the other hand, 
 to suspicion, that though he dispatched the 
 intelligence in question, he contrived so to 
 manage, that its arrival should be too late for 
 the purpose which it was calculated to serve. 
 At all events, the appearance of the French 
 upon the Sambre was at Brussels an unex- 
 pected piece of intelligence. 
 
 The advance of Buonaparte was as bold as 
 it was sudden. The second corps of the 
 French attacked the out-posts of the Prus- 
 sians, drove them in, and continued the pur- 
 suit to Marchienne-du-pont, carried that vil- 
 lage, secured the bridge, and there crossing 
 the Sambre, advanced towards a large village, 
 called Gosselies, in order to intercept the 
 Prussian garrison of Charleroi should it re- 
 treat in that direction. The light cavalry of 
 the French, following the movement of the 
 second corps as far as Marchienne, turned to 
 their right after crossing that river, swept its 
 left bank as far as Charleroi, which they oc- 
 
94 Paul's letters 
 
 cupied without giving the Prussians time to 
 destroy the bridge. The third corps d'armee 
 occupied the road to Namur, and the rest of 
 the troops were quartered between Charleroi 
 and Gosselies, in the numerous villages which 
 everywhere occur in that rich and populous 
 country. The Prussian garrison of Charleroi, 
 with the other troops which had sustained 
 this sudden attack, retired in good order up- 
 on Fleurus, on which point the army of Blu- 
 cher was now concentrating itself. 
 
 The advantages which the French reaped 
 by this first success, were some magazines ta- 
 ken at Charleroi, and a few prisoners ; but, 
 above all, it contributed to raise the spirits 
 and confirm the confidence of their armies. 
 
 Upon the 16th, at three in the morning, 
 the troops which had hitherto remained on 
 the right of the Sambre, crossed that river ; 
 and now Buonaparte began to develope the 
 daring plan which he had formed, of attack- 
 ing, upon one and the same day, two such op- 
 ponents as Wellington and Blucher. 
 
 The left wing of the French army, consist- 
 ing of the 1st and 2d corps, and of four divi- 
 6 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 95 
 
 sions of cavalry, was entrusted to Ney, who 
 had been suddenly called from a sort of dis- 
 graceful retirement to receive this mark of 
 the emperor's confidence. He was command- 
 ed to march upon Brussels by Gosselies and 
 Frasnes, overpowering such opposition as 
 might be offered to him in his progress by 
 the Belgian troops, and by the British who 
 might advance to their support. 
 
 The centre and right wing of the army, 
 with the imperial guards, (who were kept in 
 reserve) marched to the right towards Fleurus 
 against Blucher and the Prussians. They 
 were under the immediate command of Buo- 
 naparte himself. 
 
 The news of Napoleon's movements in ad- 
 vance, and of the preliminary actions between 
 the French and Prussians, reached Brussels 
 upon the evening of the 1 5th. The Duke of 
 Wellington, the Prince of Orange, and most 
 other officers of distinction, were attending a 
 ball given on that evening by the Duchess of 
 Richmond. This festivity was soon over- 
 clouded. Instant orders were issued that the 
 garrison of Brussels, the nearest disposable 
 
96 Paul's letters 
 
 force, should move out to meet the approach- 
 ing enemy ; similar orders were issued to the 
 cavalry, artillery, and the guards, who were 
 quartered at Enghien ; other troops, canton- 
 ed at greater distances, received orders to 
 move to their support. 
 
 Our two distinguished Highland corps, the 
 42d and 9£d, were among the first to muster. 
 They had lain in garrison in Brussels during 
 the winter and spring, and their good beha- 
 viour had attracted the affection of the inha- 
 bitants in an unusual degree. Even while I 
 was there, Les petits Ecossois, as they called 
 them, were still the theme of affectionate 
 praise among the Flemings. They were so 
 domesticated in the houses where they were 
 quartered, that it was no uncommon thing to 
 see the Highland soldier taking care of the 
 children, or keeping the shop, of his host. 
 They were now to exhibit themselves in a 
 different character. They assembled with the 
 utmost alacrity to the sound of the well- 
 known pibroch, " Come to me and I will give 
 you fleshy an invitation to the wolf and the 
 raven, for which the next day did, in fact, 
 spread an ample banquet at the expence of 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 97 
 
 our brave countrymen as well as of their ene- 
 mies. They composed part of Sir Thomas 
 Picton's division, and early in the morning of 
 the l6th marched out together with the other 
 troops, under the command of that distin- 
 guished and lamented officer. The Duke of 
 Brunswick, also, took the field at the head of 
 his " black Brunswickers," so termed from 
 the mourning which they wore for his father, 
 and which they continue to wear for the gal- 
 lant prince who then led them. Those whose 
 fate it was to see so many brave men take their 
 departure on this eventful day, " gay in the 
 morning as for summer-sport," will not easily 
 forget the sensations which the spectacle ex- 
 cited at the moment, and which were ren- 
 dered permanent by the slaughter which 
 awaited them. Fears for their own safety 
 mingled with anxiety for their brave de- 
 fenders, and the agony of suspense sustained 
 by those who remained in Brussels to await 
 the issue of the day, was described to me in 
 the most lively manner by those whose lot it 
 was to sustain such varied emotions. It has 
 been excellently described in a small work, 
 
98 paul's letters 
 
 entitled " Circumstantial Details of the Battle 
 of Waterloo," * which equals, in interest and 
 authenticity, the Account of the Battle of 
 Leipsic by an Eye-witness, which we perused 
 last year with such eager avidity. 
 
 The anxiety of the inhabitants of Brussels 
 was increased by the frightful reports of the 
 intended vengeance of Napoleon. It w r as 
 firmly believed that he had promised to his 
 soldiers the unlimited plunder of this beauti- 
 ful city if they should be able to force their 
 way to it. Yet, even under such apprehen- 
 sions, the bulk of the population shewed no 
 inclination to purchase mercy by submitting 
 to the invader, and there is every reason to be- 
 lieve, that the friends whom he had in the city 
 were few and of little influence. Reports, 
 however, of treachery were in circulation, and 
 tended to augment the horrors of this agoni- 
 zing period. It is said there was afterwards 
 found, in Buonaparte's port-folio, a list, con- 
 taining the names of twenty citizens, who, as 
 
 * Published by Booth and Egerjon, London. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 99 
 
 friends of France, were to be exempted from 
 the general pillage. I saw also a superb 
 house in the Place Royale employed as a mi- 
 litary hospital, which I was told belonged to 
 a man of rank, who, during the battle of the 
 18th, believing the victory must rest with 
 Buonaparte, had taken the ill-advised step of 
 joining the French army. But whatever 
 might be the case with some individuals, by 
 far the majority of the inhabitants of every 
 class regarded the success of the French as 
 the most dreadful misfortune which could 
 befal their city, and listened to the distant 
 cannonade as to sounds upon which the crisis 
 of their fate depended. They were doomed 
 to remain long in uncertainty ; for a struggle, 
 on which the fate of Europe depended, was 
 not to be decided in a single day. 
 
 Upon the 16th, as I have already mention- 
 ed, the left wing of the French under Gene- 
 ral Ney, commenced its march for Brussels 
 by the road of Gosselies. At Frasnes they 
 encountered and drove before them some 
 Belgian troops who were stationed in that 
 village. But the gallant Fringe of Orange, 
 
100 paul's letters 
 
 worthy of his name, of his education under 
 Wellington, and of the rank which he is like- 
 ly to hold in Europe, was now advancing to 
 the support of his advanced posts, and re-en- 
 forced them so as to keep the enemy in 
 check. 
 
 It was of the utmost importance to main- 
 tain the position which was now occupied by 
 the Belgians, being an alignement between 
 the villages of Sart a Mouline and Quatre 
 Bras. The latter farm-house, or village, de- 
 rives its name from being the point where the 
 highway from Charleroi to Brussels is inter- 
 sected by another road at nearly right angles. 
 These roads were both essential to the allies ; 
 by the high-road they communicated with 
 Brussels, and by that which intersected it 
 with the right of the Prussian army stationed 
 at St Amand. A large and thick wood, call- 
 ed Le Bois de Bossu, skirted the road to 
 Brussels on the right hand of the English po- 
 sition ; along the edge of that wood was a 
 hollow way, which might almost be called a 
 ravine ; and between the wood and the 
 French position were several fields of rye, 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 101 
 
 which grows in Flanders to an unusual and 
 gigantic height. 
 
 In this situation, it became the principal 
 object of the French to secure the wood from 
 which they might debouche upon the Brus- 
 sels road. The Prince of Orange made every 
 effort to defend it ; but, in spite of his exer- 
 tions, the Belgians gave way, and the French 
 occupied the disputed post. At this critical 
 moment, the division of Picton, the corps of 
 the Duke of Brunswick, and shortly after 
 the division of the guards from Enghien, came 
 up and entered into action. " What soldiers 
 are those in the wood ?" said the Duke of 
 Wellington to the Prince of Orange " Bel- 
 gians," answered the prince, who had not yet 
 learned the retreat of his troops from this im- 
 portant point. " Belgians !" said the Duke, 
 whose eagle eye instantly discerned what had 
 happened, " they are French, and about to 
 debouche on the road j they must instantly 
 be driven out of the wood." This task was 
 committed to General Maitland, with the gre- 
 nadiers of the Guards, who, after sustaining 
 a destructive fire from an invisible enemy, 
 
102 paul's letters 
 
 rushed into the wood with the most deter- 
 mined resolution. The French, who were 
 hitherto supposed unrivalled in this species of 
 warfare, made every tree, every bush, every 
 ditch, but more especially a small rivulet 
 which run through the wood, posts of deter- 
 mined and deadly defence, but were pushed 
 from one point to another until they were 
 fairly driven out of the position. Then follow- 
 ed a struggle of a new and singular kind, and 
 which was maintained for a length of time. 
 As often as the British endeavoured to ad- 
 vance from the skirts of the wood, in order to 
 form in front of it, they were charged by the 
 cavalry of the enemy, and compelled to re- 
 tire. The French then advanced their co- 
 lumns again to force their way into the wood, 
 but were compelled to desist by the heavy 
 fire and threatened charge of the British. And 
 thus there was an alternation of advance and 
 retreat, with very great slaughter on both 
 sides, until, after a conflict of three hours, 
 General Maitland retained undisputed posses- 
 sion of this important post, which command* 
 ed the road to Brussels. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 103 
 
 Meantime the battle was equally fierce on 
 every other point. Picton's brigade, compre- 
 hending the Scotch Royals, 92d, 42d, and 44th 
 regiments, was stationed near the farm-house 
 of Quatre Bras, and was the object of a most 
 destructive fire, rendered more murderous by 
 the French having the advantage of the rising 
 ground ; while our soldiers, sunk to the shoul- 
 ders among the tall rye, could not return the 
 vollies with the same precision of aim. They 
 were next exposed to a desperate charge of 
 the French heavy cavalry, which was resisted 
 by each regiment separately throwing itself 
 into a solid square. But the approach of the 
 enemy being partly concealed from the British 
 by the nature of the ground, and the height 
 of the rye, the 42d regiment was unable to 
 form a square in the necessary time. Two 
 companies, which were left out of the forma- 
 tion, were swept off and cut to pieces by the 
 cavalry. Their veteran colonel, Macara, was 
 amongst those who fell. Some of the men 
 stood back to back, and maintained an un- 
 yielding and desperate conflict with the horse- 
 men who surrounded them, until they were 
 
104 paul's letters 
 
 at length cut down. Nothing could be more 
 galling for their comrades than to witness 
 their slaughter, without having the power of 
 giving them assistance. But they adopted the 
 old Highland maxim, " To-day for revenge, 
 and to-morrow for mourning," and received 
 the cuirassiers with so dreadful and murder- 
 ous a fire, as compelled them to wheel about. 
 These horsemen, however, displayed the most 
 undaunted resolution. After being beaten off 
 in one point, they made a desperate charge 
 down the causeway leading to Brussels, with 
 the purpose of carrying two guns, by which 
 it was defended. But at the moment they 
 approached the guns, a fire of grape-shot was 
 opened upon them ; and, at the same time, a 
 body of Highlanders, posted behind the farm- 
 house, flanking their advance, threw in so 
 heavy a discharge of musketry, that the regi- 
 ment was in an instant nearly annihilated. 
 
 The result of these various attacks was, 
 that the French retreated with great loss, and 
 in great confusion ; and many of the fugitives 
 fled as far as Charleroi, spreading the news 
 that the British were in close pursuit. But 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 105 
 
 pursuit was impracticable, for the English ca- 
 valry had so far to march, that when they ar- 
 rived upon the ground night was approaching, 
 and it was impossible for them to be of service. 
 Ney therefore re-established himself in his 
 original position at Frasnes, and the combat 
 died away with night-fall. The British had 
 then leisure to contemplate the results of the 
 day. Several regiments were reduced to ske- 
 letons by the number of killed and wounded. 
 Many valuable officers had fallen. Among 
 these were distinguished the gallant Duke of 
 Brunswick, who in degenerate times had re- 
 mained an unshaken model of ancient Ger- 
 man valour and constancy. Colonel Cameron, 
 so often distinguished in Lord Wellington's 
 dispatches from Spain, fell while leading the 
 92d to charge a body of cavalry, supported 
 by infantry. Many other regretted names 
 were read on the bloody list. But if it was a 
 day of sorrow, it was one of triumph also. 
 
 It is true, that no immediate and decisive 
 advantage resulted from this engagement, far- 
 ther than as for the present it defeated Na- 
 poleon's plan of advancing on Brussels. But 
 
106 paul's letters 
 
 it did not fail to inspire the troops engaged 
 with confidence and hope. If, when collect- 
 ed from different quarters, after a toilsome 
 march, and in numbers one half inferior to 
 those of the enemy, they had been able to 
 resist his utmost efforts, what had they not to 
 hope when their forces were concentrated, 
 and when their artillery and cavalry, the want 
 of which had been so severely felt during the 
 whole of that bloody day, should be brought 
 up into line ? Meanwhile they enjoyed the 
 most decided proof of victory, for the British 
 army bivouacked upon the ground which had 
 been occupied by the French during the bat- 
 tle, with the strongest hopes that the conflict 
 would be renewed in the morning with the 
 most decisive success. This, however, de- 
 pended upon the news they should hear from 
 Fleurus, where a furious cannonade had been 
 heard during the whole day, announcing a 
 general action between Napoleon and Prince 
 Marshal Blucher. Even the Duke of Wel- 
 lington was long ere he learned the result of 
 this engagement, upon which his own ulterior 
 measures necessarily must be regulated. The 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 107 
 
 Prussian officer sent to acquaint him with the 
 intelligence had been made prisoner by the 
 French light troops ; and when the news 
 arrived, they bore such a cloudy aspect as al- 
 together destroyed the agreeable hopes which 
 the success at Quatre Bras had induced the 
 troops to entertain. 
 
 But pledged as I am to give you a detailed 
 account of this brief campaign, I must re- 
 serve the battle of Ligny to another occasion* 
 Meanwhile I am ever sincerely yours. 
 
108 Paul's letters 
 
 LETTER VIL 
 
 PAUL TO MAJOR , IN CONTINUATION. 
 
 When Buonaparte moved with his centre 
 and right wing against Blucher, he certainly 
 conceived that he left to Ney a more easy 
 task than his own ; and that the Mareschal 
 would find no difficulty in pushing his way to 
 Brussels, or near it, before the English army 
 could be concentrated in sufficient force to 
 oppose him. To himself he reserved the task 
 of coping with Blucher, and by his overthrow 
 cutting off all communication between the 
 Prussian and British armies, and compelling 
 each to seek safety in isolated and unconnect- 
 ed movements. 
 
 The Prussian veteran was strongly posted 
 to receive the enemy, whom upon earth he 
 hated most. His army occupied a line where 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 109 
 
 three villages, built upon broken and unequal 
 ground, served each as a separate redoubt, 
 defended by infantry, and well furnished with 
 artillery. The village of St Am and was oc- 
 cupied by his right wing, his centre was post- 
 ed at Ligny, and his left at Sombref. All 
 these hamlets are strongly built, and contain 
 several houses, with large court-yards and 
 orchards, each of which is capable of being 
 converted into a station of defence. The 
 ground behind these villages forms an amphi- 
 theatre of some elevation, in front of which 
 was a deep ravine, edged by straggling thickets 
 of trees. The villages were in front of the 
 ravine ; and masses of infantry were station- 
 ed behind each, destined to reinforce the de- 
 fenders as occasion required. 
 
 In this strong position Blucher had assem- 
 bled three corps of his army, amounting to 
 80,000 men. But the fourth corps, com- 
 manded by Bulow, (a general distinguished 
 in the campaign of 1814,) being in distant 
 cantonments between Liege and Han nut, had 
 not yet arrived at the point of concentration. 
 The force of the assailants is stated in the 
 
 8 
 
110 Paul's letters 
 
 Prussian dispatches at 1 30,000 men. But as 
 Ney had at least 30,000 soldiers under him at 
 Quatre Bras, it would appear that the troops 
 under Buonaparte's immediate command at 
 the battle of Ligny, even including a strong 
 reserve, which consisted of the first entire di- 
 vision, could not exceed 100,000 men. The 
 forces, therefore, actually engaged on both 
 sides, might be nearly equal. They were equal 
 also in courage and in mutual animosity. 
 
 The Prussians of our time will never for- 
 get, or forgive, the series of dreadful injuries 
 inflicted by the French upon their country 
 after the defeat of Jena. The plunder of their 
 peaceful hamlets, with every inventive circum- 
 stance which the evil passions of lust, rapine, 
 and cruelty could suggest ; the murder of the 
 father, or the husband, because " the pekin 
 looked dangerous/' when he beheld his pro- 
 perty abandoned to rapine, his wife, or 
 daughters, to violation, and his children to 
 wanton slaughter ; such were the tales which 
 the Prussian Land-wehr told over their watch- 
 fires to whet each other's appetite to revenge. 
 The officers and men of rank thought of the 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. Ill 
 
 period when Prussia had been blotted out of 
 the book of nations, her queen martyred by- 
 studied and reiterated insult, until she car- 
 ried her sorrows to the grave, and her king 
 only permitted to retain the name of a sove- 
 reign to increase his disgrace as a bondsman. 
 The successful campaign of 1814 was too 
 stinted a draught for their thirst of venge- 
 ance, and the hour was now come when they 
 hoped for its amplest gratification. 
 
 The French had, also, their grounds of per- 
 sonal animosity not less stimulating. These 
 very Prussians, to whom (such was their mode 
 of stating the account) the emperor's gene- 
 rosity had left the name of independence, 
 when a single word could have pronounced 
 them a conquered province ; these Prussians, 
 admitted to be companions in arms to the vic- 
 tors, had been the first to lift the standard of 
 rebellion against them, when the rage of the 
 elements had annihilated the army with which 
 Napoleon invaded Russia. They had done 
 more : they had invaded the sacred territory 
 of France ; defeated her armies upon her 
 own soil ; and contributed chiefly to the hos- 
 tile occupation of her capital. They were 
 
112 paul's letters 
 
 commanded by Blucher, the inveterate foe of 
 the French name and empire, whom no de- 
 feat could ever humble, and no success could 
 mitigate. Even when the Treaty of Paris was 
 received by the other distinguished statesmen 
 and commanders of the allies as a composi- 
 tion advantageous for all sides, it was known 
 that this veteran had expressed his displeasure 
 at the easy terms on which France was suf- 
 fered to escape from the conflict. Amid the 
 general joy and congratulation, he retained 
 the manner (in the eyes of the Parisians) of a 
 gloomy malcontent. A Frenchman, somewhat 
 acquainted with our literature, described to 
 me the Prussian general, as bearing upon that 
 occasion the mien and manner of Dryden's 
 spectre-knight : — 
 
 Stern look'd the fiend, and frustrate of his will, 
 Not half sufficed, and greedy yet to kill. 
 
 And now this inveterate enemy was before 
 them, leading troops, animated by his own 
 sentiments, and forming the vanguard of the 
 immense armies, which, unless checked by 
 decisive defeat, were about to overwhelm 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 113 
 
 France, and realize those scenes of vengeance 
 which had been in the preceding year so sin- 
 gularly averted. 
 
 Fired by these sentiments of national hos- 
 tility, the ordinary rules of war, those courte- 
 sies and acts of lenity which on other occa- 
 sions afford some mitigation of its horrors, 
 were renounced upon both sides. The Prus- 
 sians declared their purpose to give and re- 
 ceive no quarter. Two of the French divi- 
 sions hoisted the black flag, as an intimation 
 of the same intention ; and it is strongly af- 
 firmed that they gave a more sanguinary proof 
 of their mortal hatred by mutilating and cut- 
 ting off the ears of the prisoners who fell into 
 their hands at crossing the Sambre. With 
 such feelings towards each other, the two 
 armies joined battle. 
 
 The engagement commenced at three in 
 the afternoon, by a furious cannonade, under 
 cover of which the third corps of the French 
 army, commanded by Vandamme, attacked 
 the village of St Amand. They were received 
 by the Prussians with the most determined 
 resistance, in despite of which they succeeded 
 
 H 
 
114 haul's letters 
 
 in carrying the village at the point of the 
 bayonet, and established themselves in the 
 church and church-yard. The Prussians made 
 the most desperate efforts to recover posses- 
 sion of this village, which was the key of their 
 right-wing. Blucher put himself at the head 
 of a battalion in person, and impelled them on 
 the French with such success, that one end 
 of the village was again occupied ; and the 
 Prussians regained possession of that part of 
 the heights behind it, which, in consequence 
 of Vandamme's success, they had been ob- 
 liged to abandon. The village of Ligny, at- 
 tacked and defended with the same fury and 
 inveteracy, was repeatedly lost and regained, 
 each party being alternately reinforced from 
 masses of infantry, disposed behind that part 
 of the village which they respectively occu- 
 pied. Several houses inclosed with court- 
 yards, according to the Flemish fashion, 
 formed each a separate redoubt, which was 
 furiously assailed by the one party, and ob- 
 stinately made good by the other. It is im- 
 possible to conceive the fury with which the 
 troops on both sides were animated. Each 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 115 
 
 soldier appeared to be avenging his own per- 
 sonal quarrel ; and the slaughter was in pro- 
 portion to the length and obstinacy of a five 
 hours combat, fought hand to hand, within 
 the crowded and narrow streets of a village. 
 There was also a sustained cannonade on both 
 sides through the whole of the afternoon. 
 But in this species of warfare the Prussians 
 sustained a much heavier loss than their an- 
 tagonists, their masses being drawn up in an 
 exposed situation upon the ridge and sides of 
 the heights behind the villages, while those of 
 the French were sheltered by the winding 
 hollows of the lower grounds. 
 
 While this desperate contest continued, 
 Buonaparte apparently began to doubt of its 
 ultimate success. To ensure the storming of 
 Saint Amand, he ordered the first corps of 
 infaiitry, which was stationed near Frasnes, 
 with a division of the second corps command- 
 ed by Girarcl, and designed to be a reserve 
 either to his own army or to that of Marshal 
 Ney, to move to the right to assist in the at- 
 tack. Of this movement Ney complained 
 heavily in a letter to Fouchi, as depriving 
 
116 paul's letters 
 
 him of the means of ensuring a victory at 
 Quatre Bras. 
 
 The reinforcement, as it happened, was 
 unnecessary, so far as the first corps was con- 
 cerned j for about seven o'clock Vandamme 
 had, after reiterated efforts, surmounted the 
 resistance of the Prussians at St Amand ^ and 
 Girard had obtained possession of Ligny. 
 Sombref, upon the left of the Prussian line, 
 was still successfully defended by the Saxon ge- 
 neral, Thielman, against Mareschal Grouchy, 
 and the Prussians, though driven from the vil- 
 lages in front of the amphitheatre of hills, 
 still maintained their alignement upon the 
 heights themselves, impatiently expecting to 
 be succoured, either by the English or by their 
 own fourth division under Bulow. But the 
 Duke of Wellington was himself actively en- 
 gaged at Quatre Bras ; and Bulow had found 
 it impossible to surmount the difficulties at- 
 tending a long march through bad roads and 
 a difficult country. In the meanwhile Buo- 
 naparte brought this dreadful engagement to 
 a decision, by one of those skilful and daring 
 manoeuvres which characterize his tactics. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 117 
 
 Being now possessed of the village of Lig- 
 ny, which fronted the centre of the Prussian 
 line, he concentrated upon that point the im- 
 perial guards, whom he had hitherto kept in 
 reserve. Eight battalions of this veteran and 
 distinguished infantry, formed into one for- 
 midable column, supported by four squadrons 
 of cavalry, two regiments of cuirassiers, and 
 the horse grenadiers of the guard, traversed 
 the village of Ligny at the pas de charge^ 
 threw themselves into the ravine which se- 
 parates the village from the heights, and be- 
 gan to ascend them, under a dreadful tire of 
 grape and musketry from the Prussians. They 
 sustained this murderous discharge with great 
 gallantry, and, advancing against the Prus- 
 sian line, made such an impression upon the 
 masses of which it consisted, as threatened to 
 break through the centre of their army, and 
 thus cut off the communication between the 
 two wings ; the French cavalry, at the same 
 time, charged and drove back that of the Prus- 
 sians. 
 
 In this moment of consternation, the cause 
 of Europe had nearly suffered a momentous 
 loss in the death or captivity of the indomi- 
 
118 Paul's letters 
 
 table Blucher. The gallant veteran had him- 
 self headed an unsuccessful charge against 
 the French cavalry ; and his horse being shot 
 under him in the retreat, both the fliers and 
 pursuers passed over him as he lay on the 
 ground ; an adjutant threw himself down 
 beside his general, to share his fate ; and the 
 first use which the Prince-Marshal made of 
 his recovered recollection was, to conjure his 
 faithful attendant rather to shoot him than 
 to permit him to fall alive into the hands of 
 the French. Meantime, the Prussian caval- 
 ry had rallied, charged, and in their turn 
 repulsed the French, who again galloped 
 past the Prussian general, as he lay on the 
 ground, covered with the cloak of the adju- 
 tant, with the same precipitation as in their 
 advance. The general was then disengaged 
 and remounted, and proceeded to organize 
 the retreat, which was now become a mea- 
 sure of indispensable necessity. 
 
 The Prussian artillery, being dispersed along 
 the front of an extended line, could not be 
 easily withdrawn, and several pieces fell into 
 the hands of the French, Blucher's official 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 119 
 
 dispatch limits the number of guns thus lost 
 to fifteen, which Buonaparte extends to fifty. 
 But the infantry, retiring regularly, and in 
 masses impenetrable to the cavalry of the 
 pursuers, amply preserved that high character 
 of discipline, which, in the campaigns of the 
 preceding year, had repeatedly enabled them 
 to convert retreat and disorder of one day in- 
 to advance and victory upon the next. In 
 their retreat, which they continued during 
 the night, they took the direction of Tilly ; 
 and in the next morning were followed by 
 General Thielman with the left wing, who, 
 after evacuating the village of Sombref, which 
 he had maintained during the whole prece- 
 ding day, formed the rear-guard of the Prince- 
 Marshal's army. Being at length joined by 
 the fourth corps, under General Bulow, the 
 Prussian army was once more concentrated 
 in the neighbourhood of the village of Wavre, 
 ten miles behind the scene* of their former 
 defeat ; and the utmost exertions were used 
 by Blucher, and the officers under him, to 
 place it in a condition for renewing the con? 
 flict. 
 
120 paul's letters 
 
 The carnage of the Prussians in this unsuc- 
 cessful battle was very great. I have heard it 
 estimated at twenty thousand men, being 
 one-fourth part of their whole army. Buona- 
 parte, however, only rates it at fifteen thou- 
 sand hors de combat ; an enormous loss, espe- 
 cially considering, that, owing to the invete- 
 racy of the combat, and the steady valour dis- 
 played by the vanquished in their retreat, 
 there were hardly any prisoners taken. 
 
 The events of the 16th had a material in- 
 fluence on the plans of the generals on either 
 side. While the Duke of Wellington was 
 proposing to follow up his advantage at Qua- 
 tre Bras, by attacking Ney at Frasnes, he re- 
 ceived, on the morning of the 1 7th, the news 
 that Blucher had been defeated on the pre- 
 ceding day, and was in full retreat. This left 
 the Duke no option but to fall back to such 
 a corresponding position as might maintain 
 his lateral communication with the Prussian 
 right wing; since to have remained in ad- 
 vance would have given Buonaparte an op- 
 portunity either to have placed his army be- 
 twixt those of England and Prussia, or, at his 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 121 
 
 choice, to have turned his whole force against 
 the Duke's army, which was inferior in num- 
 bers. The English general accordingly re- 
 solved upon retreating towards Brussels ; a 
 movement which he accomplished in the most 
 perfect order, the rear being protected by the 
 cavalry under the gallant Earl of Uxbridge. 
 
 Meantime, Buonaparte had also taken his 
 resolution. The defeat of the Prussians had 
 placed it in his option to pursue them with 
 his whole army, excepting those troops under 
 Ney, who were in front of the Duke of Wel- 
 lington. But this would have been to aban- 
 don Ney to almost certain destruction ; since, 
 if he was unable, on the preceding day, to 
 make any impression on the van of the British 
 army alone, it was scarce possible he could 
 withstand them, when supported by their main 
 body and joined by reinforcements of every 
 kind. In the supposed event of Ney's defeat, 
 Buonaparte's rear would have been exposed to 
 a victorious English army, while he knew, by 
 repeated experience, how speedily and effec- 
 tually Blucher could rally his Prussians, even 
 after a severe defeat. He made it his choice, 
 therefore, to turn his whole force against the 
 
122 Paul's letters 
 
 English, leaving only Grouchy and Vandamme, 
 with about twenty-five thousand men, to hang 
 upon the rear of Blucher ; and, by pursuing 
 his retreat from Sombref to Wavre, to occu- 
 py his attention, and prevent his attempting 
 to take a share in the expected action with 
 the British, 
 
 Napoleon probably expected to find the 
 English army upon the ground which it had 
 occupied during the 16th. But the movement 
 of his own forces from St Amand and Ligny 
 to Frasnes, had occupied a space of time 
 which was not left unemployed by the Duke 
 of Wellington. The retreat had already com- 
 menced, and the position at QuatreBras was, 
 about eleven in the forenoon, only occupied 
 by a strong rear-guard, destined to protect 
 the retrograde movement of the British ge- 
 neral. Buonaparte put his troops in mo- 
 tion to pursue his retiring enemy. The 
 day was stormy and rainy in the extreme j 
 and the roads, already broken up by the 
 English artillery in their advance and re- 
 treat, were very nearly impassable. The ca- 
 valry, whose duty it became to press upon the 
 rear of the English, were obliged to march 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 123 
 
 through fields of standing corn, which being 
 reduced to swamps by the wetness of the sea- 
 son, rendered rapid movement impossible. 
 This state of the weather and roads was of no 
 small advantage to the British army, who had 
 to defile through the narrow streets of the vil- 
 lage of Genappe, and over the bridge which 
 there crosses a small river, in the very face of 
 the pursuing enemy. Their cavalry once or 
 twice attacked the rear-guard, but received so 
 severe a check from the Life Guards and Ox- 
 ford Blues, that they afterwards left the march 
 undisturbed. I am assured, that the Duke of 
 Wellington, in passing Genappe, expressed 
 his surprise that he had been allowed to pass 
 through that narrow defile, unharrassed by at- 
 tack and interruption, and asserted his belief, 
 founded upon that circumstance, that Napo- 
 leon did not command in person the pursu- 
 iag divisions of the French army. A French 
 officer, to whom I mentioned this circum- 
 stance, accounted for this apparent want of 
 activity, by alleging the heavy loss sustained 
 upon the 16th in the battles of Quatre Bras 
 gnd Ligny ; the necessary disorganization of 
 
124 paul's letters 
 
 the French cavalry after two such severe ac- 
 tions ; the stormy state of the weather upon 
 the 17th, and the impracticability of the roads 
 for the movements of cavalry. You, as a mili- 
 tary critic, will be best judge how far this de- 
 fence is available. I notice the same obser- 
 vation in an Account of the Battle of Water- 
 loo, by a British Officer on the Staff. * 
 
 With little further interruption on the part 
 of the enemy, the British army retired upon 
 the ever-memorable field of Waterloo, and 
 there took up a position upon the road to 
 Brussels, which I shall endeavour to describe 
 more fully in my next Letter. The Duke had 
 caused a plan of this and other military posi- 
 tions in the neighbourhood of Brussels to be 
 made some time before by Colonel Carmi- 
 chael Smith, the chief engineer. He now call- 
 ed for that sketch, and, with the assistance of 
 the regretted Sir William de Lancey and Co- 
 lonel Smith, made his dispositions for the mo- 
 mentous events of next day. The plan itself, 
 a reiique so precious, was rendered yet more 
 
 * Published by Ridgeway, Piccadilly. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 125 
 
 so, by being found in the breast of Sir Wil- 
 liam de Lancey's coat, when he fell, and stain- 
 ed with the blood of that gallant officer. It 
 is now in the careful preservation of Colonel 
 Carmichael Smith, by whom it was originally 
 sketched. 
 
 When the Duke of Wellington had made 
 his arrangements for the night, he established 
 his head-quarters at a petty inn in the small 
 village of Waterloo, about a mile in the rear 
 of the position. The army slept upon their 
 arms upon the ridge of a gentle declivity, 
 chiefly covered with standing corn. 
 
 The French, whose forces were gradually 
 coming up during the evening, occupied a 
 ridge nearly opposite to the position of the 
 English army. The villages in the rear of that 
 rising ground were also filled with the sol- 
 diers of their numerous army. Buonaparte 
 established his head-quarters at Planchenoit, 
 a small village in the rear of the position. 
 
 Thus arranged, both generals and their re- 
 spective armies waited the arrival of morn- 
 ing, and the events it was to bring. The 
 night, as if the elements meant to match their 
 
 6 
 
126 Paul's letters 
 
 fury with that which was preparing for the 
 morning, was stormy in the extreme, accom- 
 panied by furious gusts of wind, heavy bursts 
 of rain, continued and vivid flashes of light- 
 ning, and the loudest thunder our officers 
 had ever heard. Both armies had to sustain 
 this tempest in the exposed situation of an 
 open bivouack, without means either of pro- 
 tection or refreshment. But though these 
 hardships were common to both armies, yet, 
 (as was the case previous to the battle of 
 Agin court,) the moral feelings of the English 
 army were depressed below their ordinary 
 tone, and those of the French exalted to a de- 
 gree of confidence and presumption unusual 
 even to the soldiers of that nation. 
 
 The British could not help reflecting, that 
 the dear-bought success at Quatre Bras, 
 while it had cost so many valuable lives, had 
 produced, in appearance at least, no corre- 
 sponding result : a toilsome advance and 
 bloody action had been followed by a retreat 
 equally laborious to the soldier ; and the de- 
 feat of the Prussians, which was now rumour- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 127 
 
 ed with the usual allowance of exaggeration, 
 had left Buonaparte at liberty to assail them 
 separately, and with his whole force, except 
 what small proportion might be necessary to 
 continue the pursuit of their defeated and 
 dispirited allies. If to this it was added, that 
 their ranks contained many thousand foreign- 
 ers, on whose faith they could not implicitly 
 depend, it must be owned there was sufficient 
 scope for melancholy reflections. To balance 
 these, remained their confidence in their com- 
 mander, their native undaunted courage, and 
 a stern resolution to discharge their duty, and 
 leave the result to Providence. 
 
 The French, on the other hand, had for- 
 gotten, in their success at Ligny, their failure 
 at Quatre Bras, or, if they remembered it, 
 their miscarriage was ascribed to treachery ; 
 and it was said that Bourmont and other offi- 
 cers had been tried by a military commission 
 and shot, for having, by their misconduct, 
 occasioned the disaster. This rumour, which 
 had no foundation but in the address with 
 which Buonaparte could apply a salve to the 
 wounded vanity of his soldiers, was joined to 
 
128 Paul's Letters 
 
 other exulting considerations. Admitting the 
 partial success of Wellington, the English 
 Duke, they said, commanded but the right 
 wing of the Prussian army, and had, in fact, 
 shared in Blucher's defeat, as he himself vir- 
 tually acknowledged, by imitating his re- 
 treat. All was glow and triumph. No one 
 supposed the English would halt, or make 
 head, until they reached their vessels j no 
 one doubted that the Belgian troops would 
 join the emperor in a mass ; it would have 
 been disaffection to have supposed there lay 
 any impediment in their next morning's 
 march to Brussels ; and all affected chiefly to 
 regret the tempestuous night, as it afforded 
 to the despairing English the means of re- 
 tiring unmolested. Buonaparte himself sha- 
 red, or affected to share, these sentiments ; 
 and when the slow and gloomy dawning 
 of the morning of the 18th of June shewed 
 him his enemies, still in possession of the 
 heights which they occupied over-night, and 
 apparently determined to maintain them, he 
 could not suppress his satisfaction, but ex- 
 claimed, while he stretched his arm towards 
 
TCf HIS KINSFOLK. 129 
 
 their position with a motion as if to grasp his 
 prey, Je les tiens done ces Anglois. 
 
 The exultation of the French was mixed, 
 according to their custom, with many a scur- 
 ril jest at the expence of their enemies. The 
 death of the Duke of Brunswick was the sub- 
 ject of much pleasantry among such of the 
 French officers as sought to make their court 
 to Jerome, the ex-king of Westphalia. To 
 please this phantom monarch, they ridiculed 
 the fatality which always, they said, placed 
 these unlucky Dukes of Brunswick in concur- 
 rence with the conqueror of his states, and 
 condemned them successively to perish as it 
 were Jby his hand. The national dress of our 
 poor Highlanders, whose bodies were found 
 lying in the lines which they had occupied in 
 the field of Quatre Bras, furnished more good 
 jests than I care to record. But as I heard a 
 Frenchman just now observe, " II rit bien, 
 qui rit It dernier" 
 
 Before entering upon such particulars as I 
 can collect of the battle of Waterloo, let me 
 notice your criticisms upon the affairs of the 
 16th. You say, first, that Buonaparte ought 
 
130 Paul's letters^ 
 
 not to have attacked both the English and 
 Prussian armies on the same day, and you 
 call my attention to the argument detailed in 
 Mareschal Ney's letter to Fouch6. And, se- 
 condly, you are of opinion, that, having de- 
 feated the Prussians at Ligny, Napoleon 
 should have pursued the routed army of Blu- 
 cher with his whole cavalry at least, and 
 rendered it impossible for him to rally sooner 
 than under the walls of Maestricht. Such, 
 you say, is the opinion of all military judges 
 in our neighbourhood, by which I know you 
 mean all our friends with blue coats and red 
 collars, whether half pay captains, ex-officers 
 of volunteers, commanders of local militia, or 
 deputy-lieutenants. ct Never a man's thought 
 in the world keeps the road-way better than 
 thine, my dear Major ; M but in despite of this 
 unanimous verdict against the ex-emperor, I 
 will venture to move for a writ of error. 
 
 Upon the first count of the indictment, be 
 pleased to reflect, that Buonaparte's game 
 was at best a difficult one, and that he could 
 embrace no course which was not exposed to 
 many hazards. It is not the ultimate success, 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 131 
 
 or miscarriage, of his plan by which we ought 
 to judge of its propriety, but the rational pro- 
 spects which it held out before being carried 
 into execution. Now be it remembered, that, 
 upon the 16th, Blucher's army was already 
 concentrated at Ligny, while that of Lord 
 Wellington was only moving up in detail to 
 Quatre Bras. Mareschal Ney would scarcely 
 have recommended to Napoleon to move 
 straight towards Brussels by Quatre Bras and 
 Genappe, leaving upon his right, and eventu- 
 ally in his rear, an army of 80,000 Prussians, 
 expecting hourly to be joined by Bulow with 
 20,000 more, altogether disengaged and un- 
 occupied. The consequence of such a move- 
 ment must necessarily have been, that, mena- 
 ced by the enemy's whole force, the Duke of 
 Wellington might have relinquished thoughts 
 of collecting his army in a post so much in 
 advance as Quatre Bras ; but a concentra- 
 tion upon Waterloo would have been the obvi- 
 ous alternative ; and if the emperor had ad- 
 vanced to that point and attacked the Eng- 
 lish without their receiving any assistance 
 from the untouched army of the Prussians, we 
 
132 paul's letters 
 
 must suppose Blucher less active in behalf of 
 his allies when at the head of an entire army, 
 than he proved himself to be when command- 
 ing one which had sustained a recent defeat. 
 In a word, if left unattacked, or masked only 
 by a force inferior to their own, the Prussians 
 were in a situation instantly to have become 
 the assailants ; and, therefore, it seems that 
 Buonaparte acted wisely in sending the great- 
 er part of his army against that body of his 
 enemies which had already combined its 
 forces, while he might reasonably hope, 
 that the divisions under Ney's command 
 could dispose of the British troops as they 
 came up to the field of battle wearied and in 
 detail. In fact, his scheme had, in its mate- 
 rial points, complete success, for Napoleon 
 did defeat the Prussians ; and, by his success 
 against them, compelled the English to re- 
 treat, and gained an opportunity of attacking 
 them with his whole force in a battle, where 
 the scale more than once inclined to his side. 
 If, in the conjoined assault of the 1 6th, Ney 
 failed in success over an enemy far inferior in 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 133 
 
 numbers, it can only be accounted for by the 
 superior talents of the English general, and 
 the greater bravery of the soldiers whorn he 
 commanded. Something like a conscious 
 feeling of this kind seems to lurk at the bot- 
 tom of the mareschal's statement, who scarce 
 pardons the emperor for being successful 
 upon a day on which he was himself de- 
 feated. 
 
 The manner in which Ney complains of 
 being deprived of the assistance of the first 
 brigade, held hitherto in reserve, between his 
 right and the left wing of Napoleon, and 
 withdrawn, as he alleges, to the assistance 
 of the latter just when, on his side, H victory 
 was not doubtful," savours of the same pee- 
 vish criticism. Napoleon sent for these troops 
 when their aid appeared essential to carry the 
 village of St Amand, and thereby to turn the 
 right flank of the Prussians, and he returned 
 them to their original position the instant he 
 perceived a possibility of carrying his point 
 without them. Surely more could not have 
 been expected in the circumstances. Of the 
 tone the mareschal assumes to his fallen mas- 
 
134 Paul's letters 
 
 ter, and the reproaches which he permits him- 
 self to cast upon him, I will only say, in the 
 words of Wolsey, 
 
 Within these forty hours Surrey had better 
 Have burned his tongue than said so. 
 
 Upon the other point of censure it is more 
 difficult to give a satisfactory explanation. 
 The French seem to have considered the 
 battle of Ligny as being of a character less 
 decisive than complete victory, and a consci- 
 ousness of the unbroken force of the retiring 
 enemy certainly checked the vivacity of the 
 pursuit. The French carried the positions of 
 the Prussians with great slaughter ; but the 
 precipitate retreat, and the numerous pri- 
 soners announced in Buonaparte's bulletin, 
 are now universally allowed to be apocryphal. 
 Blucher, whose open and frank avowal of the 
 defeat he sustained claims credit for the rest 
 of his narrative, assures us, that the Prussian 
 army was again formed within a quarter of a 
 league from the field of battle, and presented 
 such a front to the enemy as deterred him 
 from attempting a pursuit. We ought there- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 135 
 
 fore to conclude, (paying always the neces- 
 sary deference to Buonaparte's military skill,) 
 that although the Prussians had been driven 
 from their positions, yet their retreat must 
 have been conducted with such order, that no 
 advantage would have resulted from pursuing 
 them with a small force, while the necessity 
 of making a movement with his main body 
 to the left in order to repair the disaster sus- 
 tained by Ney, rendered it impossible for 
 Napoleon to press upon them with an over- 
 whelming superiority of numbers. 
 
 These reflections, which I hazard in pro- 
 found submission to your experience, close 
 what occurs upon the important events of the 
 16th and 17th days, of June last. Ever, my 
 dear Major, &c. 
 
136 Paul's letters 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 The field of battle at Waterloo is easily 
 described. The forest of Soignies, a wood 
 composed of beech-trees growing uncommon- 
 ly close together, is traversed by the road from 
 Brussels, a long broad causeway, which, upon 
 issuing from the wood, reaches the small vil- 
 lage of Waterloo. Beyond this point, the 
 wood assumes a more straggling and dispersed 
 appearance, until about a mile farther, where, 
 at an extended ridge, called the heights of 
 Mount St John, from a farm-house situated up- 
 on the Brussels road, the trees almost entirely 
 disappear, and the country becomes quite 
 open. Along this eminence the British forces 
 were disposed in two lines. The second, 
 which lay behind the brow of the hill, was, 
 in some degree, sheltered from the enemy's 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 137 
 
 fire. The first line, consisting of the elite of 
 the infantry, occupied the crest of the ridge, 
 and were on the left partly defended by a 
 long hedge and ditch, which, running in a 
 straight line from the hamlet of Mount St 
 John towards the village of Ghain, gives 
 name to two farm houses. The first, which is 
 situated in advance of the hedge, and at the 
 bottom of the declivity, is called La Haye 
 Sainte, (the holy hedge,) the other, placed at 
 the extremity of the fence, is called Ter la 
 Haye. The ground at Ter la Haye becomes 
 woody and broken, so that it afforded a strong 
 point at which to terminate the British line 
 upon the left* A road runs from Ter la Haye 
 to Ohain and the woody passes of St Lam- 
 bert, through which the Duke of Wellington 
 kept up a communication by his left with the 
 Prussian army. The centre of the English ar- 
 my occupied the village of Mount Saint John, 
 on the middle of the ridge, just where the 
 great causeway from Brussels divides into two 
 roads, one of which branches off to Nivelles, 
 and the other continues the straight line to 
 Charlerpi. A strong advanced post of Hano- 
 
138 paul's i*etters 
 
 verian sharp-shooters occupied the house and 
 farm-yard of La Haye Sainte, situated in ad- 
 vance upon the Charleroi road, and just at 
 the bottom of the hill. The right of the Bri- 
 tish army, extending along the same emi- 
 nence, occupied and protected the Nivelles 
 road as far as the in closures of Hongoumont, 
 and, turning rather backwards, rested its ex- 
 treme right upon a a deep ravine. Advanced 
 posts from thence occupied the village called 
 Braine la Leude,* on which point there was 
 no engagement. The ground in front of the 
 British position sloped easily down into lower 
 ground, forming a sort of valley, not a level 
 plain, but a declivity varied by many gentle 
 sweeps and hollows, as if formed by the course 
 of a river. The ground then ascends in the 
 same manner to a ridge opposite to that of 
 Mount Saint John, and running parallel to 
 it at the distance of twelve or fourteen hun- 
 dred yards. This was the position of theene- 
 
 * Or Braine the Free, to distinguish it from Braine le 
 Compte, or Braine belonging to the count. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 139 
 
 my. It is in some points nearer, and in others 
 more distant from the heights, or ridge, of 
 Mount Saint John, according as the valley 
 between them is of greater or less breadth. 
 
 The valley between the two ridges is en- 
 tirely open and uninclosed, and on that me- 
 morable day bore a tall and strong crop of 
 corn. But in the centre of the valley, about 
 half way betwixt the two ridges, and situated 
 considerably to the right of the English cen- 
 tre, was the Chateau de Goumont, or Hou. 
 goumont. This is (or rather was) sl gentle- 
 mans house of the old Flemish architecture, 
 having a tower, and, as far as I can judge 
 from its ruins, a species of battlement. It 
 was surrounded on one side by a large farm- 
 yard, and on the other opened to a garden 
 divided by alleys in the Dutch taste, and fen- 
 ced by a brick wall. The whole was en- 
 circled by an open grove of tall trees, co- 
 vering a space of about three or four acres, 
 without any underwood. This chateau, with 
 the advantages afforded by its wood and gar- 
 dens, formed a strong point d } appui to the 
 British right wing. In fact, while this point 
 
 10 
 
140 Paul's letters 
 
 was maintained, it must have been difficult 
 for the French to have made a serious attack 
 upon the extremity of our right wing. On 
 the other hand, had they succeeded in carry- 
 ing Hougoumont, our line must have been 
 confined to the heights, extending towards 
 Merke Braine, which rather recede from the 
 field, and would have been in consequence 
 much limited and crowded in its movements. 
 As far as I understand the order of battle, the 
 British line upon this right wing at the com- 
 mencement of the action, rather presented the 
 convex segment of a circle to the enemy, but as 
 repeated repulses obliged the French to give 
 ground, the extreme right was thereby ena- 
 bled to come gradually round, and the curve 
 being reversed, became concave, enfilading 
 the field of battle and the high road from 
 Brussels to Charleroi, which intersects it. 
 
 Such was the position of the British army 
 on this memorable morning. That of the 
 French is less capable of distinct descrip- 
 tion. Their troops had bivouacked on the 
 field, or occupied the villages behind the 
 ridge of La Belle Alliance. Their general 
 
 3 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 141 
 
 had the choice of his mode of attack upon 
 the English position, a word which, in this 
 case, can only be used in a general sense, as a 
 situation for an order of battle, but not in 
 any respect as denoting ground which was 
 naturally strong, or easily defended. 
 
 The imperfect dawn of the 1 8th was at- 
 tended by the same broken and tempestuous 
 weather, by which the night had been distin- 
 guished. But the interval of rest, such as it 
 was, had not been neglected by the British, 
 who had gained time to clean their arms, dis- 
 tribute ammunition, and prepare every thing 
 for the final shock of battle. Provisions had 
 also been distributed to the troops, most of 
 whom had thus the means of breakfasting with 
 some comfort. 
 
 Early in the morning numerous bodies of 
 French cavalry began to occupy all the ridge of 
 La Belle Alliance, opposite to that of Mount 
 St John, and as our horse were held in readi- 
 ness to encounter them, an engagement was 
 expected between the cavalry of both armies, 
 which our infantry supposed they would only 
 view in the capacity of spectators. The de- 
 
142 paul's letters 
 
 sertion of a French officer of cuirassiers, at- 
 tached to the party of Lewis XVIIL, convey- 
 ed other information ; he assured Lord Hill, 
 and subsequently the Duke of Wellington, 
 that a general attack was intended, which 
 would commence on our right by a combined 
 force of infantry and cavalry. 
 
 In the meanwhile the communication be- 
 tween our army and the Prussians by our left 
 flank had been uninterrupted. An officer 
 of engineers, who was dispatched so early as 
 four in the morning, accompanied Bulow's 
 division, already on march to our assistance, 
 struggling with the defiles of St Lambert, 
 through roads which were rendered worse and 
 worse by every succeeding regiment and bri- 
 gade of artillery. One sentiment, this gen- 
 tleman assured me, seemed unanimous among 
 the Prussians — an eager and enthusiastic de- 
 sire to press forward to obtain their share of 
 the glories and dangers of the day, and to 
 revenge their losses upon the 16th. The 
 common soldiers cheered him and his com- 
 panion as they passed. iC Keep your ground, 
 brave English !" was the universal exclama- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 143 
 
 tion, in German, and in such broken English 
 or French as they found to express them- 
 selves — " Only keep your ground till we come 
 up !" — and they used every effort accordingly 
 to get into the field. But the movement was- 
 a lateral one, made across a country naturally 
 deep and broken, rendered more so by the 
 late heavy rains ; and, on the whole, so un- 
 fit for the passage of a large body of troops, 
 with their cavalry, artillery, &c% that even 
 these officers, well mounted as they were, and 
 eager to make their report to the department 
 from which they had been dispatched, did 
 not reach the field of battle till after eleven 
 o'clock. 
 
 The engagement had already commenced. 
 It is said Buonaparte fired the first gun with 
 his own hand, which is at least doubtful. But 
 it is certain he was in full view of the field 
 when the battle began, and remained upon it 
 till no choice was left him but that of death 
 or rapid flight. His first post was a high 
 wooden observatory, which had been con- 
 structed when a trigonometrical survey of the 
 country was made by order of the King of the 
 
144 Paul's letters 
 
 Netherlands some weeks before. But he af- 
 terwards removed to the high grounds in front 
 of La Belle Alliance, and finally to the foot 
 of the slope upon the road to Brussels. He 
 was attended by his staff, and squadrons of 
 service^ destined to protect his person. Soult, 
 Ney, and other officers of distinction, com- 
 manded under him, but he issued all orders 
 and received all reports in person. 
 
 The clouds of cavalry, which had mustered 
 thicker and thicker upon the skirts of the ho- 
 rizon in the line of La Belle Alliance, began 
 now to advance forward. One of our be«t 
 and bravest officers confessed to me a mo- 
 mentary sinking of the heart when he looked 
 round him, considered how small was the part 
 of our force properly belonging to Britain, 
 and recollected the disadvantageous and dis- 
 couraging circumstances under which even 
 our own soldiers laboured. A slight incident 
 reassured him. An aid-de-camp galloped up, 
 and, after delivering his instructions, caution- 
 ed the battalion of the Guards along whom 
 he rode to reserve their fire till the enemy 
 were within a short distance. * Never mind 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 145 
 
 us," answered a veteran guards-man from the 
 ranks, — " never mind us, sir ; we know our 
 duty" From that moment my gallant friend 
 said, that he knew the hearts of the men were 
 in the right trim, and that though they might 
 leave their bodies on the spot, they would 
 never forfeit their honour. A few minutes 
 afterwards the unparalleled conflict began.j 
 
 The first attack of the French, as had been 
 announced by the royalist officer, was direct, 
 ed towards our right wing, embracing the post 
 of Hougoumont and the high road to Nivelles. 
 A glance at any plan of this ground will show, 
 that occupying the latter with artillery, would 
 have enabled the French to have pushed 
 forward to the very centre of our line, es- 
 pecially if Hougoumont could have been car- 
 ried about the same time. On the last point 
 they were partially successful. The fury of 
 the attack was such, that a body of sharp- 
 shooters of Nassau Ussingen, to whom the 
 grove of Hougoumont had been confided, 
 abandoned that part of the post, and the 
 chateau itself must have been carried but 
 
146 paul's letters 
 
 for the stubborn and desperate courage of 
 a detachment of the Guards to whom the 
 defence was intrusted. Col. M'Donell, the 
 brother of our Highland ( hief Glengarry, 
 was obliged to fight hand to hand among 
 the assailants, and was indebted to personal 
 strength no less than courage for his success 
 in the perilous duty of shutting the gates of 
 the court-yard against the enemy. The Spa- 
 nish general, Don Miguel Alava, and his 
 aids-de-camp, exerted themselves to rally the 
 scattered sharpshooters of Nassau, and Don 
 Nicholas de Mennuisir was particularly dis- 
 tinguished by his activity. " What would the 
 Spaniards have done,'* said a prince distin- 
 guished for his own personal spirit and cou- 
 rage, as well as for his experience in the pe- 
 ninsular war, — " What would the Spaniards 
 have done, Don Miguel, in a fire like that of 
 Waterloo ?" — « At least, sir," retorted the 
 Castilian, * they would not, like some of your 
 father's subjects, have fled without seeing 
 their enemy." — By the rout of these light 
 troops, and the consequent occupation of the 
 wood by the French, Hougoumont was, for 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 147 
 
 great part of the action, completely an in- 
 vested and besieged post, indebted for its se- 
 curity to the walls and deep and strong ditches 
 with which the garden and orchard were sur- 
 rounded, but much more to the valiant and 
 indomitable spirits of those by whom these 
 defences were maintained. It was currently 
 reported, that, during the attack, the bailiff or 
 steward of the proprietor fired more than once 
 from the summit of the tower upon the British, 
 by whom the court and garden were defended, 
 and that he was at length discovered and shot. 
 I cannot warrant the truth of this anecdote, 
 and it seems inconsistent with the general 
 spirit shown by the Belgians, which was cer- 
 tainly anti-gallican. At any rate, the place 
 was most furiously assailed from without, and 
 as resolutely defended, the garrison firing 
 through the holes which they knocked out in 
 the garden walls, and through the hedge of 
 the orchard ; and the assailants making the 
 most desperate attempts to carry the post, 
 but in vain. 
 
 Still, however, Hougoumont being in some 
 degree insulated, and its defenders no longer 
 
148 Paul's letters 
 
 in communication with the rest of the British 
 army, the French cavalry were enabled to pour 
 round it in great strength to the attack of the 
 British right wing. The light troops, who were 
 in advance of the British line, were driven in by 
 the fury of this general charge, and the foreign 
 cavalry, who ought to have supported them, 
 gave way on all sides. The first forces who of- 
 fered a steady resistance were the Black Bruns- 
 wick infantry. They were drawn up in squares, 
 as most of the British forces were, during this 
 memorable action, each regiment forming a 
 square by itself, not quite solid, but nearly so, 
 the men being drawn up several files deep. The 
 distance between these masses afforded space 
 enough to draw up the battalions in line when 
 they should be ordered to deploy, and the 
 regiments were posted with reference to each 
 Other much like the alternate squares upon a 
 chess-board. It was therefore impossible for 
 a squadron of cavalry to push between two 
 of these squares, without finding themselves 
 at once assailed by a fire in front from that 
 which was to the rear, and on both flanks from 
 those betwixt which it had moved forward. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK; 149 
 
 Often and often during that day was the 
 murderous experiment resorted to, and al- 
 most always with the same bad success. 
 
 Yet, although this order of battle possesses 
 every efficient power of combination for de- 
 fence against cavalry, its exterior is far from 
 imposing. The men thus drawn up occupy the 
 least possible space of ground, and a distin- 
 guished officer, who was destined to support 
 the Brunswickers, informed me, that when he 
 saw the furious onset of the French cavalry, 
 with a noise and clamour that seemed to un- 
 settle the firm earth over which they galloped, 
 and beheld the small detached black masses 
 which, separated from each other, stood each 
 individually exposed to be overwhelmed by 
 the torrent, he almost trembled for the event. 
 But when the Brunswick troops opened their 
 fire with coolness, readiness, and rapidity, the 
 event seemed no longer doubtful. The artil- 
 lery also, which was never in higher order, or 
 more distinguished for excellent practice, made 
 dreadful gaps in the squadrons of cavalry, and 
 strewed the ground with men and horses, who 
 were advancing to the charge. Still this was 
 
150 paul's letters 
 
 far from repressing the courage of the French, 
 who pressed on in defiance of every obstacle, 
 and of the continued and immense slaughter 
 which was made among their ranks. Or if the 
 attack of the cavalry was suspended for a space, 
 it was but to give room for the operation of 
 their artillery, which, within the distance of 
 one hundred and fifty yards, played upon so 
 obvious a mark as our solid squares afforded 
 with the most destructive effect. " One fire," 
 said a general officer, whom I have already 
 quoted, "struck down seven men of the square 
 with whom I was for the moment ; the next 
 was less deadly — it only killed three." Yet 
 under such a fire, and in full view of these 
 clouds of cavalry, waiting like birds of prey 
 to dash upon them where the slaughter should 
 afford the slightest opening, did these gallant 
 troops close their files over the bodies of their 
 dead and dying comrades, and resume witli 
 stern composure that close array of battle, 
 which their discipline and experience taught 
 them afforded the surest means of defence. 
 After the most desperate efforts on the part 
 of the French to push back our right wing, 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 151 
 
 and particularly to establish themselves on the 
 road to Nivelles, and after a defence on the 
 part of the British which rendered these ef- 
 forts totally unavailing, the battle slackened 
 in some degree in this quarter, to rage with 
 greater fury, if possible, towards the left and 
 centre of the British line. 
 
 It was now upon the village of Mount St 
 John, and making use of the causeway or 
 high-road between that hamlet and La Belle 
 Alliance, that Buonaparte precipitated his co- 
 lumns, both of infantry and cavalry, under a 
 tremendous fire of artillery, that was calcula- 
 ted to sweep every obstacle from their course. 
 The ridge of the hill was upon this occasion 
 very serviceable to the British, whose second 
 line was posted behind it, and thus protected, 
 in some degree, from the direct fire, though 
 not from the showers of shells which were 
 thrown on purpose to annoy the troops, whom 
 the enemy with reason supposed to be thus 
 sheltered. The first line derived some advan- 
 tage from a straggling hedge, (the same which, 
 as already mentioned, gives the name of La 
 Haye Sainte to the farm,) extending along their 
 
152 Paul's letters 
 
 centre and left, and partly masking it, though* 
 so far from being strong enough to serve as an 
 entrenchment or breastwork, it could be pe- 
 netrated by cavalry in almost every direction. 
 Such as it was, however, its line of defence, or 
 rather the troops by whom it was occupied, 
 struck awe into the assailants $ and while they 
 hesitated to advance to charge it, they were 
 themselves in their turn charged and over- 
 whelmed by the British cavalry, who, dashing 
 through the fence at the intervals which ad- 
 mitted of it, formed, charged, and dispersed 
 the battalions which were advancing upon 
 their line. The French cavalry came up to 
 support their infantry, and where the British 
 were in the least dispersed, which, from the 
 impetuosity of the men and horses, was fre- 
 quently unavoidable, our troops suffered se- 
 verely. This was particularly experienced by 
 some distinguished regiments, whom the mi- 
 litary fashion of the times has converted into 
 hussars, from that excellent old English es- 
 tablishment formerly called Light-Dragoons, 
 which combined wifh much activity a degree 
 of weight that cannot belong to troopers more 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 153 
 
 slightly mounted. You, who remember one or 
 two of the picked regiments of 1795, cannot 
 but recollect at once the sort of corps which 
 is now in some degree superseded by those 
 mounted on light blood horses. It is at least 
 certain, that after the most undaunted exer- 
 tions on the part of the officers, seconding 
 those of the Earl of Uxbridge, our light ca- 
 valry were found to suffer cruelly in their 
 unequal encounter with the ponderous and 
 sword-proof cuirassiers, and even with the 
 lancers. Many were killed, and several made 
 prisoners, some of whom the French after- 
 wards massacred in cold blood. Even the 
 German Legion, so distinguished for disci- 
 pline and courage during the peninsular con- 
 flicts, were unequal, on this occasion, to sus^ 
 tain the shock of the French cavalry. And 
 thus, such had been Buonaparte's dexterity in 
 finding resources and in applying them, the 
 French seemed to have a temporary superi- 
 ority in that very description of force, with 
 which it was supposed altogether impossible 
 he could be adequately provided. It was 
 upon this occasion that Sir John Elley, now 
 10 
 
154 Paul's letters 
 
 quarter-master-general, requested and obtain- 
 ed permission to bring up the heavy brigade, 
 consisting of the Life Guards, the Oxford 
 Blues, and Scotch Greys, and made a charge, 
 the effect of which was tremendous. Not- 
 withstanding the weight and armour of the 
 cuirassiers, and the power of their horses, they 
 proved altogether unable to withstand the 
 shock of the heavy brigade, being literally 
 rode down, both horse and man, while the 
 strength of the British soldiers was no less 
 pre-eminent when they mingled and fought 
 hand to hand. Several hundreds of French 
 were forced headlong over a sort of quarry or 
 gravel pit, where they rolled a confused and 
 undistinguishable mass of men and horses, ex- 
 posed to a fire which, being poured closely in- 
 to them, soon put a period to their struggles. 
 Amidst the fury of the conflict some traces 
 occurred of military indifference which merit 
 being recorded. The Life Guards, coming up 
 in the rear of the ninety-fifth, which distin- 
 guished regiment acted as sharpshooters in 
 front of the line, sustaining and repelling 
 a most formidable onset of the French, call- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 155 
 
 ed out to them, as if it had been on the 
 parade in the Park, " Bravo, ninety-fifth ! do 
 you lather them and we'll shave them !'* — 
 Amid the confusion presented by the fier- 
 cest and closest cavalry fight which had ever 
 been seen, many individuals distinguished 
 themselves by feats of personal strength and 
 valour. Among these should not be forgot- 
 ten Shaw, a corporal of the Life-Guards, well 
 known as a pugilistic champion, and equally 
 formidable as a swordsman. He is supposed 
 to have slain or disabled ten Frenchmen with 
 his own hand, before he was killed by a mus- 
 quet or pistol-shot. But officers, also, of rank 
 and distinction, whom the usual habits of mo- 
 dern war render rather the directors than the 
 actual agents of slaughter, were in this des- 
 perate action seen fighting hand to hand like 
 common soldiers. " You are uncommonly 
 savage to-day," said an officer to his friend, a 
 young man of rank, who was arming himself 
 with a third sabre, after two had been broken 
 in his grasp : " What would you have me 
 do," answered the other, by nature one of 
 the most gentle and humane men breathing, 
 3 
 
156 Paul's letters 
 
 " we are here to kill the French, and he is 
 the best man to-day who can kill most of 
 them ;" — and he again threw himself into 
 the midst of the combat. Sir John Elley, who 
 led the charge of the heavy brigade, was him- 
 self distinguished for personal prowess. He 
 was at one time surrounded by several of the 
 cuirassiers ; but, being a tall and uncommon- 
 ly powerful man, completely master of his 
 sword and horse, he cut his way out, leaving 
 several of his assailants on the ground, mark- 
 ed with wounds, indicating the unusual 
 strength of $he arm which inflicted them. 
 Indeed, had not the ghastly evidences re- 
 mained on the field, many of the blows dealt 
 upon this occasion would have seemed bor- 
 rowed from the annals of knight-errantry, for 
 several of the corpses exhibited heads cloven 
 to the chine, or severed from the shoulders. 
 The issue of this conflict was, that the French 
 cavalry was completely beaten off, and a great 
 proportion of their attacking columns of in- 
 fantry, amounting to about ^OOO men, threw 
 down their arms, and were sent oft to Brus- 
 sels as prisoners. Their arrival there added to 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 1&7 
 
 the terrors of that distracted city ; for a vague 
 rumour having preceded their march, an- 
 nouncing the arrival of a column of French, 
 they were for a long time expected as con- 
 querors, not as prisoners. Even when they 
 entered as captives, the sight of the proces- 
 sion did not relieve the terrors of the citi- 
 zens ; the continued thunder of the cannon 
 still announced that the battle was undeci- 
 ded, and the manner of the prisoners them- 
 selves was that of men who expected speedy 
 freedom and vengeance. One officer of cui- 
 rassiers was particularly remarked for his fine 
 martial appearance, and the smile of stern 
 contempt with which he heard the shouts of 
 the exulting populace. " The emperor," he 
 said, " the emperor will shortly be here ;" and 
 the menace of his frowning brow and clenched 
 hand indicated the fatal consequences which 
 would attend his arrival. 
 
 The contest was indeed so far from being 
 decided, that it raged with the most uninter- 
 rupted fury ; it had paused in some degree 
 upon the centre and left, but only to be re- 
 newed with double ferocity in the right wing. 
 
158 Paul's letters 
 
 The attack was commenced by successive 
 columns of cavalry, rolling after each other 
 like waves of the sea. The Belgian horse, who 
 were destined to oppose them, again gave 
 way, and galloped from the field in great 
 disorder. Our advanced line of guns was 
 stormed by the French, the artillery-men re- 
 ceiving orders to leave them, and retire with- 
 in the squares of the infantry. Thus, at least, 
 thirty pieces of artillery were for the time 
 abandoned ; but, to an enemy who could not 
 either use them or carry them off. The scene 
 now assumed the most extraordinary and un- 
 paralleled appearance. The large bodies of 
 French cavalry rode furiously up and down 
 amongst our small squares of infantry, seek- 
 ing with desperate courage some point where 
 they might break in upon them, but in vain, 
 though many in the attempt fell at the very 
 point of the bayonets. 
 
 In the meantime a brigade of horse-ar- 
 tillery, commanded by the lamented Major 
 Norman Ramsay, opened its fire upon the 
 columns. They retreated repeatedly, but it 
 was only to advance with new fury, and to 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 159 
 
 renew attempts which it seemed impossible 
 for human strength and courage ultimately to 
 withstand. As frequently as the cavalry re- 
 treated, our artillery-men rushing out of the 
 squares in which they had found shelter, be- 
 gan again to work their pieces, and made a 
 destructive fire on the retiring squadrons. 
 Two officers of artillery were particularly no- 
 ticed, who, being in a square which was re- 
 peatedly charged, rushed out of it the in- 
 stant the cavalry retreated, loaded one of the 
 deserted guns which stood near, and fired it 
 upon the horsemen. A French officer obser- 
 ved that this manoeuvre was repeated more 
 than once, and cost his troop many lives. 
 At the next retreat of his squadron, he sta- 
 tioned himself by the gun, waving his sword, 
 as if defying the British officers again to ap- 
 proach it. He was instantly shot by a gre- 
 nadier, but prevented by his self-devotion a 
 considerable loss to his countrymen. Other 
 French officers and men evinced the same 
 desperate and devoted zeal in the cause 
 which they had so rashly and unhappily es- 
 poused. One officer of rank, after leading 
 
160 PAUl/s LETTERS 
 
 his men as far as they would follow him for- 
 wards one of the squares of infantry, found 
 himself deserted by them, when the British 
 fire opened, and instantly rode upon the bay- 
 onets, throwing open his arms as if to wel- 
 come the bullet which should bring him 
 down. He was immediately shot, for the 
 moment admitted of no alternative. On our 
 part, the coolness of the soldiers was so stri- 
 king as almpst to appear miraculous. Amid 
 the infernal noise, hurry, and clamour of the 
 bloodiest action ever fought, the officers were 
 obeyed as if on the parade; and such was the 
 precision with which the men gave their fire, 
 that the aid-de-camp could ride round each 
 square with perfect safety, being sure that the 
 discharge would be reserved till the precise 
 moment when it ought regularly to be made. 
 The fire was rolling or alternate, keeping up 
 that constant and uninterrupted blaze, upon 
 which, 1 presume, it is impossible to force a 
 concentrated and effective charge of cavalry. 
 Thus, each little phalanx stood by itself, like 
 an impregnable fortress, while their crossing 
 fires supported each other, and dealt destruc- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. l6i 
 
 tion among the enemy, who frequently attempt- 
 ed to penetrate through the intervals, and to 
 gain the flank, and even the rear of these de- 
 tached masses. The Dutch, Hanoverian, and 
 Brunswick troops, maintained the same so- 
 lid order, and the same ready, sustained, and 
 destructive fire, as the British regiments with 
 whom they were intermingled. 
 
 Notwithstanding this well-supported and 
 undaunted defence, the situation of our army 
 became critical. The Duke of Wellington 
 had placed his best troops in the first line ; 
 they had already suffered severely, and the 
 quality of those who were brought up to sup- 
 port them was in some instances found unequal 
 to the task. He himself saw a Belgian regi- 
 ment give way at the instant it crossed the 
 ridge of the hill, in the act of advancing from 
 the second into the first line. The Duke rode 
 up to them in person, halted the regiment, 
 and again formed it, intending to bring them 
 into the fire himself. They accordingly shout- 
 ed En avant ! en avant ! and, with much of the 
 manner which they had acquired by serving 
 
162 Paul's letters 
 
 with the French, marched up, dressing theif 
 ranks with great accuracy, and holding up their 
 heads with military precision. But as soon as 
 they crossed the ridge of the hill, and again 
 encountered the storm of balls and shells, from 
 which they had formerly retreated, they went 
 to the right about once more, and fairly left 
 the Duke to seek more resolved followers 
 where he could find them. He accordingly 
 brought up a Brunswick regiment, which ad- 
 vanced with less apparent enthusiasm than 
 Les braves Beiges, but kept their ground with 
 more steadiness, and behaved very well. In 
 another part of the field, the Hanoverian hus-. 
 sars of Cumberland, as they were called, a 
 corps distinguished for their handsome ap- 
 pearance and complete equipments, were or- 
 dered to support a charge made by the Bri- 
 tish. Their gallant commanding officer shew- 
 ed no alacrity in obeying this order, and in- 
 deed observed so much ceremony, that, after 
 having been once and again ordered to ad- 
 vance, an aid-de-camp of the Duke of Wel- 
 lington informed him of his Grace's com- 
 mand, that he should either advance or draw 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 163 
 
 off his men entirely, and not remain there to 
 show a bad example and discourage others. 
 The gallant officer of hussars considering this 
 as a serious option, submitted to his own de- 
 cision, was not long in making his choice, and 
 having expressed to the aid-de-camp his sense 
 of the Duke's kindness, and of the considers 
 tion which he had for raw troops, under a 
 fire of such unexampled severity, he said he 
 would embrace the alternative of drawing his 
 men off, and posting them behind the ham- 
 let of Saint John. This he accordingly did in 
 spite of the reproaches of the aid -de-camp, 
 who loaded him with every epithet that is 
 most disgraceful to a soldier. The incident, 
 although sufficiently mortifying in itself, and 
 attended, as may be supposed, with no little 
 inconvenience at such a moment, had some- 
 thing in it so comic, that neither the General 
 nor any of his attendants were able to resist 
 laughing when it was communicated by the 
 incensed aid-de-camp. I have been told many 
 of the officers and soldiers of this unlucky re- 
 giment left it in shame, joined themselves 
 
164 paul's letters 
 
 to other bodies of cavalry, and behaved well 
 in the action. But the valiant commander 
 not finding himself comfortable in the place 
 of refuge which he had himself chosen, fled to 
 Brussels, and alarmed the town with a report 
 that the French were at his heels. His regi- 
 ment was afterwards in a manner disbanded, or 
 attached to the service of the commissariat. 
 
 These circumstances I communicate to you, 
 not in the least as reflecting upon the nation- 
 al character, either of the Hanoverians or 
 Belgians, both of whom had troops in the 
 field, by whom it was gloriously sustained ; 
 but, as an answer to those who have remark- 
 ed, that the armies not being greatly dispro- 
 portioned in point of numbers, the contest 
 ought to have been sooner decided in favour 
 of the Duke of Wellington. The truth is, 
 that the Duke's first line alone, with occasional 
 reinforcements from the second, sustained the 
 whole brunt of the action ; and, it would have 
 been in the highest degree imprudent to have 
 made any movement in advance, even to se- 
 cure advantages which were frequently gain- 
 ed, since implicit reliance could not be placed 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 165 
 
 upon the raw troops and militia, of whom the 
 support was chiefly composed. With 80,000 
 British troops, it is probable the battle would 
 not have lasted two hours, though it is impos- 
 sible it could in that event have been so en- 
 tirely decisive, since the French, less com- 
 pletely exhausted, would probably have been 
 able to take better measures for covering their 
 retreat. 
 
 Meanwhile the battle raged in every point. 
 The centre and left were again assaulted ; 
 and, if possible, more furiously than before. 
 The farm-house of La Haye Sainte, lying un- 
 der the centre of the British line, was at last 
 stormed by the French troops, who put the 
 gallant defenders to the sword. They were 
 Hanoverian sharp-shooters, who had made 
 good the post with the most undaunted cou- 
 rage, whilst they had a cartridge remaining, 
 and afterwards maintained an unequal con- 
 test with their bayonets through the windows 
 and embrazures. As the entrance of the 
 farm fronted the high-road, and was in the 
 very focus of the enemy's fire, it was impossi- 
 ble to send supplies of ammunition by that 
 
166 paul's letters 
 
 way ; and the commanding officer unfortu- 
 nately had not presence of mind to make a 
 breach through the back part of the wall, for 
 the purpose of introducing them. " I ought 
 to have thought of it," said the Duke of 
 Wellington, who seems to have considered it 
 as his duty to superintend and direct even 
 the most minute details of that complicated 
 action j " but," as he added, with a very 
 unnecessary apology, " my mind could not 
 embrace every thing at once." The post 
 meanwhile, though long maintained by the 
 enemy, was of little use to them, as our artil- 
 lery on the ridge were brought to plunge 
 into it, and the attempt to defend it as a 
 point of support for his future attacks, cost 
 Buonaparte more men than he had lost in 
 carrying it. On the right, Hougoumont con- 
 tinued to be as fiercely assailed, but more 
 successfully defended. The carnage in that 
 point was dreadful \ the French at length had 
 recourse to shells, by which they set on fire, 
 first, a large stack of hay in the farm-yard, 
 and then the chateau itself. Both continued 
 to blaze high in the. air, spreading a thiclc 
 
TO HIS KlNSFOtfc. 167 
 
 black smoke, which ascended far over that of 
 the cannonade, and seemed to announce that 
 some dreadful catastrophe had befallen the lit- 
 tle garrison. Many of the wounded had been 
 indeed carried into the chateau for shelter, 
 and, horrible to relate, could not be with- 
 drawn from it when it took fire. But the 
 Guards continued to make good the garden 
 and the court-yard, and the enemy's utmost 
 efforts proved unable to dispossess them. 
 The various repulses which the French had 
 met with in this part of the field, seemed by 
 degrees to render their efforts less furious, 
 and the right wing re-established its complete 
 communication with this point cTappui 9 or key 
 of the position, and reinforced its defenders 
 as occasion demanded. 
 
 During this scene of tumult and carnage, 
 the Duke of Wellington exposed his person 
 with a freedom which, while the position of 
 the armies, and the nature of the ground, 
 rendered it inevitably necessary, made all 
 around him tremble for that life on which it 
 was obvious that the fate of the battle de- 
 pended. There was scarcely a square but 
 
168 Paul's letters 
 
 he visited in person, encouraging the men by 
 his presence, and the officers by his direc- 
 tions. Many of his short phrases are repeat- 
 ed by them, as if they were possessed of ta- 
 lismanic effect. While he stood on the cen- 
 tre of the high-road in front of Mount St 
 John, several guns were levelled against him, 
 distinguished as he was by his suite, and the 
 movements of the officers who came and went 
 with orders. The balls repeatedly grazed a 
 tree on the right-hand of the road, which 
 tree now bears his name. " That's good 
 practice," observed the Duke to one of his 
 suite, " I think they fire better than in 
 Spain." Riding up to the 95th, when in 
 front of the line, and even then expecting a 
 formidable charge of cavalry, he said, " Stand 
 fast, 95th — we must not be beat — what will 
 they say in England ?" On another occasion, 
 when many of the best and bravest men had 
 fallen, and the event of the action seemed 
 doubtful even to those who remained, he 
 said, with the coolness of a spectator, who 
 was beholding some well-contested sport — 
 " Never mind, we'll win this battle yet." .To 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 169 
 
 another regiment, then closely engaged, he 
 used a common sporting expression ; " Hard 
 pounding this, gentlemen ; let's see who will 
 pound longest." All who heard him issue 
 orders took confidence from his quick and de- 
 cisive intellect, all who saw him caught metal 
 from his undaunted composure. His staff, who 
 had shared so many glories and dangers by his 
 side, fell man by man around him, yet seemed 
 in their own agony only to regard his safety. 
 Sir William Delancey, struck by a spent ball, 
 fell from his horse — " Leave me to die," he 
 said to those who came to assist him, " attend 
 to the Duke." The lamented Sir Alexander 
 Gordon, whose early experience and high ta- 
 lents had already rendered him the object of 
 so much hope and expectation, received his 
 mortal wound while expostulating with the 
 General on the personal danger to which he 
 was exposing himself. Lieutenant Colonel 
 Canning, and many of our lost heroes, died 
 with the Duke's name on their expiring lips. 
 Amid the havoc which had been made among 
 his immediate attendants, his Grace sent off a 
 young gentleman, acting as aid-de-camp, to a 
 
170 Paul's letters 
 
 general of brigade in another part of the fields 
 with a message of importance. In return- 
 ing he was shot through the lungs, but, as if 
 supported by the resolution to do his duty, he 
 rode up to the Duke of Wellington, delivered 
 the answer to his message, and then dropped 
 from his horse, to all appearance a dying man. 
 In a word, if the most devoted attachment on 
 the part of all who approached him, can add 
 to the honours of a hero, never did a general 
 receive so many and such affecting proofs of 
 it ; and their devotion was repaid by his 
 sense of its value and sorrow for their loss, 
 " Believe me," he afterwards said, " that no- 
 thing, excepting a battle lost, can be half so 
 melancholy as a battle won. The bravery of 
 my troops has hitherto saved me from that 
 greater evil ; but, to win even such a battle as 
 this of Waterloo, at the expence of the lives 
 qf so many gallant friends, could only be 
 termed a heavy misfortune, were it not for 
 its results to the public benefit." 
 
 In the meanwhile it seemed still doubtful 
 whether these sacrifices had not been made in 
 vain j for the French, though repulsed in every 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 171 
 
 point, continued their incessant attacks with 
 a perseverance of which they were formerly 
 deemed incapable ; and the line of chequered 
 squares, hitherto successfully opposed to them * 
 was gradually, from the great reduction of 
 numbers, presenting a diminished and less 
 formidable appearance. One general officer 
 was under the necessity of stating, that his 
 brigade was reduced to one-third of its num- 
 bers, that those who remained were exhaust- 
 ed with fatigue, and that a temporary relief, 
 of however short duration, seemed a measure 
 of peremptory necessity. " Tell him," said 
 the Duke, " what he proposes is impossible. 
 He, I, and every Englishman in the field, 
 must die on the spot which we now occupy." 
 " It is enough," returned the general ; " I 
 and every man under my command are de- 
 termined to share his fate." A friend of ours 
 had the courage to ask the Duke of Welling- 
 ton, whether in that conjuncture he looked 
 often to the woods from which the Prus- 
 sians were expected to issue. — " No," was 
 the answer ; "I looked oftener at my watch 
 lhan at any thing else. I knew if my troops 
 
 4 
 
1?2 Paul's letters 
 
 could keep their position till night, that I 
 must be joined by Blucher before morning, 
 and we would not have left Buonaparte an 
 army next day. But," continued he, " I own 
 I was glad as one hour of day light slipped 
 away after another, and our position was still 
 maintained." — f* And if," continued the que- 
 rist, "by misfortune the position had been 
 carried ?" — " We had the wood behind to re- 
 treat into " — " And if the wood also was 
 forced ?" — <c No, no ; they could never have 
 so beaten us but we could have made good 
 the wood against them." — From this brief 
 conversation it is evident that in his opinion, 
 whose judgment is least competent to chal- 
 lenge, even the retreat of the English on this 
 awful day would have afforded but temporary 
 success to Buonaparte. 
 
 While this furious conflict lasted, the Prus- 
 sian general, with the faith and intrepidity 
 which characterises him, was pressing forward 
 to the assistance of his allies. So early as be- 
 tween three and four o'clock, the division of 
 Butow appeared menacing the right flank of 
 the French, chiefly with light troops and ca- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 173 
 
 valry. But this movement was foreseen and 
 provided against by Buonaparte. Besides the 
 immense force with which he sustained the 
 main conflict, he had kept in reserve a large 
 body of troops, under Count Lobau, who were 
 opposed to those of Bulow with a prompti- 
 tude which appeared like magic ; our officers 
 being at a loss almost to conjecture whence 
 the forces came, which appeared as it were to 
 rise out of the earth to oppose this new ad- 
 versary. The engagement (which consisted 
 chiefly in sharp-shooting) continued in this 
 quarter, but with no great energy, as the 
 Prussian general waited the coming up of the 
 main body of Blucher's army. This was re- 
 tarded by many circumstances. We have al- 
 ready noticed the state of the cross-roads, or 
 rather tracks, through which a numerous army 
 had to accomplish their passage. But besides, 
 the effects of the battle of Ligny were still 
 felt, and it was not only natural but proper 
 that Blucher, before involving himself in de- 
 files from which retreat became impossible, 
 should take some time to ascertain whether 
 the English were able to maintain their ground 
 
174 Paul's letters 
 
 until he should come up to their assistance. 
 For, in the event of their being routed, with 
 the usual circumstances of defeat, before the 
 Prussians came up, Blucher must have found 
 himself in a most critical situation, engaged 
 in the defiles of St Lambert, with one victori- 
 ous French army in front, and another press- 
 ing upon his rear at Wavre. Such at least is 
 the opinion of our best and most judicious 
 officers. But the loyalty of the Prince-Mar- 
 shal's character did not permit him long to 
 hesitate upon advancing to the support of his 
 illustrious ally. 
 
 Grouchy and Vandamme, with their com- 
 bined forces, had followed the Prussian rear 
 (commanded by Tauenzein) as far as Wavre, 
 less, it would seem, with the purpose of actual 
 fight, than of precipitating the retreat, which 
 they supposed Blucher to have commenced 
 with his whole army. At length Tauenzein 
 halted upon the villages of Wavre and Bielge, 
 on the river Dyle, and there prepared to de- 
 fend himself. It is probable that, about this 
 time, the appearance of Bulow's corps on Buo- 
 naparte's right flank made the French gene* 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 175 
 
 ral desirous the Prussians should be attack- 
 ed in a different and distant point, in such a 
 serious manner as might effectually engage 
 their attention, and prevent their detaching 
 more forces to the support of Wellington. Ac- 
 cordingly orders were dispatched to Grouchy 
 to make a serious attack upon that part of the 
 Prussian army which was opposed to him. 
 But Buonaparte was not aware, nor does 
 Grouchy seem to have discovered, that the 
 forces he was thus to engage only consisted 
 of a strong rear-guard, which occupied the 
 villages and position upon the Dyle to mask 
 the march of the main army under the Prince- 
 Marshal himself, which was already defiling 
 to the right through the passes of St Lambert, 
 and in full march to unite itself with Wel- 
 lington and Bulow. The resistance of Tau- 
 enzein, however, was so obstinate as to con- 
 firm Grouchy in the belief that he was enga- 
 ged with a great proportion of the Prussian 
 army. The bridge at Wavre, particularly, 
 was repeatedly lost and gained before the 
 French were able to make their footing good 
 beyond it. At length a French colonel snatch-* 
 

 176 paul's letters 
 
 ed the eagle of his regiment, and rushing for- 
 ward, crossed the bridge and struck it into 
 the ground on the other side. His corps fol- 
 lowed with an unanimous shout of Vive i'Em- 
 pereur ! and although the gallant officer who 
 thus led them on was himself slain on^ the 
 spot, his followers succeeded in carrying the 
 village. That of Bielge at the same time fell 
 into their hands, and Grouchy anxiously ex- 
 pected from his Emperor orders to improve 
 his success. But no such orders arrived ; the 
 sound of the cannon in that direction slack- 
 ened, and at length died away ; and it was 
 next morning before Grouchy heard the por- 
 tentous news that awaited him, announcing 
 the fate of Napoleon and his army. 
 
 Meantime Blucher pressed the march of hit 
 forces through the defiles which separated 
 him and Wellington, Notwithstanding the 
 consequences of his fall upon the 16th, the 
 veteran insisted upon leaving his carriage and 
 being placed on horseback, that he might ex- 
 pedite the march by precept and example. 
 The sun was, however, near setting before his 
 forces appeared in strength issuing from the 
 

 TO HIS KINSFOLK. 177 
 
 woods upon the flank of the contending ar- 
 mies. It seems to have been one of Buona- 
 parte's leading errors to miscalculate the mo- 
 ral force of the Prussian character, and espe- 
 cially that of Blucher. Though it was now 
 obvious that the army of the Prince- Marshal 
 was appearing on the field, Napoleon delu- 
 ded himself to the last by a belief that they 
 were followed by Grouchy, and either retreat- 
 ing, or moving laterally in the same line with 
 him. In this mistake he obstinately per- 
 sisted until the consequences proved fatal to 
 the very last chance which he had of covering 
 his own retreat. It was for some time sup- 
 posed, that he mistook the Prussians for his 
 own forces under Grouchy. This was not the 
 case, nor was it possible it could be so. His real 
 error was sufficient for his destruction, with- 
 out exaggerating it into one that would indi- 
 cate insanity. But, as appears from Mareschal 
 Ney's letter, Buonaparte spread among the 
 soldiers, by means of the unfortunate Labe- 
 doyere, his own belief that Grouchy was ad- 
 vancing to their support. He imagined, in 
 short, that, at the very worst, his own general 
 
 M 
 
178 paul's letters 
 
 had made a lateral movement, corresponding 
 to that of Blucher, and was as near to support 
 as the other was to attack him. In this belief, 
 all the slaughter and all the repulses of that 
 blood) 7 day did not prevent his risking a final 
 and desperate effort. 
 
 Notwithstanding the perseverance with 
 which Buonaparte had renewed his attacks up- 
 on the English position, and the vast number of 
 his best cavalry and infantry who had fallen 
 in the struggle, he bad still in reserve nearly 
 15,000 men of his own guard, who, remaining 
 on the ridge of La Belle Alliance, or behind 
 it, had scarcely drawn a trigger during the ac- 
 tion. But about seven o'clock at night their 
 emperor determined to devote this proved and 
 faithful reserve, as his last stake, to the chance 
 of one of those desperate games in which he 
 had been frequently successful. For this pur- 
 pose he left the more distant point of observa- 
 tion, which he had for some time occupied up- 
 on the heights in the rear of the line, and de- 
 scending from the bill, placed himself in the 
 midst of the high-way fronting Mount St John, 
 and within about a quarter of a mile of the 
 English line. The banks, which rise high on 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 179 
 
 each side, protected him from such balls as 
 did not come in a direct line. Here he caused 
 his guards to defile before him, and acquaint- 
 ing them that the English cavalry and infantry 
 were entirely destroyed, and that to carry 
 their position they had only to sustain with 
 bravery a heavy fire of their artillery : he con- 
 cluded by pointing to the causeway, and ex- 
 claiming, " There, gentlemen, is the road to 
 Brussels !'■ The prodigious shouts of Vive 
 V Empereur, with which the Guard answered 
 this appeal, led our troops, and the Duke 
 of Wellington himself, to expect an instant 
 renewal of the attack, with Napoleon as the 
 leader. Many an eye was eagerly bent to the 
 quarter from whence the clamour proceeded ; 
 but the mist, as well as the clouds of smoke, 
 rendered it impossible to see any object dis- 
 tinctly. None listened to the shout with more 
 eager hope than our own great General, who 
 probably thought, like the Avenger in Shak- 
 speare, 
 
 There thou shouldst be : 
 
 By this great clatter one of greatest note 
 Seems bruited. 
 
 All indeed expected an attack headed by Buo- 
 
180 paul's letters 
 
 naparte in person ; and in failing upon this 
 instant and final crisis to take the command 
 of his Guards, whom he destined to try the 
 last cast of his fortune, he disappointed both 
 his friends and enemies. 
 
 The Imperial Guard, however, rallying in 
 their progress such of the broken cavalry and 
 infantry of the line as yet maintained the 
 combat, advanced dauntlessly. But the re- 
 peated repulses of the French had not been 
 left unimproved by the British. The extreme 
 right of the line, commanded by General Fre- 
 derick Adam, under Lord Hill, had gradually 
 and almost imperceptibly gained ground after 
 each unsuccessful charge, until the space be- 
 tween Hougoumont and Braine la Leude being 
 completely cleared of the enemy, the British 
 right wing, with its artillery and sharp-shoot- 
 ers, was brought round from a convex to a 
 concave position, so that our guns raked the 
 French columns as soon as they debouched 
 upon the causeway for their final attack. Our 
 artillery had orders during the whole action to 
 fire only upon the infantry and cavalry of the 
 French, and not to waste their ammunition and 
 energy in the less decisive exchange of shot 
 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 181 
 
 with the French guns. The service of the artil- 
 lery was upon this occasion so accurate, and 
 at the same time so destructive, that the heads 
 of the French attacking columns were enfila- 
 ded, and in a manner annihilated, before they 
 could advance upon the high road. Those who 
 witnessed the fire and its effects, describe it to 
 me as if the enemy's columns kept perpetually 
 advancing from the hollow way without ever 
 gaining ground on the plain, so speedily were 
 the files annihilated as they came into the 
 line of the fire. Enthusiasm, however, join- 
 ed to the impulse of those in the rear, who 
 forced forward the front into the scene of 
 danger, at length carried the whole attacking 
 force into the plain. But their courage was 
 obviously damped. They advanced indeed 
 against every obstacle till they attained the 
 ridge, where the British soldiers lay on the 
 ground to avoid the destructive fire of artil- 
 lery, by which the assault was covered : but 
 this was their final effort. " Up, Guards, and 
 at them," cried the Duke of Wellington, who 
 was then with a brigade of the Guards. In an 
 instant they sprung up, and, assuming the of- 
 fensive, rushed upon the attacking columns 
 
182 Paul's letters 
 
 with the bayonet. This body of the Guards had 
 been previously disposed in line, instead of the 
 squares which they had hitherto occupied. But 
 the line was of unusual depth, consisting of four 
 ranks instead of two. "You have stood cavalry 
 in this order," said the General, "and can there- 
 fore find no difficulty in charging infantry." 
 The effect of their three fatal cheers, and of 
 the rapid advance whicrrfollowed, was decisive. 
 The Guards of Napoleon were within twenty 
 yards of those of our sovereign, but not one 
 staid to cross bayonets with a British soldier. 
 The consciousness that no support or reserve 
 remained to them added confusion to their 
 retreat. This was observed by both generals 
 with suitable emotion. The Duke of Welling- 
 ton perceived the disorder of the French re- 
 treat, and the advance of the Prussians on 
 their right flank, where they were already 
 driving in all that was opposed to them. He 
 immediately commanded the British troops 
 to form line, and assume the offensive. The 
 whole line formed four deep, and, support- 
 ed by the cavalry and artillery, rushed down 
 the slopes and up the corresponding bank, 
 driving before them the flying French, whose 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 18S 
 
 confusion became each moment more irre- 
 trievable. The tirailleurs of the Imperial 
 Guard gallantly attempted to cover the re* 
 treat. They were charged by the British ca- 
 valry, and literally cut to pieces. 
 
 Buonaparte saw the issue of the fight with 
 the same accuracy as the English General, 
 but with far different feelings. He had 
 shown the utmost coolness and indifference 
 during the whole day, and while he praised 
 the discipline and conduct of particular corps 
 of the British army, whose gallantry he wit- 
 nessed, he affected to lament their necessary 
 and inevitable destruction. Even to reports 
 which were incessantly brought to him of 
 the increasing strength and progress of the 
 Prussians upon his right flank, he turned an 
 indifferent ear, bending his whole attention, 
 and apparently resting his final hope, upon 
 the success of the ultimate attack by the Im- 
 perial Guards. When he observed them recoil 
 in disorder, the cavalry intermixed with the 
 foot, and trampling them down, he said to his 
 aid-de-camp, " lis sont melees ensemble /" then 
 looked down, shook his head, and became, 
 according to the expression of his guide, pale. 
 
184: Paul's letters 
 
 as a corpse. Immediately afterwards two large 
 bodies of British cavalry appeared in rapid 
 advance on each flank ; and as the operations 
 of the Prussians had extended along his right 
 flank, and were rapidly gaining his rear, Buo- 
 naparte was in great danger of being made 
 prisoner. He then pronounced the fatal words, 
 " It is time to save ourselves," and left to 
 their fate the army which that day had shed 
 their blood for him with such profusion His 
 immediate attendants, about ten or twelve 
 in number, scrambled along with him out of 
 the hollow way, and gaining the open plain, 
 all fled as fast as their horses could carry 
 them, or the general confusion would admit, 
 without a single attempt, on Buonaparte's 
 part, to rally his army or cover their retreat. 
 Whatever may be thought of Buonaparte's 
 behaviour on former occasions, it would ap- 
 pear, either that prosperity had clouded his 
 energy of mind, or that he was in some de- 
 gree wanting to himself on the conclusion of 
 this memorable day. For, after having shown, 
 during the progress of the battle, great judg- 
 ment, composure, and presence of mind, the 
 mode of his retreat was much less than ho- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 185 
 
 nourable to a soldier, who had risen by per- 
 sonal courage and conduct to the greatest 
 pitch of power which was ever enjoyed by an 
 individual. 
 
 Meanwhile the front attack of the English, 
 and that of the Prussians upon the flank, met 
 with slight opposition. Just as the English army 
 had deployed into line for the general charge, 
 the sun streamed out, as if to shed his setting 
 glories upon the conquerors of that dreadful 
 day. Fatigue and diminution of numbers, even 
 wounds, were forgotten, when the animating 
 command was given to assume the offensive. 
 Headed by the Duke of Wellington himself, 
 with his hat in his hand, the line advanced 
 with the utmost spirit and rapidity. The fire 
 of the enemy from one hundred and fifty 
 pieces of artillery did not stop them for a 
 single moment, and in a short time the French 
 artillery-men deserted their guns, cut loose 
 their traces, and mingled in the flight, now al- 
 together confused and universal, the fugitives 
 trampling down those who yet endeavoured to 
 keep their ranks. The first line had hardly the 
 vestige of military order when ilwas flung back 
 on the second, and both became then united 
 
186 Paul's letters 
 
 in one tide of general and undistinguished 
 flight. Baggage-waggons, artillery-carts, guns 
 overthrown, and all the impediments of a 
 hurried flight, cumbered the open field as 
 well as the causeway, without mentioning the 
 thick-strewn corpses of the slain, and the bo- 
 dies of the still more miserable wounded,who 
 in vain shrieked and implored compassion, as 
 fliers and pursuers drove headlong over them 
 in the agony of fear or the ecstacy of triumph. 
 All the guns which were in line along the 
 French position, to the number of one hun- 
 dred and fifty, fell into the immediate posses- 
 sion of the British. The last gun fired was a 
 howitzer, which the French had left upon the 
 road. It was turned upon their retreat, and 
 discharged by Captain Campbell, aid-de-camp 
 to General Adam, with his own hand, who 
 had thus the honour of concluding the battle 
 of Waterloo, which, it has been said, Buona- 
 parte himself commenced. 
 
 There remained, however, for the unhappy 
 fugitives a flight and pursuit of no ordinary 
 description. And here the timely junction of 
 the Prussians was of the last consequence to 
 the common cause of Europe. The British 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 187 
 
 cavalry were completely wearied with the 
 exertions of the day, and utterly incapable 
 of following the chase. Even the horses fo 
 the officers were altogether unable to strike 
 a trot for any length of way, so that the arri- 
 val of the Prussians, with all their cavalry fit 
 for instant and rapid operation, and organi- 
 zed by so active a quarter-master-general as 
 Greisenau, was essential to gathering in the 
 harvest, which was already dearly won and 
 fairly reaped. 
 
 The march and advance of the Prussians 
 crossed the van of the British army, after they 
 had attacked the French position, about the 
 farm-house of La Belle Alliance, and there, 
 or near to that spot, the Duke of Wellington 
 and Prince-Marshal Blucher, met to congra- 
 tulate each other upon their joint success and 
 its important consequences. The hamlet, 
 which is said to have taken its name from a 
 little circumstance of village scandal,* came 
 
 * A woman who resided here, after marrying two hus- 
 bands in her own station of creditable yeomanry, chose to 
 unite herself, upon her becoming a second time a widow, 
 to her own hind or ploughman ; and the name of La Belle 
 Alliance was bestowed on her place of residence in ridi- 
 cule of this match. 
 
188 paul's letters 
 
 to bear an unexpected and extraordinary co- 
 incidence with the situation of the combined 
 armies, which inclines many foreigners even 
 now to give the fight the name of the Battle 
 of La Belle Alliance. Here, too, the victo- 
 rious allies of both countries exchanged mili- 
 tary greeting, — the Prussians halting their re- 
 gimental band to play " God save the King," 
 while the British returned the compliment 
 with three cheers to the honour of Prussia, 
 The Prince-Marshal immediately gave orders 
 that every man and horse in his army capable 
 of action should press upon the rear of the 
 fugitives, without giving them a moment's 
 time to rally. The night was illuminated by 
 a bright moon, so that the fliers found no re- 
 fuge, and experienced as little mercy. 
 
 To the last, indeed, the French had forfeited 
 all claim ; for their cruelty towards the Prus- 
 sians, taken upon the 1 6th, and towards the 
 British wounded and prisoners made during the 
 battle of the 1 8th, was such as to exclude them 
 from the benefit of the ordinary rules of wan 
 Their lancers, in particular, rode over the field 
 during the action, dispatching with their wea- 
 pons the wounded British, with the most in* 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 189 
 
 veterate rancour, and many of the officers 
 who have recovered from the wounds they 
 received on that glorious day, sustained the 
 greatest danger and most lasting inconveni- 
 ence from such as were inflicted by those sa- 
 vages, when they were in no condition either 
 to offend others or defend themselves. The 
 Quoi ! tu n'es pas mort ? of the spearman was 
 usually accompanied with a thrust of his 
 lance, dealt with an inveteracy which gives 
 great countenance to the general opinion, 
 that their orders were to give no quarter. 
 Even the British officers who were carried 
 before Buonaparte, although civilly treated 
 while he spoke to them, and dismissed with 
 assurances that they should have surgical as- 
 sistance and proper attendance, were no soon- 
 er out of his presence than they were strip- 
 ped, beaten, and abused. Most of the pri- 
 soners whom the French took from our light 
 cavalry were put to death in cold blood, or 
 owed their safety to concealment or a spee- 
 dy escape. In short, it seemed as if the 
 French army, when they commenced this 
 desperate game, had, like Buccaneers set- 
 ting forth upon a cruise, renounced the 
 
 3 
 
190 paul's letters 
 
 common rules of war, and bonds of social 
 amity, and become ambitious of distinguish- 
 ing themselves as enemies to the human spe- 
 cies. This unnatural hatred, rashly announ- 
 ced and cruelly acted upon, was as fearfully 
 avenged. The Prussians listened not, and 
 they had no reason to listen, to cries for mer- 
 cy from those who had thus abused their mo- 
 mentary advantages over themselves and their 
 allies ; and their light horse, always formi- 
 dable on such occasions, made a fearful and 
 indiscriminate slaughter, scarce interrupted 
 even by the temptation of plundering the bag- 
 gage with which the roads were choaked, 
 and unchecked by an attempt at resistance. 
 Those soldiers who had begun the morning 
 with such hopes, and whose conduct during 
 the battle vindicated their having done so, 
 were now so broken in heart and spirits, that 
 scores of them fled at sight of a single Prus- 
 sian hussar* 
 
 Yet it is remarkable that, amid the count- 
 less number who fell, both of privates and offi- 
 cers, we do not notice many of those names 
 distinguished in the bulletins of Buonaparte's 
 former campaigns. Whether the marshals, 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 191 
 
 doubting the success of their old master, ha- 
 zarded themselves less frankly in his cause, 
 or did so with better fortune than belonged 
 to our distinguished and undaunted Picton, 
 Ponsonby, and other officers of high rank 
 whose loss we lament, it is not for me to con- 
 jecture. But, except Duhesme and Friant, 
 neither of whose names were very much dis- 
 tinguished, we hear of no general officers 
 among the French list of the slain. The lat- 
 ter was killed by a ball close to the turncoat 
 Ney, who commanded the imperial guards in 
 the last attack. The death of Duhesme had 
 something in it which was Homeric. He 
 was overtaken in the village of Genappe by 
 one of the Duke of Brunswick's black hus- 
 sars, of whom he begged quarter. The sol- 
 dier regarded him sternly, with his sabre up- 
 lifted, and then briefly saying, " The Duke 
 of Brunswick died yesterday," bestowed on 
 him his death's wound. 
 
 Keir6et9i Xj Jleir^oK^og, 07Ti(> trio noXXov ufAiivav. 
 
 General Cambrone was said also to have fal- 
 len after refusing quarter, and announcing 
 to the British, by whom it was offered, " The 
 Imperial Guard can die but never surrender." 
 
192 paul's letters 
 
 The speech and the devotion of the general 
 received honourable mention in the Minutes 
 of the Chamber of Representatives. But the 
 passage was ordered to be erased next day, it 
 being discovered that General Cambrone was 
 a prisoner in Lord Wellington's camp. 
 
 The French retreat was utter rout and 
 confusion, the men deserting their officers, 
 the officers the men, all discipline neglected, 
 and every thing thrown away which could 
 for a moment impede the rapidity of their 
 panic flight. A slight attempt was made to 
 halt at the village of Genappe, but there 
 and at Charleroi, and wherever else the terri- 
 fied fugitives attempted to pause, a cannon- 
 shot or two, or the mere sound of a Prussian 
 drum or trumpet, was sufficient to put them 
 again to the rout. 
 
 The English remained on the field of bat- 
 tle and the villages adjacent. Be it not for- 
 gotten, that, after such attention to their 
 wounded companions, as the moment per- 
 mitted, they carried their succours to the dis- 
 abled French, without deigning to remember 
 that the defenceless and groaning wretches 
 who encumbered the field of battle in heaps, 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 193 
 
 were the same men who had displayed the 
 most relentless cruelty on every temporary 
 advantage which they obtained during this 
 brief campaign. They erected huts over them 
 to protect them from the weather, brought 
 them water, and shared with them their re- 
 freshments, shewing in this the upright noble- 
 ness of their own dispositions, and giving the 
 most vivid testimony of their deserving that 
 victory with which Providence had crowned 
 them— a victory as unparalleled in its conse- 
 quences, as the battle itself was in its length, 
 obstinacy, and importance. Adieu ! my dear 
 Major. Excuse a long letter, which contains 
 much which you may have heard better told, 
 mixed with some things with which you are 
 probably not yet acquainted. The details 
 which I have ventured to put into writing, 
 are most of them from the authority of officers 
 high in command upon that memorable day, 
 and I may therefore be allowed to hope that 
 even repetitions will be pardoned for the sake 
 of giving more authenticity to the facts which 
 I have narrated. Your's, &c. 
 
 Paul. 
 
 N 
 
194 paul's letters 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 PAUL TO HIS SISTER MARGARET. 
 
 I should now, my dear sister, give you 
 some description of the celebrated field of 
 Waterloo. But although I visited it with un- 
 usual advantages, it is necessary that I should 
 recollect how many descriptions have alrea- 
 dy appeared of this celebrated scene of the 
 greatest event of modern times, and that I 
 must not weary your patience with a twice- 
 told tale. Such and so numerous have been 
 the visits of English families and tourists, as 
 to enrich the peasants of the vicinity by the 
 consequences of an event which menaced 
 them with total ruin. The good old Flemish 
 housewife, who keeps the principal cabaret 
 at Waterloo, even when I was there, had, 
 learnt the value of her situation, and charged 
 three prices for our coffee, because she could 
 
 6 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 195 
 
 gratify us by showing the very bed in which 
 the Grand Lord slept the night preceding the 
 action. To what extremities she may have 
 since proceeded in taxing English curiosity, 
 it is difficult to conjecture. To say truth, 
 the honest Flemings were at first altogether 
 at a loss to comprehend the eagerness and 
 enthusiasm by which their English visitors 
 were influenced in their pilgrimages to this 
 classic spot. Their country has been long 
 the scene of military operations, in which the 
 inhabitants themselves have seldom felt much 
 personal interest. With them a battle fought 
 and won is a battle forgotten, and the pea- 
 sant resumes his ordinary labours after the ar- 
 mies have left his district, with as little in- 
 terest in recollecting the conflict, as if it 
 had been a thunder-storm which had passed 
 away. You may conceive, therefore, the 
 grave surprise with which these honest poco- 
 curantes viewed the number of British tra- 
 vellers of every possible description, who has- 
 tened to visit the field of Waterloo. 
 
 I was early in making my pilgrimage, yet 
 there were half a dozen of parties upon the 
 
196 Paul's letters 
 
 ground at the same time with that to which I 
 belonged. Honest John Lacoste, the Fle- 
 mish peasant, whom Buonaparte has made 
 immortal by pressing into his service as a 
 guide, was the person in most general re- 
 quest, and he repeated with great accuracy 
 the same simple tale to all who desired to 
 hear him. I questioned him long and parti- 
 cularly, but I cannot pretend to have extract- 
 ed any information in addition to what has 
 been long ago very accurately published in 
 the newspapers. For I presume you Would 
 be little interested in knowing that, upon this 
 memorable occasion, the ex-emperor rode a 
 dappled horse, and wore a grey surtout with 
 a green uniform coat ; and, in memory of his 
 party's badge, as I suppose, a violet-colour- 
 ed waistcoat and pantaloons of the same. It 
 was, however, with no little emotion that I 
 walked with Lacoste from one place to an- 
 other, making him, as nearly as possible, show 
 me the precise stations which had been succes- 
 sively occupied by the fallen monarch on that 
 eventful day. There was a deep and inex- 
 pressible feeling of awe in the reflection, that 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 197 
 
 the last of these was the identical place from 
 which he, who had so long held the highest 
 place in Europe, beheld his hopes crushed 
 and his power destroyed. To recollect, that 
 within a short month, the man whose name 
 had been the terror of Europe, stood on the 
 very ground which I now occupied, that right 
 opposite was placed that commander whom 
 the event of the day hailed, Vainqueur de 
 Vainqueurde la terre—that the landscape, now 
 solitary and peaceful around me, presented so 
 lately a scene of such horrid magnificence^ — 
 that the very individual who was now at my 
 side, had then stood by that of Napoleon, 
 and witnessed every change in his counte- 
 nance, from hope to anxiety, from anxiety to 
 fear and to despair, — to recollect all this, op- 
 pressed me with sensations which I find it 
 impossible to describe. The scene seemed to 
 have shifted so rapidly, that even while I stood 
 on the very stage where it was exhibited, I felt 
 an inclination to doubt the reality of what 
 had passed. 
 
 Lacoste himself seems a sensible, shrewd 
 peasant. He complained that the curiosity 
 
198 Paul's letters 
 
 of the visitors who came to hear his little tale, 
 interfered a good deal with his ordinary and 
 necessary occupations : I advised him to make 
 each party, who insisted upon seeing and 
 questioning him, a regular charge of five 
 francs, and assured him that if he did so, he 
 would find that Buonaparte had kept his pro- 
 mise of making his fortune, though in a way 
 he neither wished nor intended. Pere La- 
 coste said he was obliged to me for the hint, 
 and I dare say has not failed to profit by it. 
 
 The field of battle plainly told the history 
 of the fight, as soon as the positions of the 
 hostile armies were pointed out. The extent 
 was so limited, and the interval between them 
 so easily seen and commanded, that the vari- 
 ous manoeuvres could be traced with the eye 
 upon the field itself as upon a military plan of 
 a foot square. All ghastly remains of the 
 carnage had been either burned or buried, and 
 the reliques of the fray which yet remained 
 were not in themselves of a very imposing 
 kind. Bones of horses, quantities of old hats, 
 rags of clothes, scraps of leather, and frag- 
 ments of books and papers strewed the ground 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK, 199 
 
 in great profusion, especially where the action 
 had been most bloody. Among the last, those 
 of most frequent occurrence were the mili- 
 tary livrets, or memorandum-books of the 
 French soldiers. I picked up one of these, 
 which shows, by its order and arrangement, 
 the strict discipline which at one time was 
 maintained in the French army, when the sol- 
 dier was obliged to enter in such an accompt- 
 book, not only the state of his payand equip- 
 ments, but the occasions on which he served 
 and distinguished himself, and the punish- 
 ments, if any, which he had incurred. At the 
 conclusion is a list of the duties of the pri- 
 vate soldier, amongst which is that of know- 
 ing how to dress his victuals, and particularly 
 to make good soup. The livret in my pos- 
 session appears to have belonged to the Sieur 
 Mallet, of the 2d battalion of the 8th regi- 
 ment of the line : he had been in the service 
 since the year 1791, until the 18th of June, 
 1815, which day probably closed his account, 
 and with it all his earthly hopes and prospects. 
 The fragments of German prayer-books were 
 so numerous, that I have little doubt a large 
 
200 Paul's letters 
 
 edition had been pressed into the military ser- 
 vice of one or other party, to be used as car- 
 tridge paper. Letters, and other papers, me- 
 morandums of business, or pledges of friend- 
 ship and affection, lay scattered about on the 
 field — few of them were now legible. Quack 
 advertisements were also to be found where 
 English soldiers had fallen. Among the uni- 
 versal remedies announced by these empirics, 
 there was none against the dangers of such a 
 field. 
 
 Besides these fragments, the surface of the 
 field shewed evident marks of the battle. The 
 tall crops of maize and rye were trampled 
 into a thick black paste, under the feet of men 
 and horses, the ground was torn in many 
 places by the explosion of shells, and in others 
 strangely broken up and rutted by the wheels 
 of the artillery. Such signs of violent and 
 rapid motion recorded, that 
 
 Rank rush'd on rank, with squadron squadron closed, 
 The thunder ceased not, nor the fire reposed. 
 
 Yet, abstracting from our actual knowledge 
 of the dreadful cause of such appearances, 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 201 
 
 they reminded me not a little of those which 
 are seen upon a common a few days after a 
 great fair has been held there* These tran- 
 sitory memorials were in a rapid course of 
 disappearing, for the plough was already at 
 work in several parts of the field. There is, 
 perhaps, more feeling than wisdom in the 
 wish, yet I own I should have been better 
 pleased, if, for one season at least, the field 
 where, in imagination, the ploughshare w r as 
 coming in frequent contact with the corpses of 
 the gallant dead, had been suffered to remain 
 fallow. But the corn which must soon wave 
 there will be itself a temporary protection 
 to their humble graves, while it will speedily 
 remove from the face of nature the melan- 
 choly traces of the strife of man. 
 
 The houses and hamlets which were expo- 
 sed to the line of fire have of course suffered 
 very much, being perforated by cannon-balls 
 in every direction. This was particularly the 
 case at La Haye Sainte. The inhabitants of 
 these peaceful cottages might then exclaim, 
 in the words of our admired friend, 
 
 " Around them, in them, the loud battle clangs; 
 Within our very walls fierce spearmen push, 
 
202 Paul's letters 
 
 And armed warriors cross their clashing blades.- 
 Ah, woe is me ! our warm and cheerful hearths, 
 And rushed floors, on which our children play'd, 
 Must be the bloody lair of dying men." 
 
 There was not indeed a cottage in the vici- 
 nity but what, ere the eve of the fight, was 
 crowded with the wounded, many of whom 
 had only strength to creep to the next place of 
 cover, that they might lay them down to die. 
 The village of Saint John, and others 
 within the English position, had escaped 
 with the demolition of the windows, and the 
 breaches of the walls from without. The 
 hamlets lying on the opposite heights, within 
 the French line of bivouack, having been 
 plundered to the bare walls, had sustained 
 internal as well as external damage. Among 
 other claims upon English generosity, and 
 which may serve to illustrate the idea which 
 foreigners have formed of its illimitable ex- 
 tent, one was made by a proprietor of this 
 district for a considerable sum, stated to be 
 the damage which his property had sustained 
 in and through the battle of Waterloo. He 
 was asked, why he thought a claim so unpre- 
 cedented in the usual course of warfare would 
 be listened to. He said, he understood the 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 208 
 
 British had made compensation in Spain to 
 sufferers under similar circumstances. It was 
 next pointed out to him that no English sol- 
 dier had or could have been accessary to the 
 damage which he had sustained, since the 
 hamlets and houses plundered lay within Buo- 
 naparte's position. The Fleming, without ha- 
 ving studied at Leyden, understood the doc- 
 trine of consequential damages. He could 
 not see that the circumstance alleged made 
 much difference, since, he argued, if the Eng- 
 lish had not obstinately placed themselves 
 in the way, the French would have marched 
 quietly on to Brussels, without doing him any 
 material damage ; and it was not until he was 
 positively informed that his demand would not 
 be granted that he remained silenced, but 
 not satisfied. 
 
 Hougoumont (a name bestowed, I believe, 
 by a mistake of our great commander, but 
 which will certainly supersede the more pro- 
 per one of Chateau-Goumont,) is the only 
 place of consideration which was totally de- 
 stroyed. The shattered and blackened ruins 
 of this little chateau remain among the wreck 
 
204 Paul's letters 
 
 of its garden, while the fruit-trees, half torn 
 down, half fastened to the walls, give some 
 idea of the Dutch neatness with which it had 
 been kept ere the storm of war approached it. 
 Most visitors bought peaches, and gathered 
 hazel-nuts and filberds in the garden* with the 
 pious purpose of planting, when they return- 
 ed to England, trees, which might remind 
 them and their posterity of this remarkable 
 spot. The grove of trees around Hougou- 
 mont was shattered by grape-shot and mus- 
 quetry in a most extraordinary manner. I 
 counted one which had been struck in twenty 
 different places, and I think there was scarce 
 any which had totally escaped. I understand 
 the gentleman to whom this ravaged domain 
 belongs is to receive full compensation from 
 the government of the Netherlands. 
 
 I must not omit to mention, that notwith- 
 standing the care which had been bestowed 
 in burying or burning the dead, the stench in 
 several places of the field, and particularly at 
 La Haye Sainte and Hougoumont, was such 
 as to indicate that the former operation had 
 been but hastily and imperfectly performed. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 205 
 
 It was impossible, of course, to attempt to 
 ascertain the numbers of the slain ; but, in- 
 cluding those who fell on both sides before 
 the retreat commenced, the sum of forty 
 thousand will probably be found considerably 
 within the mark, and I have seen officers of ex- 
 perience who compute it much higher. When 
 it is considered, therefore, that so many human 
 corpses, besides those of many thousand hor- 
 ses, were piled upon a field scarcely two miles 
 long, and not above half a mile in breadth, 
 it is wonderful that a pestilential disease has 
 not broken out, to sum up the horrors of the 
 campaign. 
 
 If the peasants in the neighbourhood of 
 Waterloo suffered great alarm and consider- 
 able damage in the course of this tremendous 
 conflict, it must be acknowledged they have 
 had peculiar and ample means of indemnifica- 
 tion. They had, in the first place, the greatest 
 share of the spoils of the field of battle, for our 
 soldiers were too much exhausted to anticipate 
 them in this particular. Many country people 
 were at once enriched by the plunder of the 
 French baggage, and not a few by that of the 
 British, which, having been ordered to retreat 
 
206 taul's letters 
 
 during the action, became embarrassed on the 
 narrow causeway leading through the great fo- 
 rest of Soignies,and was there fairly sacked and 
 pillaged by the runaway Belgians and the pea- 
 santry ; a disgraceful scene,, which nothing 
 but the brilliancy of the great victory, and 
 the consequent enthusiasm of joy, could have 
 allowed to be passed over without strict en- 
 quiry. Many of our officers, and some but ill 
 able to afford such a loss, were in this manner 
 deprived of all their clothes and baggage, at 
 the moment of their advance into the territo- 
 ries of France. 
 
 A more innocent source of profit has open- 
 ed to many of the poor people about Water- 
 loo, by the sale of such trinkets and arms as 
 they collect daily from the field of battle ; 
 things of no intrinsic value, but upon which 
 curiosity sets a daily increasing estimate. These 
 memorials, like the books of the Sybils, rise 
 in value as they decrease in number. Almost 
 every hamlet opens a mart of them as soon as 
 English visitors appear. Men, women, and 
 children rushed out upon us, holding up 
 swords, pistols, carabines, and holsters, all of 
 which were sold when I was there a prlv juste. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 207 
 
 at least to those who knew how to drive a 
 bargain. I saw a tolerably good carabine 
 bought for five francs ; to be sure there went 
 many words to the bargain, for the old wo- 
 man to whom it belonged had the conscience 
 at first to ask a gold Napoleon for it, being 
 about the value it would have borne in Bir- 
 mingham. Crosses of the Legion of Honour 
 were in great request, and already stood high 
 in the market. I bought one of the ordinary 
 sort for forty francs. The eagles which the 
 French soldiers wore in front of their caps, es- 
 pecially the more solid ornament of that descrip- 
 tion which belonged to the Imperial Guards, 
 were sought after, but might be had for a few 
 sous. But the great object of ambition was 
 to possess the armour of a cuirassier, which at 
 first might have been bought in great quanti- 
 ty, almost all the wearers having fallen in 
 that bloody battle. The victors had indeed 
 carried off some of these cuirasses to serve as 
 culinary utensils, and I myself have seen the 
 Highlanders frying their rations of beef or 
 mutton upon the breast-plates and back- 
 pieces of their discomfited adversaries. But 
 enough remained to make the fortunes of 
 
208 Paul's letters 
 
 the people of St John, Waterloo, Planehe- 
 noit, &c. When I was at La Belle Alliance 
 I bought the cuirass of a common soldier for 
 about six francs ; but a very handsome inlaid 
 one, once the property of a French officer of 
 distinction, which was for sale in Brussels, 
 cost me four times the sum. As for the casques, 
 or head pieces, which by the way are remark- 
 ably handsome, they are almost introuvabk, 
 for the peasants immediately sold them to be 
 beat out for old copper, and the purchasers, 
 needlessly afraid of their being reclaimed, 
 destroyed them as fast as possible. 
 
 The eagerness with which we entered into 
 these negociations, and still more the zeal 
 with which we picked up every trifle we could 
 find upon the field, rather scandalized one of 
 the heroes of the day, who did me the favour 
 to guide me over the field of battle, and who 
 considered the interest I took in things which 
 he was accustomed to see scattered as mere 
 trumpery upon many a field of victory, with 
 a feeling that I believe made him for the 
 moment heartily ashamed of his company. 
 I was obliged to remind him that as he had 
 himself gathered laurels on the same spot, he 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 209 
 
 should have sympathy, or patience at least, 
 with our more humble harvest of peach- 
 stones, filberds, and trinkets. Fortunately the 
 enthusiasm of a visitor, who went a bow-shot 
 beyond us, by carrying off a brick from the 
 house of La Belle Alliance, with that of a more 
 wholesale amateur, who actually purchased the 
 door of the said mansion for two gold Napo- 
 leons, a little mitigated my military friend's 
 censure of our folly, by showing it was possi- 
 ble to exceed it. I own I was myself some- 
 what curious respecting the use which could 
 be made of the door of La Belle Alliance, 
 unless upon a speculation of cutting it up in- 
 to trinkets, like Shakspeare's mulberry-tree. 
 
 A relique of greater moral interest was 
 given me by a lady, whose father had found 
 it upon the field of battle. It is a manuscript 
 collection of French songs, bearing stains of 
 clay and blood, which probably indicate the 
 fate of the proprietor. One or two of these 
 romances I thought pretty, and have since 
 had an opportunity of having them translated 
 into English, by meeting at Paris with one of 
 our Scottish men of rhyme. 
 o 
 
210 Paul's letters 
 
 ROMANCE OF DUNOIS. 
 
 It was Dunois, the young and brave, was bound for Pales- 
 tine, 
 
 But first he made his orisons before Saint Mary's shrine : 
 
 f And grant, immortal Queen of Heaven," was still the 
 soldier's prayer, 
 
 " That I may prove the bravest knight, and love the fair- 
 est fair," 
 
 His oath of honour on the shrine he graved it with his 
 
 sword, 
 And follow'd to the Holy Land the banner of his Lord; 
 Where, faithful to his noble vow, his war-cry fill'd the air,— 
 u Be honour'd aye the bravest knight, beloved the fairest 
 
 fair." 
 
 They owed the conquest to his arm, and then his liege-lord 
 
 said, 
 a The heart that has for honour beat by bliss must be re- 
 
 My daughter Isabel and thou shall be a wedded pair, 
 For thou art bravest of the brave, she fairest of the fair." 
 
 And then they bound the holy knot before Saint Mary's 
 shrine, 
 
 That makes a paradise on earth if hearts and hands com- 
 bine; 
 
 And every lord and lady bright that were in chapel there, 
 
 Cried, " Honour'd be the bravest knight, beloved the fair- 
 est fair !" 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 211 
 
 THE TROUBADOUR. 
 
 Glowing with love, on fire for fame, 
 
 A Troubadour that hated sorrow, 
 Beneath his Lady's window came, 
 
 And thus he sung his last good-morrow : 
 " My arm it is my country's right, 
 
 My heart is in my true love's bower; 
 Gaily for love and fame to fight 
 
 Befits the gallant Troubadour." 
 
 And while he march'd with helm on head 
 
 And harp in hand, the descant rung, 
 As faithful to his favourite maid, 
 
 The minstrel-burthen still he sung : 
 " My arm it is my country's right, 
 
 My heart is in my lady's bower; 
 Resolved for love and fame to fight, 
 
 I come, a gallant Troubadour." 
 
 Even when the battle-roar was deep, 
 
 With dauntless heart he hewed his way, 
 Mid splintering lance and falchion -sweep, 
 
 And still was heard his warrior-lay ; 
 " My life it is my country's right, 
 
 My heart is in my lady's bower; 
 For love to die, for fame to fight, 
 
 Becomes the valiant Troubadour." 
 
212 Paul's letters 
 
 Alas ! upon the bloody field 
 
 He fell beneath the foeman's glaive, 
 But still, reclining on his shield, 
 
 Expiring sung the exulting stave: 
 <{ My life it is my country's right, 
 
 My heart is in my lady's bower; 
 For love and fame to fall in fight 
 
 Becomes the valiant Troubadour." 
 
 The tone of these two romances chimes in 
 not unhappily with the circumstances in which 
 the manuscript was found, although I do not 
 pretend to have discovered the real effusions 
 of a military bard, since the first of them, to 
 my certain knowledge, and I have no doubt 
 the other also, is a common and popular 
 song in France. The following Anacreontic 
 is somewhat of a different kind, and less con- 
 nected with the tone of feeling excited by 
 the recollection, that the manuscript in which 
 it occurs was the relique of a field of bat- 
 tle :— 
 
 It chanced that Cupid on a season, 
 By Fancy urged, resolved to wed, 
 
 But could not settle whether Reason 
 Or Folly should partake his bed. 
 
TO HIS KIXSFOLK. 213 
 
 What does he then ? — Upon my life, 
 
 'Twas bad example r or a deity- 
 He takes me Reason for his wife, 
 
 And Folly for his hours of gaiety. 
 
 Though thus he dealt in petty treason, 
 He loved them both in equal measure ; 
 
 fidelity was born of Reason, 
 
 And Folly brought to bed of Pleasure. 
 
 There is another verse of this last song, but 
 so much defaced by stains, and disfigured 
 by indifferent orthography, as to be unintel- 
 ligible. The little collection contains several 
 other ditties, but rather partaking too much 
 of the freedom of the corps de garde, to be 
 worthy the trouble of transcription or trans- 
 lation. 
 
 I have taken more pains respecting these 
 poems than their intrinsic poetical merit can 
 be supposed to deserve, either in the original 
 or the English version ; but I cannot divide 
 them from the interest which they have ac- 
 quired by the place and manner in which they 
 were obtained, and therefore account them 
 
214 Paul's letters 
 
 more precious than any of the other remains 
 of Waterloo which have fallen into my pos- 
 session. 
 
 Had these reliques of minstrelsy, or any 
 thing corresponding to them in tone and spi- 
 rit, been preserved as actual trophies of the 
 fields of Cressy and Agincourt, how many gay 
 visions of knights and squires and trouba- 
 dours, and sirventes and his, and courts of 
 Love and usages of antique chivalry, would 
 the perusal have excited ! Now, and brought 
 close to our own times, they can only be con- 
 sidered as the stock in trade of the master of 
 a regimental band ; or at best, we may sup- 
 pose the compilation to have been the pas- 
 time of some young and gay French officer, 
 who, little caring about the real merits of the 
 quarrel in which he was engaged, considered 
 the war by which the fate of Europe was to 
 be decided only as a natural and animating 
 exchange for the pleasures of Paris. Still the 
 gallantry and levity of the poetry compels 
 us to contrast its destined purpose, to cheer 
 hours of mirth or of leisure, with the place in 
 which the manuscript was found, trampled 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 215 
 
 down in the blood of the writer, and flung 
 away by the hands of the spoilers, who had 
 stripped him on the field of battle. I will not, 
 however, trouble you with any further trans- 
 lations at present ; only to do justice to my 
 gallant Troubadour, I will subjoin the original 
 French in the postscript to this letter. It is 
 a task of some difficulty ; for accurate ortho- 
 graphy was not a quality of the original writer, 
 and I am myself far from possessing a critical 
 knowledge of the French language, though 
 I have endeavoured to correct his most ob- 
 vious errors. I am, dear sister, affectionately 
 yours, 
 
 Paul, 
 
216 paul's letters 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 CHANSON. 
 
 Partant pour la Syrie le jeune et beau Dunois, 
 Alia prier Marie de benir ses exploits, 
 " Faites, O Reine immortelle/' lui dit-il en partant, 
 f Que j'aime la plus belle, et sois le plus vaillanU" 
 
 II grave sur la pierre le serment de Thonneur, 
 Et va suivre en guerre le Comte et son seigneur ; 
 Au noble vceu fidele il crie en combattant, 
 " Amour a la plus belle, gloire au plus vaillant. ,, 
 
 Ou lui doit la victoire — " Dunois" dit son Seigneur, 
 " Puisque tu fais ma gloire je ferai ton bonheur, 
 De ma fille Isabelle, sois V epoux a 1' instant, 
 Car elle est la plus belle, et toi le plus vaillant." 
 
 A V autel de Marie ils contractent tous les deux, 
 Cette union cheVie qui seule les rend heureux; 
 Chacune Dame a la Chapelle s* eerie en les voyant, 
 u Amour a la plus belle, honneur au plus vaillant !" 
 
 ROMANCE DE TROUBADOUR. 
 
 Brulant d' amour, en partant pour la guerre, 
 Le Troubadour, ennemi de chagrin, 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 211 
 
 Pensoit ainsi a sa jeune bergere, 
 
 Tous les matins en chantant ce refrain ; 
 
 " Mon bras a ma patrie, 
 
 Mon cceur pour mon amie, 
 
 Mourir gaiment pour la Gloire et 1' Amour, 
 
 C'est le devoir 6? un vaillant Troubadour." 
 
 Dans le bivouac le Troubadour fidele, 
 La casque au front, la guittarre a la main, 
 Dans sa del ire, a sa jeune bergere, 
 Chantoit ainsi le joyeux refrain ; 
 
 " Mon bras a ma patrie, 
 
 Mon coeur pour mon amie, 
 
 Mourir gaiment pour la Gloire et 1* Amour, 
 
 C'est le devoir d' un vaillant Troubadour." 
 
 Dans les combats deployant son courage, 
 La courage au cceur, la, glaive a la main, 
 Etoit le meme au milieu de carnage, 
 Chaque matin, en chantant le refrain ; 
 
 " Mon br^s a ma patrie, 
 
 Mon coeur & mon amie, 
 
 Mourir gaiment, pour 1' honneur et 1' amour, 
 
 C'est le devoir d'un vrai Troubadour." 
 
 Cet brave, helas ! deployant son courage, 
 Aux ennemis en bravant le destin, 
 11 respiroit sur la fin son ame, 
 Nommant sa belle, et chantant le refrain ; 
 
 " Mon bras a ma patrie, 
 
 Mon coeur a mon amie, 
 
 Mourir gaiment pour 1' honneur et 1* amour, 
 
 C'est le devoir d*un vrai Troubadour." 
 
218 paul's letters 
 
 CHANSON DE LA FOLIE. 
 
 De prendre femme un jour, dit-on, 
 "V Amour conduit la Fantasie, 
 On lui proposa la Raison, 
 On lui proposa la Folie. — 
 Quel choix feroit le Dieu fripon, 
 Chacune d' eux est fort jolie— 
 II prit pour femme la Raison, 
 Et pour maitresse la Folie. 
 
 II les aimoit toutes les deux, 
 Avec une Constance egale, 
 Mais T epoux vivant au mieux, 
 Avec la charmante rivale, 
 Naquit un double rejeton, 
 De la double galanterie, 
 L' amant* naquit de la Raison, 
 Et le Plaisir de la Folie. 
 
 « Ita in MS. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 219 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 PAUL TO , ESQ. OF 
 
 The obligation which I contracted to write 
 to you, my dear friend, upon subjects in some 
 degree connected with your statistical pursuits, 
 hangs round the neck of my conscience, and 
 encumbers me more than any of the others 
 which I have rashly entered into. But you will 
 forgive the deficiencies of one who, though 
 for fifteen years doomed to be a farmer, has 
 hitherto looked upon his sheep and cows rather 
 as picturesque objects in the pasture, than 
 subjects of profit in the market, and who, by 
 some unaccountable obtuseness of intellect, 
 never could interest himself about his turnips 
 or potatoes, unless they were placed upon 
 the dinner table. Could I have got an intel- 
 ligent Flemish farmer to assist me, I have little 
 
220 Paul's letters 
 
 doubt that I might have sent you some inte* 
 resting information from that land of Goshen, 
 where the hand of the labourer is never for an 
 instant folded in inactivity upon his bosom, 
 and where the rich soil repays with ready 
 gratitude the pains bestowed in cultivation. 
 Promptitude and regularity, the soul of all 
 agricultural operations, are here in such ac- 
 tive exertion, that before the corn is driven 
 out of the field in which it has been reaped, 
 the plough is at work upon the stubble, lea- 
 ving only the ridges occupied by the shocks. 
 The fertility of the soil is something unequal- 
 led, even in our best carse lands, being gene- 
 rally a deep and inexhaustible mould, as fa- 
 vourable for forest-trees as for cultivation. 
 Cheapness isthe natural companion of plenty; 
 and I should suppose that Brussels, considered 
 as a capital, where every luxury can be com- 
 manded, is at present one of the economical 
 places of residence in Europe. I began a 
 brief computation, from which it appeared, 
 that I might support myself with those com- 
 forts or luxuries which habit has rendered 
 necessary to me, maintaining at the same time 
 6 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 221 
 
 decent hospitality, and a respectable appear- 
 ance, for about the sum of direct taxes which 
 I pay to the public in Scotland. But ere I had 
 time to grumble at my lot, came the comfort- 
 able recollection ; that my humble home in the 
 north is belted in by the broad sea, and divi- 
 ded from all the convulsions that have threat- 
 ened the continent, that no contending armies 
 have decided the fate of the world within ten 
 miles of my dwelling, and that the sound of 
 cannon never broke my rest, unless as an ear- 
 ly feu-de-joie. These, with the various cir- 
 cumstances of safety and freedom connected 
 with them, and arising out of them, are rea- 
 sons more than sufficient for determining my 
 preference in favour of my own homely home. 
 But for such as have better reasons than 
 mere economy for chusing a short residence 
 abroad^ Brussels possesses great attractions. 
 The English society there, so far as I saw it, 
 is of the very first order, and I understand 
 that of the principal families of the Nether- 
 lands is accessible and pleasant. This, how- 
 ever, is wandering from the promised topics— 
 revenons d nos moutons. 
 
222 Paul's letters 
 
 The farm-houses and cottages in the Ne- 
 therlands have an air of ease and comfort 
 corresponding with the healthy and content- 
 ed air of their inhabitants. That active indus- 
 try, which eradicates every weed, prevents the 
 appearance of waste and disorder, and turns 
 every little patch of garden or orchard- 
 ground to active profit, is no where seen to 
 more advantage than in the Netherlands; 
 and the Flemish painters copied from nature 
 when they represented the groups of trees 
 and thickets in which their cottages are usu- 
 ally embosomed. These thickets, and the 
 woods of a larger scale, which are numerous 
 and extensive, supply the inhabitants with 
 fuel, though there are also coal-mines wrought 
 to considerable extent near Charleroi. The 
 woods are chiefly of beech, but varied with 
 birches, oaks, and other trees. The oaks, in 
 particular, seem to find this a favourite soil, 
 and are to be seen sprouting freely in situa- 
 tions where the surface appears a light and 
 loose sand. In the lower strata, no doubt, 
 they find a clay soil better adapted to their 
 nourishment. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 223 
 
 The forests of Flanders were formerly of a 
 more valuable description than at present, 
 for the trees fit for ship-timber have been in a 
 great measure cut down by Buonaparte's or- 
 ders, in his eager desire to create a navy at 
 Antwerp. Nothing could better mark the 
 immensity of his projects, and the extensive 
 means which he had combined for their execu- 
 tion, than the magnificent dock-yards which 
 he created in that city. The huge blocks of 
 hewn stone, of the most beautiful grey co- 
 lour and closest grain, each weighing from two 
 to four tons, which were employed in facing 
 the large and deep basins which he construct- 
 ed, were brought by water from the quarries 
 of Charleroi, at the distance of sixty miles and 
 upwards. The fortifications also, which Buo- 
 naparte added to those of the city, were of the 
 most formidable description. Nevertheless the 
 British thunders reached his vessels even in 
 their well-defended dock-yards, as was testified 
 by several of them having been sunk during 
 the bombardment by Sir Thomas Graham, 
 of which the masts yet remain visible above 
 water. The people of Antwerp did not 
 
 3 
 
224 Paul's letters 
 
 speak with much respect of the talents of 
 Carnot, (their governor during the siege,) 
 considered as an engineer, although we have 
 often heard them mentioned with applause in 
 England. They pointed out the remains of 
 a small fascine-battery, which was said to 
 be misplaced, and never to have done any 
 execution, as the only offensive preparation 
 made by order of this celebrated mathemati- 
 cian. In other respects the citizens were 
 agreeably deceived in Carnot, whose appoint- 
 ment to the government of the city was re- 
 garded with the greatest apprehensions by 
 the inhabitants, who remembered that he had 
 been the minister and instrument of Robes- 
 pierre. He gave them, however, no reason 
 to complain of him, and the necessary mea- 
 sures which he adopted of destroying such 
 parts of the suburbs as interfered witli the fire 
 of the batteries, and the defence of the place, 
 were carried into execution with as much 
 gentleness and moderation as the inhabitants 
 could have expected. The town itself, being 
 studiously spared by the clemency of the be- 
 sieging general, suffered but little from the 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 225 
 
 British fire, though some houses were ruined 
 by the bombs, and particularly the Douane, 
 or French custom-house, whose occupants had 
 so long vexed the Flemings by their extor- 
 tion, that its destruction was regarded by 
 them with great joy. 
 
 Belgium, or Flanders, has of late acquired 
 a new political existence, as a principal part 
 of the kingdom of the Netherlands. I am 
 no friend, in general, to the modern politi- 
 cal legerdemain, which transfers cities and 
 districts from one state to another, substi- 
 tuting the " natural boundaries'* (a phrase 
 invented by the French to justify their own 
 usurpations,) by assuming a river, or a chain 
 of mountains, or some other geographical 
 line of demarcation, instead of the moral li- 
 mits which have been drawn, by habits of 
 faith and loyalty to a particular sovereign or 
 form of government, by agreement in political 
 and religious opinions, and by resemblance of 
 language and manners ^ limits traced at first 
 perhaps by the influence of chance, but which 
 have been rendered sacred and indelible by 
 long course of time and the habits which 
 p 
 
226 paul's letteus 
 
 it has gradually fostered. Arrondissements, 
 therefore, Indemnities, and all the other terms 
 of modern date, under sanction of which ci- 
 ties and districts, and even kingdoms, have 
 been passed from one government to an- 
 other, as the property of lands and stock 
 is transferred by a bargain between private 
 parties, have been generally found to fail in 
 their principal object. Either a general in- 
 difference to the form of government and its 
 purposes, have been engendered in those 
 whom superior force has thus rendered the 
 sport of circumstances ; or where the minds 
 of the population are of a higher and more 
 vigorous order, the forced transference has 
 only served to increase their affection to the 
 country from which they have been torn, 
 and their hatred against that to which they 
 are subjected. The alienation of the Tyrol 
 from Austria may be quoted as an example 
 of the latter effect ; and it is certain, that 
 this iniquitous habit of transferring allegiance 
 in the gross from one state to another, with- 
 out consulting either the wishes or the preju- 
 dices of those from whom it is claimed, has 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 227 
 
 had the former consequences of promoting a 
 declension of public spirit among the smaller 
 districts of Germany. Upon the map, indeed, 
 the new acquisitions are traced with the same 
 colour which distinguishes the original domi- 
 nions of the state to which they are attached, 
 and in the accompanying gazetteer, we read 
 that such a city, with its liberties, containing 
 so many thousand souls, forms now a part of 
 the population of such a kingdom : But can 
 this be seriously supposed (at least until the 
 lapse of centuries) to convey to the subjects, 
 thus transferred, that love and affection to 
 their new dynasty of rulers, that reverence 
 for the institutions in church and state, those 
 wholesome and honest prejudices in favour of 
 the political society to which we belong, 
 which go so far in forming the love of our 
 native country ? " Care I for the limbs, the 
 thewes, the sinews of a man — Give me the 
 spirit !" — and when the stipulations of a trea- 
 ty, or the decrees of a conqueror, can trans- 
 fer with the lands and houses the love, faith, 
 and attachment of the inhabitants, I will be- 
 lieve that such arrondissements make a whole- 
 
228 paul's letters 
 
 some and useful part of the state to which 
 they are assigned. Until then the attempt 
 seems much like that of a charlatan who 
 should essay to ingraft, as an useful and ser- 
 viceable limb, upon the person of one pati- 
 ent, the arm or leg which he has just ampu- 
 tated from another. 
 
 But though it seems in general sound and 
 good doctrine, to beware of removing anci- 
 ent land-marks, and although the great mis- 
 fortunes of Europe may be perhaps traced to 
 the partition of Poland, in which this attempt 
 was first made upon the footing of open vio- 
 lence, yet the union between the Low Coun- 
 tries and the States of Holland must be ad- 
 mitted to form a grand exception to the ge- 
 neral rule. It is, indeed, rather a restoration 
 of the natural union which subsisted before 
 the time of Philip the Second, than a new- 
 modelled arrangement of territory ; the un- 
 settled situation of Flanders, in particular, 
 having long been such as to make it the com- 
 mon and ordinary stage, upon which all the 
 prize-fighters of Europe decided their quar- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 2f 9 
 
 rels. To a people too often abandoned to 
 the subaltern oppression of governors sent 
 from their foreign masters, it is no small boon 
 to be placed under a mild and mitigated mo- 
 narchy, and united with a nation whose cus- 
 toms, habits, and language, are so similar to 
 their own. Still, however, such is the influ- 
 ence of the separate feelings and opinions 
 acquired during the lapse of two centuries, 
 that many prejudices remain to be smoothed 
 away, and much jealousy to be allayed, and 
 soothed, before the good influence of the uni- 
 on can be completely felt. 
 
 The first and most irritating cause of ap- 
 prehension is the difference of religion. The 
 Flemings are very zealous, and very ignorant 
 catholics, over whom their clergy have a pro- 
 portional power. The king's declared pur- 
 pose of toleration has greatly alarmed this 
 powerful body, and the nerve which has thus 
 been touched has not failed to vibrate through 
 the whole body politic. The Archbishop of 
 Liege, formerly a great adherent and ally of 
 Buonaparte, has found his conscience alarm- 
 ingly twinged by so ominous a declaration on 
 
230 paul's letters 
 
 the part of a Calvinistic monarch, and has al- 
 ready made his remonstrance against this part 
 of the proposed constitution in a pastoral let- 
 ter, which is couched in very determined 
 language. But the present royal family are too 
 surely seated, and the times, it may be hoped, 
 too liberal, for such fulminations to interfere 
 with the progress of toleration. Meanwhile 
 the king neglects nothing that fairly can be 
 done to conciliate his new catholic subjects. 
 He has recently pledged himself to use his 
 utmost exertions to recover from the pos- 
 session of the French the pictures which they 
 carried off from various churches in the Ne- 
 therlands, and particularly from Brussels and 
 Antwerp. Among the last, was the chef- 
 d'oeuvre of Rubens, the Descent from the 
 Cross, which, with two corresponding pic- 
 tures relative to the same subject, once hung 
 above the high altar in the magnificent ca- 
 thedral at Antwerp, where the copartments, 
 which they once filled, remain still vacant to 
 remind the citizens of their loss. All the other 
 ornaments of that superb cathedral shared 
 the fate of this masterpiece, excepting only a 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 231 
 
 painting which Rubens executed to decorate 
 the chapel in which he himself lies buried ; 
 and which an unusual feeling of respect and 
 propriety prevented the spoilers from tearing 
 away from his tomb. The composition of the 
 picture has something curious ; for under the 
 representation of a Holy Family, and various 
 characters of the New Testament, the artist 
 has painted his grandfather, his father, his 
 three wives, and his mistress, the last in the 
 character of the Virgin Mary, to whom the 
 others are rendering homage. He has also 
 introduced his own portrait, a noble martial 
 figure, dressed in armour, and in the act of 
 unfurling a banner. Whatever may be thought 
 of the decorum of such a picture painted for 
 such a place, the beauty of the execution can- 
 not be sufficiently admired. While the Eng- 
 lish traveller is called upon for once to ac- 
 knowledge the moderation of the French, who 
 have left at least one monument of art in the 
 place to which it was most appropriate, he 
 will probably wish they had carried off with 
 them the trash of wax figures, which, to the 
 disgrace of good taste and common sense, are 
 
232 rAUL's LETTERS 
 
 still the objects of popular adoration. Ab- 
 stracted from all polemics, one can easily con- 
 ceive that the sight of an interesting painting, 
 representing to our material organs the portrait 
 of a saint, or an affecting scene of Scripture, 
 may not only be an appropriate ornament in 
 the temple of worship, but, like church-music, 
 may have its effect in fixing the attention, and 
 aiding the devotion of the congregation. It 
 may be also easily understood, and readily for- 
 given, that when kneeling before the very 
 altar to which our ancestors in trouble resorted 
 for comfort, we may be gradually led to annex 
 a superstitious reverence to the place itself: 
 But when, in the midst of such a cathedral as 
 that of Antwerp, one of the grandest pieces 
 of Gothic architecture which Europe can 
 show, — when among the long-drawn aisles and 
 lofty arches, which seem almost the work of 
 demi-gods, so much does the art and toil be- 
 stowed surpass what modern times can pre- 
 sent,— rwh en, in the midst of such a scene, we 
 find a wax figure of the Virgin, painted, patch- 
 ed, frizzled, and powdered ; with a tarnished 
 satin gown (the skirt held up by two che- 
 
 6 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 233 
 
 i 
 
 rubs,) paste ear-rings and necklace, differing 
 in no respect, but in size, from the most paltry- 
 doll that ever was sold in a toy- shop ; and ob- 
 serve this incongruous and ridiculous swamy 
 the object of fervid and zealous adoration 
 from the votaries who are kneeling before it, 
 we see the idolatry of the Romish church in a 
 point of view disgusting and humiliating as 
 that of ancient Egypt, and cease to wonder at 
 the obstinacy of the prelate of Liege and his 
 brethren, who fear the light which universal 
 toleration would doubtless throw upon the 
 benighted worship of their great Diana. In 
 the meanwhile the promise of the king to 
 procure restoration of the pictures, is recei- 
 ved by most of the Flemings as a pledge that 
 the religion, which he himself professes, will 
 not prevent his interesting himself in that of 
 the catholics ; and I think there can be little 
 doubt that, under the gradual influence of 
 time and example, the grosser points of su- 
 perstition will be tacitly abandoned here, as 
 in other catholic countries. 
 
 The Dutch have a more worldly subject of 
 jealousy in the state of their commerce, which 
 
284 paul's letters 
 
 ~7fo\ 
 
 cannot but be materially affected by the open- 
 ing of the Scheldt, whenever that desirable 
 event shall have taken place, and also by the 
 principal residence of the government being 
 changed from the Hague to Brussels. But they 
 are a reflecting people, and are already aware 
 that the operation of both these changes will 
 be slow and gradual ; for commerce is not at 
 once transferred from the channels in which it 
 has long flowed ; and for some time, at least, 
 family recollections and attachments will make 
 the royal family frequent residents in Hol- 
 land, notwithstanding the charms of the pa- 
 lace of Lacken. In the meanwhile the Dutch 
 gain the inestimable advantage of having the 
 battle turned from their gates, and of enjoy- 
 ing the protection of a strong barrier placed 
 at a distance from their own frontier, — bless- 
 ings of themselves sufficient to compensate 
 the inconvenience which they may for a time 
 sustain, until they transfer their capital and 
 industry to the new channels offered for them 
 by the union. 
 
 Nothing could have happened so fortunate 
 for the popularity of the house of Orange as 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 235 
 
 the active and energetic character of the he- 
 reditary prince. His whole behaviour during 
 the actions of Quatre Bras and Waterloo, and 
 the wound which (it may almost be said fortu- 
 nately) he received upon the latter occasion, 
 have already formed the strongest bond of 
 union between his family and their new sub- 
 jects, long unaccustomed to have sovereigns 
 who could lead them to battle, and shed their 
 blood in the national defence. The military 
 force, which he is at this moment perpetually 
 increasing, is of a respectable description ; for, 
 though some of the Belgian troops behaved 
 ill during the late brief campaign, there were 
 other corps, and particularly infantry and ar- 
 tillery, both Dutch and Flemings, whose firm- 
 ness and discipline equalled those of any re- 
 giments in the field. The brave Beiges are 
 naturally proud of the military glory they have 
 acquired, as well as of the prince who led 
 them on. In every corner of Brussels there 
 were ballad-singers bellowing out songs in 
 praise of the prince and his followers. I, who 
 am a collector of popular effusions, did not 
 fail to purchase specimens of the Flemish min- 
 
236 paul's letters 
 
 strclsy, in which, by the way, there is no more 
 mention of the Duke of Wellington, or of John 
 Bull, than if John Bull and his illustrious 
 general had had nothing to do with the bat- 
 tle of Waterloo. 
 
 This little omission of the Flemish bards 
 proceeds, however, from no disinclination to 
 the Duke or to England. On the contrary, 
 our wounded received during their illness, 
 and are yet experiencing, during their conva- 
 lescence, the most affecting marks of kindness 
 and attention from the inhabitants of Brus- 
 sels. These acts of friendship towards their 
 allies were not suspended (as will sometimes 
 happen in this world) until the chance of war 
 had decided in favour of the English. Even 
 on the 17th, when the defeat of Blucher, and 
 the retreat of the Duke of Wellington, autho- 
 rised them to entertain the most gloomy ap- 
 prehensions for their own safety, as well as to 
 fear the vengeance of the French for any par- 
 tiality they might show towards their enemies, 
 the kind citizens of Brussels were not deterred 
 from the exercise of kindness and hospitality. 
 They were seen meeting the wounded with 
 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 23*7 
 
 refreshments ; some seeking for those soldiers 
 who had been quartered in their houses, others 
 bestowing their care on the first disabled suf- 
 ferer they met with, carrying him to their 
 home, and nursing him like a child of the fa- 
 mily, at all the cost, trouble, and risk, with 
 which their hospitality might be attended. 
 The people of Antwerp, to which city were 
 transferred upon the 17th and 18th most of 
 those who had been wounded at Quatre Bras, 
 were equally zealous in the task of the good 
 Samaritan. Many of our poor fellows told me, 
 that they must have perished but for the at- 
 tention of these kind Flemings, whose 
 
 " Entire affection scorned nicer hands," 
 
 since many of the highest and most respect- 
 able classes threw pride and delicacy aside to 
 minister to the wants of the sufferers. On 
 their part, the Flemings were often compelled 
 to admire the endurance and hardihood of 
 their patients. "Your countrymen/' said a 
 lady to me, who spoke our language well, 
 " are made of iron, and not of flesh and blood. 
 I saw a wounded Highlander stagger along 
 
238 Paul's letters 
 
 the street, supporting himself by the rails, 
 and said to him, I am afraid you are severely 
 hurt. ! I was born in Lochaber,' answered the 
 poor fellow, \ and I do not care for a wound ;' 
 but ere I could complete my offer of shelter 
 and assistance, he sunk down at my feet a dy- 
 ing man." In one house in Brussels, occu- 
 pied by a respectable manufacturer and his two 
 sisters, thirty wounded soldiers were received, 
 nursed, fed, and watched, the only labour of 
 the medical attendants being to prevent their 
 hosts from giving the patients more wine and 
 nourishing food than suited their situation. 
 We may hope the reciprocal benefits of de- 
 fence and of hospitality will be long remem- 
 bered, forming a kindly connection between 
 England and a country which, of all others, 
 may be most properly termed her natural ally. 
 I have again wandered from agriculture 
 into politics and military affairs, but I have 
 little to add which properly belongs to your 
 department, since I have no doubt that you 
 have already sate in judgment upon the Fle- 
 mish plough, rake, and hay-fork, presented to 
 the Highland Society by one of its most 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 239 
 
 active members. The most remarkable im- 
 plement of agriculture which fell under my 
 observation was a sort of hooked stick, which 
 the reaper holds in his left hand, and uses to 
 collect and lay the corn as he cuts it with a 
 short scythe. The operation is very speedy, 
 for one person engaged in it can keep two 
 or three constantly employed in binding the 
 sheafs. But I suppose it would only answer 
 where the ground is level and free from stones. 
 The furniture of the Flemings, and, gene- 
 rally speaking, their implements of labour, 
 &c. have a curious correspondence with what 
 we have been accustomed to consider as their 
 national character; being strong and solid, 
 but clumsy and inelegant, and having a great 
 deal more substance employed in construct- 
 ing them than seems at all necessary. Thus 
 the lever of an ordinary draw-well is generally 
 one long tree ; and their waggons and barges 
 are as huge and heavy as the horses which 
 draw them. The same cumbrous solidity which 
 distinguishes the female figures of Rubens, 
 may be traced in the domestic implements 
 
 3 
 
240 Paul's letters 
 
 and contrivances of his countrymen. None 
 would have entertained you more than the 
 apparatus provided for securing a horse while 
 in the act of being shod, a case in which our 
 Vulcans trust to an ordinary halter and their 
 own address. But a Flemish horse is immured 
 within a wooden erection of about his own 
 size, having a solid roof, supported by four 
 massive posts, such as a British carpenter 
 would use to erect a harbour-crane. The ani- 
 mal's head is fastened between two of these 
 huge columns with as many chains and cords 
 as might have served to bind Baron Trenck ; 
 and the foot which is to be shod is secured 
 in a pair of stocks, which extend between 
 two of the upright beams. This is hardly 
 worth writing, though ridiculous to look at ; 
 but there is something, as Anstey says, " so 
 clumsy and clunch" in the massive strength 
 of the apparatus, in the very unnecessary ex- 
 tent of the precaution, and in the waste of 
 time, labour, and materials, that it may be se- 
 lected as an indication of a national charac- 
 ter, displaying itself in the most ordinary and 
 trifling particulars. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 241 
 
 Adieu, my dear friend ; I am sorry I can 
 send you no more curious information upon 
 your favourite subject. But it would be un- 
 necessary to one who is skilled in all the mo- 
 dern arts of burning without fire, and feeding 
 without pasture ; and who requires no receipts 
 from Holland to teach him how to lay on so 
 much fat upon a bullock or a pig as will make 
 the flesh totally unfit for eating. Yours affec- 
 tionately* 
 
 Paul, 
 
242 paul's letters 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 I have now, my dear friend, reached Paris, 
 after traversing the road from Brussels to this 
 conquered capital through sights and sounds 
 of war, and yet more terrible marks of its re- 
 cent ravages. The time was interesting, for 
 although our route presented no real danger, 
 yet it was not, upon some occasions, without 
 such an appearance of it as naturally to im- 
 press a civilian with a corresponding degree 
 of alarm. All was indeed new to me, and the 
 scenes which I beheld were such as press most 
 deeply on the feelings. 
 
 We were following the route of the victori- 
 ous English army, to which succours of every 
 sort, and reinforcements of troops recently 
 landed in Flanders, were pressing eagerly for- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 243 
 
 ward, so that the towns and roads were filled 
 with British and foreign troops. For the war, 
 although ended to all useful and essential pur- 
 poses, could not in some places be said to be 
 actually finished. Conde had surrendered but 
 a few days before, and Valenciennes still held 
 out, and, as report informed us, was to under- 
 go a renewal of the bombardment. Another 
 and contrary rumour assured us that an ar- 
 mistice had taken place, and that, as non- 
 combatants, the garrison would permit a party 
 even as alarming as our own to pass through 
 the town without interruption. I felt certainly 
 a degree of curiosity to see the most formidable 
 operation of modern war, but as I was far from 
 wishing the city of Valenciennes to have been 
 burned for my amusement, we were happy to 
 find that the latter report was accurate. Ac- 
 cordingly we passed the works and batteries of 
 the besiegers unquestioned by the Dutch and 
 Prussian videttes, who were stalking to and 
 fro upon their posts, and proceeded to the 
 gate of the place, where we underwent a brief 
 examination from the non-commissioned offi- 
 cer on duty, who looked at our passports, 
 
244 paul's letters 
 
 requested to know if we were military men, 
 and being answered in the negative, permit- 
 ted us to enter a dark, ill-built, and dirty 
 town. " And these are the men," I thought, 
 as I eyed the ill-dressed and ragged soldiers 
 upon duty at the gates of Valenciennes, "these 
 are the men who have turned the world up- 
 side down, and whose name has been the 
 night-mare of Europe, since most of this gene- 
 ration have written man !" They looked ugly 
 and dirty and savage enough certainly, but 
 seemed to have little superiority in strength or 
 appearance to the Dutch or Belgians. There 
 was, however, in the air and eye of the soldiers 
 of Buonaparte, (for such these military men 
 still called themselves,) something of pride and 
 self-elation, that indicated undaunted confi- 
 dence in their own skill and valouiv They ap- 
 peared, however, disunited and disorganized. 
 Some wore the white cockade, others still dis- 
 played the tri- colour, and one prudent fellow 
 had, for his own amusement and that of his 
 comrades, stuck both in his hat at once, so as 
 to make a cocarde de convenance, which might 
 suit either party that should get uppermost. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 245 
 
 We were not permitted to go upon the ram- 
 parts, and I did not think it necessary to walk 
 about a town in possession of a hostile soldiery 
 left to the freedom of their own wilL The 
 inhabitants looked dejected and unhappy, and 
 our landlady, far from displaying the liveli- 
 ness of a French-woman, was weeping-ripe, 
 and seemed ready to burst into tears at every 
 question which we put to her. Their appre- 
 hensions had been considerably relieved by 
 General Rey having himself assumed the white 
 cockade ; but as he still refused to admit any 
 of the allied troops within the city, there re- 
 mained a great doubt whether the allies would 
 content themselves with the blockade, to which 
 they had hitherto restricted their operations 
 against Valenciennes. The inhabitants were 
 partial, the landlady said, to the English, with 
 whom they were well acquainted, as Valen- 
 ciennes had been a principal depot for the 
 prisoners of war ; but they deprecated their 
 town being occupied by the Prussians or Bel- 
 gians, in whose lenity they seemed to place 
 but little reliance. 
 
246 paul's letters 
 
 On the road next day we met witrf very 
 undesirable company, being the disbanded 
 garrison of Cond6, whom the allies had dis- 
 missed after occupying that town. There is, 
 you may have remarked, something sinister in 
 the appearance of a common soldier of any 
 country when he is divested of his uniform. 
 The martial gait, look, and manner, and the 
 remaining articles of military dress which he 
 has retained, being no longer combined with 
 that neatness which argues that the individual 
 makes part of a civilized army,seem menacing 
 and ominous when that assurance is wanting. 
 If this is the case even with the familiar faces 
 of our own soldiery, the wild and swarthy fea- 
 tures, moustaches, and singular dresses of fo- 
 reigners, added much, as may well be suppo- 
 sed, of the look of banditti to the garrison of 
 Conde. They were indeed a true sample of 
 the desperate school to which they belonged, 
 for it was not many days since they had ar- 
 rested and put to death a French loyalist offi- 
 cer named Gordon, solely for summoning them 
 to surrender the town to the king. For this 
 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 24? 
 
 crime the brother of the murdered individual 
 is now invoking vengeance, but as yet fruit- 
 lessly, at the court of the Thuiileries. These 
 desperadoes, strolling in bauds of eight or ten 
 or twenty, as happened, occupied the road for 
 two or three miles, and sullen resentment and 
 discontent might easily be traced in their 
 looks. They offered us no rudeness, how- 
 ever, but contented themselves with staring 
 hard at us, as a truculent looking-fellow would 
 now and then call out Vive le Roi ! and sub- 
 join an epithet or two to show that it was 
 uttered in no mood of loyal respect. At every 
 cross-road two or three dropped off from the 
 main body, after going, with becoming grace, 
 through the ceremony of embracing and kiss- 
 ing their greasy companions. The thought 
 involuntarily pressed itself upon our mind, 
 what will become of these men, and what of 
 the thousands who, in similar circumstances, 
 are now restored to civil life, with all the wild 
 habits and ungoverned passions which war 
 and license have so long fostered ? Will the 
 lion lie down with the kid, or the trained free- 
 booter return to the peaceable and laborious 
 
248 paul's letters 
 
 pursuits of civil industry ? Or are they not 
 more likely to beg, borrow, starve, and steal, 
 until some unhappy opportunity shall again 
 give them a standard and a chieftain ? 
 
 We were glad when we got free of our mili- 
 tary fellow-travellers, with whom I should not 
 have chosen to meet by night, or in solitude, 
 being exactly of their appearance who would 
 willingly say " Stand" to a true man. But 
 we had no depredations to complain of, ex- 
 cepting the licensed extortions of the inn- 
 keepers, a matter of which you are the less 
 entitled to complain, because every prudent 
 traveller makes his bargain for his refresh- 
 ments and lodging before he suffers the bag- 
 gage to be taken from his carriage. Each 
 reckoning is therefore a formal treaty be- 
 tween you and mine host or hostess, in which 
 you have your own negligence or indifference 
 to blame, if you are very much over-reached. 
 It is scarce necessary to add, that the worst 
 and poorest inns are the most expensive in 
 proportion. But I ought not to omit in- 
 forming you, that notwithstanding a mode of 
 conducting their ordinary business, so much 
 

 TO HIS KINSFOLK. 249 
 
 savouring of imposition, there is no just room 
 to charge the French with more direct habits 
 of dishonesty. Your baggage and money is 
 always safe from theft or depredation, and 
 when I happened to forget a small writing- 
 box, in which there was actually some mo- 
 ney, and which had the appearance of being 
 intended for securing valuable articles, an 
 ostler upon horseback overtook our carriage 
 with it before I had discovered my mistake. 
 Yet it would have cost these people only a lie 
 to say they knew nothing of it, especially as 
 their house was full of soldiers of different 
 nations, whose presence certainly afforded a 
 sufficient apology for the disappearance of 
 such an article. This incident gave me a 
 favourable opinion of this class of society in 
 France, as possessed at least of that sort of 
 limited honesty which admits of no pecula- 
 tion excepting in the regular way of business. 
 The road from Brussels to Paris is, in its 
 ordinary state, destitute of objects to inte- 
 rest the traveller. The highways, planned 
 by Sully, and completed by his followers in 
 
 - : > 
 
250 Paul's letters 
 
 office, have a magnificence elsewhere un- 
 known. Their great breadth argues the little 
 value of ground at the time they were laid 
 out, but the perfect state in which the central 
 causeway is maintained, renders the passage 
 excellent even in the worst weather, while 
 the large track of ground on each side gives 
 an ample facility to use a softer road during 
 the more favourable season. They are usu- 
 ally shadowed by triple rows of elms, and fre- 
 quently of fruit-trees, which have a rich and 
 pleasant effect. But much of the picturesque 
 delights of travelling are lost in France, ow- 
 ing to the very circumstances which have 
 rendered the roads so excellent. For as 
 they were all made by the authority of a go- 
 vernment, which possessed and exercised the 
 power of going as directly from one point to 
 another as the face of the country admitted, 
 they preserve commonly that long and inflexi- 
 ble straight line, of all others least promising 
 to the traveller, who longs for the gradual 
 openingsof landscape afforded by a road which, 
 in sweet and varied modulation, " winds round 
 11 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 251 
 
 the corn-field and the hill of vines," being 
 turned as it were from its forward and straight 
 direction by respect for ancient property and 
 possession, some feeling for the domestic pri- 
 vacy and convenience, some sympathy even for 
 the prejudices and partialities of a proprietor. 
 I love not the stoical virtue of a Brutus, even 
 in laying out a turnpike-road, and should 
 augur more happily of a country (were there 
 nothing else to judge by) where the public 
 appears to have given occasionally a little 
 way to spare private property and domestic 
 seclusion, than of one where the high road 
 goes right to its marK without respect to ei- 
 ther. In the latter case it only proves the 
 authority of those who administer the go- 
 vernment, in the former it indicates respect 
 for private rights, for the protection of which 
 government itself is instituted. 
 
 But the traveller in France, upon my late 
 route, has less occasion than elsewhere to re- 
 gret the rectilinear direction of the road on 
 which he journeys, for the country offers no 
 picturesque beauty. The rivers are sluggish, 
 and have flat uninteresting banks. In the 
 
252 Paul's letters 
 
 towns there sometimes occurs a church wor- 
 thy of visiting, but no other remarkable build- 
 ing of any kind, and the sameness of th£ 
 architecture of the 15th century, to which 
 period most of them may be referred, is apt 
 to weary the attention when you have visit- 
 ed four or five churches in the course of 
 two days. The fortifications of the towns 
 are of the modern kind, and consequently 
 more formidable than picturesque. Of those 
 feudal castles which add such a venerable 
 grace to the landscape in many places of 
 England and Scotland, I have not seen one 
 either ruinous or entire. It would seem that 
 the policy of Louis XL, to call up his nobi- 
 lity from their estates to the court, and to 
 render them as far as possible dependent up- 
 on the crown, — a policy indirectly seconded 
 by the destruction of the noble families which 
 took place in the civil wars of the League, 
 and more systematically by the arts observed 
 during the reign of Louis XIV., — had suc- 
 ceeded so entirely as to root out almost all 
 traces of the country having ever been pos- 
 sessed by a noblesse campagnarde, who found 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 253 
 
 their importance, their power, and their re- 
 spectability, dependent on the attachment of 
 the peasants among whom they lived, and over 
 whom their interest extended. There are no 
 ruins of their ancient and defensible habita- 
 tions, and the few, the very few country 
 houses which the traveller sees, resemble 
 those built in our own country about the reign 
 of Queen Anne, while the grounds about them 
 seem in general neglected, the fences broken, 
 and the whole displaying that appearance of 
 waste which deforms a property after the ab- 
 sence of a proprietor for some years. 
 
 The furious patriots of the Revolution de* 
 nounced war against castles, and proclaimed 
 peace to the cottage. Of the former they found 
 comparatively few to destroy, and of the latter, 
 in the English sense of the word, there were 
 as few to be protected. The cultivator of 
 the fields in France, whether farmer or pea- 
 sant, does not usually live in a detached farm- 
 house or cottage, but in one of the villages 
 with which the country abounds. This cir- 
 cumstance, which is not altogether indiffer- 
 ent, so far as it concerns rural economics^ 
 10 
 
254 paul's letters 
 
 blemishes greatly the beauty of the landscape. 
 The solitary farm-house, with its little depen- 
 dencies of cottages, is in itself a beautiful ob- 
 ject, while it seldom fails to excite in the 
 mind, the idea of the natural and systematic 
 dependence of a few virtuous cottagers upon 
 an opulent and industrious farmer, who ex- 
 ercises over them a sort of natural and pa- 
 triarchal authority, which has not the less in- 
 fluence because the subjection of the hinds, 
 and their submission to their superior, is in 
 some degree voluntary. A large village, 
 composed of many farmers and small pro- 
 prietors, and who hire their labourers at 
 large, and without distinction, from amongst 
 the poorer class of the same town, is more 
 open to the feuds and disputes which disturb 
 human society, always least virtuous and or- 
 derly when banded in crowds together, and 
 when uninfluenced by the restraints of exam- 
 ple, and of authority approaching, as closely 
 as may be, to their own station in society. 
 
 Another uncomfortable appearance in 
 French landscape, is the total want of inclo- 
 s.ure. The ground is sedulously and industri- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 255 
 
 ously cultivated, and apparently no portion of 
 it is left without a crop. But the want of 
 hedges and hedge-row trees gives to an eye 
 accustomed to the richness of England, a 
 strange appearance of waste and neglect, even 
 where you are convinced, on a closer exami- 
 nation, that there exists in reality neither the 
 one nor the other. Besides there is necessarily 
 an absence of all those domestic animals which 
 add so much in reality, as well as in painting 
 and descriptive poetry, to the beauty of a 
 country. Where there are no inclosures, 
 and where at the same time the land is under 
 crop, it is plain that the painter must look in 
 vain for his groups of cattle, sheep, and hor- 
 ses, as the poet must miss his lowing herd and 
 bleating flock. The cattle of France are ac- 
 cordingly fed in the large straw-yards which 
 belong to each Met air ic, or large farm-house, 
 and the sheep are chiefly grazed in distant 
 tracts of open pasture. The former practice, 
 as a mode of keeping not only the stall-fed bul- 
 lock, but the cows destined for the dairy, has 
 been hailed with acclamation in our own coun- 
 try by many great agriculturists, and you 
 
256 Paul's letters 
 
 among others. But until I shall be quite assured 
 that the rustic economics profit by this edict 
 of perpetual imprisonment against the milky 
 mothers of the herd, in proportion to the dis- 
 comfort of the peaceful and useful animal 
 thus sequestered from its natural habits, and 
 to the loss of natural beauty in the rural 
 landscape, thus deprived of its most pleasing 
 objects, I would willingly move for a writ of 
 Habeas Corpus in favour of poor Crummie, 
 made a bond-slave in a free country. At 
 any rate, the total absence of cattle from the 
 fields, gives a dull and unanimated air to a 
 French landscape. 
 
 In travelling also through such parts of 
 France as I have seen, the eye more particu- 
 larly longs for that succession of country- 
 seats, with their accompaniments of parks, 
 gardens, and paddocks, which not only fur- 
 nish the highest ornaments of an English 
 landscape, but afford the best and most plea- 
 sing signs of the existence of a mild and be- 
 neficent aristocracy of land-holders, giving a 
 tone to the opinions of those around them, 
 not by the despotism of feudal authority and 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 257 
 
 direct power, but, as we have already said of 
 the farmer, by the gradual and impercep- 
 tible influence which property, joined with 
 education, naturally acquires over the more 
 humble cultivator of the soil. It is the least 
 evil consequence of the absence of the pro- 
 prietor, that with him vanishes those im- 
 provements upon the soil, and upon the face 
 of nature, which are produced by opulence 
 under the guidance of taste. The eye in 
 this country seldom dwells with delight up- 
 on trees growing, single or in groupes, at 
 large and unconfined, for the sole purpose of 
 ornament, and contrasting their unrestrained 
 vegetation and profusion of shade with such as, 
 being trained solely for the axe, have experi- 
 enced constant restraint from the closeness 
 of the masses in which they are planted, and 
 from the knife of the pruner. The French 
 forests themselves, when considered in their 
 general effect, though necessarily both nu- 
 merous and extensive, as furnishing the prin- 
 cipal fuel used by the inhabitants, are not 
 generally so disposed as to make an inte- 
 resting part of the scenery. The trees are 
 
 R 
 
258 paul's letteiis 
 
 seldom scattered into broken groupes, and 
 never arranged in hedge-rows, unless by the 
 sides of the highways. Large woods, or ra- 
 ther masses of plantations, cannot and do 
 not supply the variety of landscape afforded 
 by detached groves, or the rich and clothed 
 appearance formed by a variety of intersect- 
 ing lines composed of single trees. 
 
 The absence of inclosures gives also, at 
 least to our eyes, an unimproved and neglect- 
 ed air to this country. But upon close inspec- 
 tion the traveller is satisfied that the impres- 
 sion is inaccurate. The soil is rich, generally 
 speaking, and every part of the land is care- 
 fully cropped and cultivated. Although, there- 
 fore, the ground being undivided, except by 
 the colour of the various crops by which it is 
 occupied, has, at first sight, that waste and 
 impoverished appearance to which the inha- 
 bitant of an inclosed country is particularly 
 sensible, yet the returns which it makes to 
 the cultivator amply contradict the false im- 
 pression. It is truly a rich and fertile land, 
 affording in profusion all that can render sub- 
 sistence easy, and abounding with corn, wine, 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 259 
 
 and oil. When we consider France in this 
 light, it is impossible to suppress our feelings 
 of resentment at the irregular ambition, which 
 carried the inhabitants of so rich a country 
 to lay yet more waste the barren sands of 
 Prussia, and encumber with their corpses the 
 pathless wildernesses of Moscow and Ka- 
 louga. 
 
 But the hour of retaliation is now come, 
 and with whatever feelings of resentment we 
 regard the provocation, it is impossible to 
 view the distress of the country without deep 
 emotions of compassion. From one hill to 
 another our eye desccried the road before us 
 occupied by armed bands of every descrip- 
 tion, horse, foot, artillery, and baggage, with 
 their guards and attendants. Here was seen 
 a long file of cavalry moving on at a slow 
 pace, and collecting their forage as they ad- 
 vanced. There a park of artillery was formed 
 in a corn-field, of which the crop was trampled 
 down and destroyed. In one place we pass- 
 ed a regiment of soldiers, pressing forwards to 
 occupy some village for their night -quarters, 
 where the peasant must lay his account with 
 
£60 Paul's lettebs 
 
 finding his military guests whatever accom- 
 modation they are pleased to demand from 
 him ; in another we might see, what was still 
 more ominous to the country through which 
 the march was made, small parties of infantry 
 or of cavalry, detached upon duty, or strag- 
 gling for the purpose of plunder. The har- 
 vest stood ripened upon the fields, but it was 
 only in a few places that the farmer, amid the 
 confusion of the country, had ventured upon 
 the operation of reaping it, unless where he 
 was compelled by the constraint of a military 
 requisition, or the commands of a commissary. 
 It would have been a new sort of harvest- 
 home for you, and your faithful Grieve, to 
 have seen the labour of leading in the crop 
 performed by an armed force, and your sheaves 
 moving to head-quarters instead of the farm- 
 yard, under the escort of an armed and whis- 
 kered Prussian, smoking his pipe with great 
 composure on the top of each cart. Sometimes 
 odd enough rencounters took place during this 
 operation. A Prussian commissary, with his 
 waggons, met some French peasants driving 
 their carts, which occasioned a temporary stop 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 261 
 
 to both parties. While some of the Frenchmen 
 seemed zealously engaged in clearing way for 
 the military men, others approached the wag- 
 gons, and having previously contrived to as- 
 certain that none of the Prussians understood 
 French, they loaded them with all the abusive 
 epithets which that language affords ; taking 
 care, however, amid the vivacity of their vi- 
 tuperation, to preserve such an exterior of 
 respect in their manner and gestures, as in- 
 duced the honest Prussians to suppose the 
 Frenchmen were making apologies for the 
 temporary obstruction which they had given 
 to their betters. Thus the one party were 
 showering coquin, and vokurs* and brigand 
 upon the other, who ever and anon with great 
 gravity withdrew their pipes from their mouths 
 to answer these douceurs with Das ist gut—* 
 sehr zvohl, and similar expressions of acquies- 
 cence. It would have been cruel to have de- 
 prived the poor Frenchmen of this ingenious 
 mode of expectorating their resentment, but 
 I could not help giving them a hint, that the 
 commissary who was coming up understood 
 
262 paul's letters 
 
 their language, which had the instant effect of 
 sending the whole party to their horses' heads. 
 The inhabitants hastened to propitiate the 
 invaders, as far as possible, by assuming the 
 badges of loyalty to the house of Bourbon. 
 Nothing marked to my mind more strongly 
 the distracted state of the country, than the 
 apparent necessity which every, even the 
 humblest individual, thought himself under 
 of wearing a white cockade, and displaying 
 from the thatch of his cottage a white rag, to 
 represent the pavilon blanc. There was a 
 degreee of suspicion, arising from this very 
 unanimity, concerning the motives for which 
 these emblems were assumed ; and I dare say 
 the poor inhabitants might many of them have 
 expressed their feelings in the words of Flet- 
 cher, — 
 
 11 Who is he here that did not wish thee chosen, 
 Now thou art chosen ? Ask them — all will say so, 
 Nay swear't — 'tis for the king ; but let that pass," 
 
 With equal zeal the inhabitants of the towns 
 were laying aside each symbol that had refer- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 263 
 
 ence to Buonaparte, and emulously substitu- 
 ting a loyal equivalent. The sign-painter was 
 cleverest at his profession who could best con- 
 vert the word Imperiale into Roy ale ; but there 
 were many bunglers, whose attempts produ- 
 ced only a complicated union of the two con- 
 tradictory adjectives. Some prudent house- 
 keepers, tired apparently of the late repeated 
 changes, left a blank for the epithet, to be 
 inserted when the government should show 
 some permanency. 
 
 These numerous testimonies of acquies- 
 cence in the purpose of their march, were in 
 some measure lost upon the allied troops. The 
 British indeed preserved the strictest good 
 order and discipline, in obedience to the or- 
 ders issued and enforced by the commander 
 in chief. But as the army was necessarily 
 to be maintained at the expence of the coun- 
 try through which they passed, heavy requisi- 
 tions were issued by the commissaries, which 
 the French authorities themselves were under 
 the necessity of enforcing. Still as pillage 
 and free-booting, under pretext of free quar- 
 ters and maintenance, was strictly prohibited 
 
 9 
 
264 paul's letters 
 
 and punished, the presence of the English 
 troops was ardently desired, as a protection 
 against those of other nations. 
 
 Our allies the Prussians, as they had greater 
 wrongs to revenge, were far less scrupulous in 
 their treatment of the invaded country. When 
 Our road lay along their line of march we 
 found as many deserted villages as would 
 have jointured all Sultan Mahoud's owls. In 
 some places the inhabitants had fled to the 
 woods, and only a few miserable old creatures, 
 rendered fearless by age and poverty, came 
 around us, begging, or offering fruit for sale. 
 As the peasants had left their cottages locked 
 up, the soldiers as regularly broke them open, 
 by discharging a musket through the key-hole 
 and shattering all the wards at once by the 
 explosion. He who obtains admission by such 
 violent preliminaries is not likely to be a peace- 
 ful or orderly guest ; and accordingly furni- 
 ture broken and destroyed, windows dashed 
 in, doors torn down, and now and then a 
 burned cottage, joined with the state of the 
 hamlets, deserted by such of the terrified in- 
 habitants as were able to fly, and tenanted 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 265 
 
 only by the aged and disabled, reminded me 
 of the beautiful lines describing the march of 
 a conqueror, — 
 
 ° Amazement in his van with Flight combined, 
 And Sorrow's faded form and Solitude behind." 
 
 A friend of mine met with an interesting 
 adventure at one of these deserted villages. 
 He had entered the garden of a cottage of 
 somewhat a superior appearance, but which 
 had shared the fate of the rest of the hamlet. 
 As he looked around him he perceived that he 
 was watched from behind the bushes by two 
 or three children, who ran away as soon as 
 they perceived themselves observed. He call- 
 ed after them, but to no purpose. The sound 
 of the English accent, however, emboldened 
 the mother of the family to show herself from 
 a neighbouring thicket, and at length she 
 took courage to approach him. My friend 
 found to his surprise that she understood Eng- 
 lish well, owing to some accident of her life 
 or education, which I have forgotten. She 
 told him her family were just venturing back 
 from their refuge in the woods, where they 
 
266 Paul's letters 
 
 had remained two days without shelter, and 
 almost without food, to see what havock the 
 spoilers had made in their cottage, when they 
 were again alarmed by the appearance of 
 troops. Being assured that they were Eng- 
 lish soldiers, she readily agreed to remain, 
 under the confidence which the national cha- 
 racter inspired ; and having accepted what 
 assistance her visitor had to offer her, as the 
 only acknowledgment in her power, she sent 
 one of the children to pull and present to her 
 guest the only rose which her now ruined 
 garden afforded. " It was the last," she said, 
 " she had, and she was happy to bestow it on 
 an Englishman." It is upon occasions such 
 as these that the French women, even of the 
 lowest class, display a sort of sentimental de- 
 licacy unknown to those of other countries. 
 
 Equal distress, but of a very different kind, 
 I witnessed in the perturbation of a Flemish 
 peasant, whose team of horses had been put 
 in requisition to transport the baggage of an 
 English officer of distinction. As they had 
 not been returned to the owner, whose liveli- 
 hood and that of his family depended on their 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 267 
 
 safety, he had set out in quest of them, in an 
 agony of doubt and apprehension that actu- 
 ally had the appearance of insanity. Our at- 
 tention was called to him from his having 
 seated himself behind our carriage, and an 
 expostulation on our part produced his expla- 
 nation. I never saw such a sudden transition 
 from despair to hope, as in the poor fellow's 
 rugged features when he saw, in the descent 
 between two hills, a party of English dragoons 
 with led horses. He made no doubt they 
 could only be his own, and I hoped to see 
 such a meeting as that of Sancho with Dapple, 
 after their doleful separation. But we were 
 both disappointed ; the led horses proved to 
 
 be those of my friend General A -, who 
 
 probably would not have been much flattered 
 by their being mistaken, at whatever distance, 
 for Flemish beasts of burthen. I believe, 
 however, my ruined peasant obtained some 
 clew for recovering his lost property, for he 
 suddenly went off in a direction different from 
 that which we had hitherto afforded him the 
 means of pursuing. It is only by selecting 
 such individual instances that I can make you 
 
268 Paul's letters 
 
 comprehend the state of the country between 
 Mons and Paris. 
 
 The Prussians having used this military 
 license, the march of such of our troops as 
 pursued the same route became proportion- 
 ally uncomfortable. A good bluff quarter- 
 master of dragoons complained to me of the 
 discomforts which they experienced from the 
 condition to which the country had been re- 
 duced, but in a tone and manner which led me 
 to conjecture, that my honest friend did not 
 sympathize with the peasant, who had been 
 plundered of his wine and brandy, so much as 
 he censured the Prussians for leaving none 
 for their faithful allies : 
 
 " O noble thirst !— y«t greedy te drink all." 
 
 In the meanwhile it is no great derogation 
 from the discipline of the English army to 
 remark, that some old school-boy practices 
 were not forgotten ; and that, where there oc- 
 curred a halt, and fruit-trees chanced to be in 
 the vicinity, they instantly were loaded like 
 the emblematic tree in the frontispiece of 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK, 269 
 
 Lily's grammar, only with soldiers instead of 
 scholars ; and surrounded by their wives, who 
 held their aprons to receive the fruit, instead 
 of satchels, as in the emblem chosen by that 
 learned grammarian. There were no signs of 
 license of a graver character. 
 
 In the midst of these scenes of war and 
 invasion, the regulations of the post establish- 
 ment, which, as is well known, is in France 
 entirely in the charge of the government and 
 their commissaries or lessees, were supported 
 and respected. A proclamation in four diffe* 
 rent languages, French, German, English, and 
 Prussian, and signed by four generals of the 
 different countries, was stuck up in every post- 
 house. This polyglot forbade all officers and 
 soldiers, whether belonging to the King of 
 France, or to the allies, from pressing the 
 horses, or otherwise interfering with the usual 
 communication of Paris with the provinces. 
 The post-houses were accordingly inhabited 
 and protected amid the general desolation of 
 the country, and we experienced no interrup- 
 tion on our journev. 
 
270 Paul's letters 
 
 While the villages and hamlets exhibited 
 such scenes as J have described, the towns 
 appeared to have suffered less upon this awful 
 crisis, because the soldiers were there under 
 the eye of their officers, and in each garrison- 
 town a military commandant had been named 
 for the maintenance of discipline. Some were 
 indeed reeking from recent storm, or show- 
 ed half-burnt ruins, which had been made 
 by bombardment within a week or two pre- 
 ceding our arrival. Cambray had been car- 
 ried by escalade by a bold coup-de-main, of 
 which we saw the vestiges. The citizens, who 
 were chiefly royalists, favoured the attack ; 
 and a part of the storming party entered by 
 means of a stair-case contained in an old tur- 
 ret, which terminated in a sally-port open- 
 ing to the ditch, and above in a wicket com- 
 municating with the rampart. This pass waa 
 pointed out to them by the towns-people. 
 The defenders were a part of the National 
 Guard, whom Buonaparte had removed from 
 the district to which they belonged and sta- 
 tioned as a garrison in Cambray. The garri- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 2?1 
 
 son of Peronne, formerly called Peronne la 
 Pucelle, or the Virgin Fortress, because it 
 liad never been taken, were military of the 
 same amphibious description with those of 
 Cambray. The town is strongly situated in 
 the Somme, surrounded by flat ground and 
 marshes, and presents a formidable exterior. 
 But this, as well as the other fortresses on the 
 iron-bound frontier of Flanders, was indiffe- 
 rently provided with means of resistance. 
 Buonaparte in this particular, as in others, 
 had shown a determination to venture his for- 
 tunes upon a single chance of war, since he 
 had made no adequate provision for a pro- 
 tracted defence of the country when invaded. 
 It was one instance of the inexperience of 
 the garrison of Peronne, that they omitted 
 to blindfold the British officer who came 
 to summon them to surrender. An officer 
 of engineers, of high rank and experience, 
 had been employed in this mission, and 
 doubtless did not leave unemployed the eyes 
 which the besieged, contrary to custom in 
 such cases, left at liberty. Upon his re- 
 turn he reported the possibility of carrying 
 
272 paul's letters 
 
 a horn-work which covers a suburb on the 
 left side of the river. The attempt was in- 
 stantly made, and being in all respects suc- 
 cessful, was followed'by the surrender of the 
 garrison, upon the easy conditions of laying 
 down their arms, and returning to the ordi- 
 nary civil occupations from which Buona- 
 parte's mandate had withdrawn them. So 
 easy had been these achievements that the 
 officers concerned in them would hardly be 
 prevailed upon to condescend to explain such 
 trifling particulars. Yet to me, who looked 
 upon ramparts a little injured indeed by 
 time, but still strong, upon ditches containing 
 twelve feet deep of water and a high glacis 
 surmounting them, upon palisades construct- 
 ed out of the trees which had been felled to 
 clear the esplanade around the fortifications, 
 the task of storming such works, even though 
 not defended at all, seemed a grave and seri- 
 ous undertaking. In all these towns, so far 
 as I could discover, the feeling of the people 
 was decidedly in favour of the legitimate mo- 
 narch ; and I cannot doubt that this impres- 
 sion is correct, becauge elsewhere, and in si- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 273 
 
 milar circumstances, those who favoured Buo- 
 naparte were at no pains to suppress their 
 inclinations. In one or two towns they were 
 preparing little fetes to celebrate the king's 
 restoration. The accompaniments did not 
 appear to us very splendid ; but when a town 
 has been so lately taken by storm, and is still 
 garrisoned by foreign troops and subjected to 
 military requisitions, we could not expect that 
 the rejoicings of its inhabitants should be at- 
 tended with any superfluity of splendour. 
 
 Meanwhile we advanced through this new 
 and bewildering scene of war and waste, with 
 the comfortable consciousness that we belong- 
 ed to the stronger party. The British drums 
 and bugle-horns sung us to bed every night, 
 and played our reveille in the morning ; for 
 in all the fortified towns which we passed 
 there were British troops and a British com- 
 mandant, from more than one of whom we 
 experienced attention and civility. 
 
 When we reached Pont de St Maxence, 
 which had been recently the scene of an en- 
 gagement between the Prussians and French, 
 
274 paul's letters 
 
 we found more marked signs of hostile devasta- 
 tion than in any place through which we had 
 yet travelled. It is a good large market-town, 
 with a very fine bridge over the Oise, an 
 arch of which had been recently destroyed, 
 and repaired in a temporary manner. The 
 purpose had probably been to defend the 
 passage ; and as the river is deep, and the 
 opposite bank is high and covered with wood, 
 besides having several buildings approaching 
 to the bridge, I presume it might have been 
 made a very strong position. It had been 
 forced, however, by the Prussians, in what 
 manner we found no one to tell us. Several 
 houses in this town had been burnt, and 
 most of them seemed to have been pillaged. 
 The cause was evident from the number of 
 embrasures and loop-holes for musketry which 
 were struck out in the houses and garden 
 walls. The attempt to make a village into a 
 place of defence is almost always fatal to the 
 household gods, since it is likely to be burnt 
 by one or other of the parties, and certain 
 to be plundered by both. Military gentlemen 
 look upon this with a very different eye \ for I 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. ' 275 
 
 have been diverted to hear some of them, who 
 have given me the honour of their company in 
 my little excursions from Paris, censure a gen- 
 tleman or farmer with great gravity for having 
 built his house and stationed his court of 
 offices in a hollow, where they were over- 
 looked and commanded ; whereas, by placing 
 the buildings a little higher on the ridge, or 
 more towards right or left, they might, in case 
 of need, have acquired the dignity of being 
 the key of a strong position, and, in all proba- 
 bility, have paid for their importance by sha- 
 ring the fate of Hougoumont. 
 
 We were informed at St Maxence that the 
 hand of war had been laid yet more heavily 
 upon the neighbouring town of 36nlis, through 
 which lay our direct route to Paris, and near 
 which an action had taken place betwixt a 
 part of Blucher's army and that of Grouchy 
 and Vandamme, which, falling back to co- 
 ver the French capital after the battle of Wa- 
 terloo, had accomplished a retreat that pla- 
 ced those who commanded it very high in 
 public estimation. We felt no curiosity to see 
 
276 Paul's letters 
 
 any more of the woes of war, and readily 
 complied with a proposal of our postillions to 
 exchange the route of Senilis for that of Chan- 
 tilly, to which they undertook to carry us by 
 a cross road through the forest. Le beaic 
 chtmin par terre, or fine green-sward road, 
 which they had urged as so superior to the 
 public causeway, had unfortunately not pos- 
 sessed the same power of resisting the tear 
 and wear of cavalry, artillery, and baggage- 
 waggons. It was reduced to a sort of conti- 
 nued wet ditch, varying in depth in a most 
 irregular manner, and through which the four 
 stallions that drew us kicked, plunged, snort- 
 ed, and screamed, in full concert with the 
 eternal smack of the whips, as well as shrieks, 
 whoops, and oaths of the jack-booted postil- 
 lions, lugging about our little barouche in a 
 manner that threatened its demolition at every 
 instant. The French postillions, however, 
 who, with the most miserable appliances and 
 means, usually drive very well, contrived, by 
 dint of quartering and tugging, to drag us safe 
 through roads where a Yorkshire post-boy 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 277 
 
 would have been reduced to despair, even 
 though his horses had not been harnessed with 
 ropes, fastened together by running nooses. 
 
 The forest of Chan til ly was probably mag- 
 nificent when it was the chase of the princely 
 family of Conde ; but all the valuable tim- 
 ber trees have been felled, and those which 
 now remain appear, generally speaking, to 
 be about twenty years old only, and consist 
 chiefly of birch, and other inferior timber 
 used for fire-wood. Those who acquired the 
 domains of the emigrants after the Revolution 
 were generally speculating adventurers, who 
 were eager to secure what they could make of 
 the subject in the way of ready money, by 
 cutting timber and selling materials of houses, 
 partly in order to secure the means of paying 
 the price, and partly because prudence exact- 
 ed that they should lose no time in drawing 
 profit from a bargain, of which the security 
 seemed rather precarious. 
 
 The town and palace of Chantilly, rendered 
 classical by the name of the great Prince of 
 Conde, afforded us ample room for interesting 
 reflection. The town itself is pleasant, and 
 
278 Paul's letters 
 
 has some good houses agreeably situated. But; 
 in the present state of internal convulsion, 
 almost all the windows of the houses of the 
 better class were closed, and secured by outer 
 shutters. We were told this was to protect 
 them against the Prussians, with whom the 
 town was crowded. These soldiers were very 
 young lads, chiefly hndwehr, or militia, and 
 seemed all frolicksome, and no doubt mischie- 
 vous youths. But, so far as I could see, there 
 was no ill nature, much less atrocity, in their 
 behaviour, which was rather that of riotous 
 school-boys of the higher form. They possess- 
 ed themselves of the jack-boots of our postil- 
 lions, and seemed to find great entertainment 
 in stumping up and down the inn-yard in these 
 formidable accoutrements, the size and solidity 
 of which have been in no degree diminished 
 since the days of Yorick and La Fleur. But 
 our Prussian hussars were seen to still greater 
 advantage in the superb stables of Chantilly, 
 which have escaped the fury that levelled its 
 palace. The huge and stately vault, which 
 pride, rather than an attention to utility, had 
 constructed for the stud of the Prince of 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 279 
 
 Cond6, is forty feet high, two hundred yards in 
 length, and upwards of thirty-six feet in width. 
 This magnificent apartment, the enormity of 
 whose proportions seemed better calculated 
 for the steeds of the King of Brobdignag than 
 for Houyhnhnms of the ordinary size, had 
 once been divided into suitable ranges of stalls, 
 but these have been long demolished. In the 
 centre arises a magnificent dome, sixty feet in 
 diameter and ninety feet in height ; and in a 
 sort of recess beneath the dome, and fronting 
 the principal entrance, is a superb fountain, 
 falling into a huge shell, and dashing over its 
 sides into a large reservoir, highly ornament- 
 ed with architectural decorations. This foun- 
 tain, which might grace the court of a palace, 
 was designed for the ordinary supply of the 
 stable. The scale of imposing magnificence 
 upon which this building was calculated, al- 
 though at war with common sense and the 
 fitness of things, must, in its original state of 
 exact order and repair, have impressed the 
 mind with high ideas of the power and con- 
 sequence of the priuce by whom it was plan- 
 ned and executed, and whose name (Louis 
 
280 Paul's letters 
 
 Henry de Bourbon, seventh Prince of Condd) 
 stands yet recorded in an inscription, which, 
 supported by two mutilated genii, is display- 
 ed above the fountain. But what would have 
 been the mortification of that founder could 
 he have witnessed, as we did, the spacious 
 range with all its ornaments broken down 
 and defaced, as if in studied insult ; while 
 its high and echoing vault rung to the shouts, 
 screams, and gambols of a hundred or two of 
 the dirtiest hussars and lancers that ever came 
 off a march, while the shrill cries of their 
 half-starved and miserable horses added a wild 
 but appropriate accompaniment. Yet what- 
 ever his feelings might have been to witness 
 such pollution, they would have been inferior 
 to those with which his ancestor, the Great 
 Conde, would have heard that the Sarmatian 
 partizans who occupied Chantilly formed part 
 of an invading army, which had marched, al- 
 most without opposition, from the frontiers to 
 the capital, and now held in their disposal 
 the fates of the house of Bourbon and of the 
 kingdom of France. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK, 281 
 
 The old domestic of the family who guided 
 me through these remains of decayed magni- 
 ficence, cast many a grieved and mortified 
 glance upon the irreverent and mischievous 
 soldiers as they aimed the buts of their lances 
 at the remaining pieces of sculpture, or amu- 
 sed themselves by mimicking his own formal 
 address and manner. " Ah Its barbares I les 
 barbare* /" — I could not refuse assent to this 
 epithet, which he confided to my ear in a cau- 
 tious whisper, accompanied with a suitable 
 shrug of the shoulders ; but I endeavoured to 
 qualify it with another train of reflections : — 
 " Etpourtant, mon ami, si ce n'etoitpas ces gens- 
 Id /" — " Ah oui, Monsieur, sans eux ?ious riau- 
 rions peutet re jamais revu notre bon Due— 
 Assurement test un revenant bon — mais aussi 9 
 iljaut avouer qu'il est revenu en assez mauvaise 
 compagnie" 
 
 At some distance from these magnificent 
 stables, of which (as frequently happens) the 
 exterior does more honour to the architect's 
 taste than the inside to his judgment, are the 
 melancholy remains of the palace of the Prince 
 
282 Paul's letters 
 
 of Conde, where the spectator can no longer 
 obey the exhortation of the poet, — 
 
 " Dans sa pompe elegante, admirez Chantilly, 
 De heros en heros, a" age en age embelli" 
 
 The splendid chateau once corresponded in 
 magnificence with the superb offices which we 
 had visited, but now its vestiges alone remain, 
 a mass of neglected ruins amid the broad lake 
 and canals which had been constructed for its 
 ornament and defence. This beautiful palace 
 was destroyed by the revolutionary mob of 
 Paris early in the civil commotions. The ma- 
 terials, with the lead, iron, carpenter work, 
 &c. were piled up, by those who appropriated 
 them, in what was called Le petit Chateau, a 
 smaller edifice annexed to the principal palace, 
 and communicating with it by a causeway. 
 Thus the small chateau was saved from demo- 
 lition, though not from pillage. Chantilly and 
 its demesnes were sold as national property, 
 but the purchasers having failed to pay the 
 price, it reverted to the public, so that the 
 king, upon his restoration, had no difficulty in 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK, 283 
 
 reinstating the Duke of Bourbon. The lesser 
 chateau has been lately refitted in a hasty and 
 simple style, for the reception of the legiti- 
 mate proprietor ; but the style of the repairs 
 makes an unavoidable and mortifying con- 
 trast with the splendour of the original deco- 
 rations. Rich embossed ceilings and carved 
 wainscot are coarsely daubed over with white- 
 wash and size-paint, with which the remains 
 of the original gilding and sculpture form a 
 melancholy association. The frames alone 
 remained of those numerous and huge mir- 
 rors, 
 
 — " in which he of Gath, 
 Goliah, might have seen his giant bulk 
 Whole without stooping, towering crest and all." 
 
 But the French artizans, with that lack of 
 all feeling of convenance, or propriety, which 
 has well been described as a principal defici- 
 ency in their national character, have endea- 
 voured to make fine things out of the frames 
 themselves, by occupying the room of the 
 the superb plates of glass with paltry sheets of 
 blue paper, patched over with gilded jkurs* 
 10 
 
284 Paul's letters 
 
 de*&8 9 an expedient the pitiful effect of which 
 may be easily conceived. If I understood my 
 guide rightly, however, this work ought not 
 to be severely criticised, being the free-will 
 offering of the inhabitants of Chantilly, who 
 had struggled, in the best manner their funds 
 and taste would admit, to restore the chateau 
 to something like an habitable condition when 
 it was again to be possessed by its legitimate 
 owner. This is the more likely, as the furni- 
 ture of the duke's own apartment is plain, 
 simple, and in good taste. He seems popular 
 among the inhabitants, who, the day prece- 
 ding our arrival, had, under all the unfavour- 
 able circumstances of their situation, made a 
 little fete to congratulate him upon his re- 
 storation, and to hail the white flag, which 
 now once more floated from the dome of the 
 offices, announcing the second restoration of 
 the Bourbons. 
 
 Beside the little chateau are the vestiges 
 of what was once the principal palace, and 
 which, as such, might well have accommo- 
 dated the proudest monarch in the world. It 
 was situated on a rock, and surrounded by 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 285 
 
 profound and broad ditches of the purest 
 water, built in a style of the richest Gothic 
 architecture, and containing within its pre- 
 cincts every accommodation which pomp or 
 luxury could desire. The demolition has been 
 so complete that little remains excepting the 
 vaults from which the castle arose, and a 
 ruinous flight of double steps, by which visit- 
 ors formerly gained the principal entrance. 
 The extent, number, and intricacy of the sub- 
 terranean vaults were such as to afford a re- 
 treat for robbers and banditti, for which rea- 
 son the entrances have been built up by order 
 of the police. The chateau, when in its 
 splendour, communicated with a magnificent 
 theatre, with an orangery and greenhouse of 
 the first order, and was surrounded by a 
 number of separate parterres, or islands, de- 
 corated with statuary, with jets d'eau, with co- 
 lumns, and with vases, forming a perspective 
 of the richest architectural magnificence. All 
 is now destroyed, and the stranger only learns, 
 from the sorrowful tale of his guide, that the 
 wasted and desolate patches of ground inter- 
 sected by the canals, once bore, and deserved, 
 
 11 
 
236 paul's letters 
 
 the names of the Gallery of Vases, the Par- 
 terre of the Orangerie, and the Island of Love. 
 Such and so sudden is the downfall of the 
 proudest efforts of human magnificence. Let 
 us console ourselves, my dear friend, while 
 we look from the bartizan of the old mansion 
 upon the lake, and its corresponding barrier 
 of mountains, that the beauties with which 
 Nature herself has graced our country are 
 more imperishable than those with which the 
 wealth and power of the house of Bourbon 
 once decorated the abode of Chantilly. 
 
 I may add, that the neighbourhood of 
 Chantilly exhibits more picturesque beauty 
 than I had yet remarked in France. 
 
 Paul. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK, 287 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 PAUL TO HIS SISTER. 
 
 Your question, my dear sister, What do 1 
 think of Paris ? corresponds in comprehensive 
 extent with your desire that I would send you 
 a full and perfect description of that celebra- 
 ted capital ; but were I to reside here all my 
 life, instead of a few weeks, I am uncertain 
 whether I could distinctly comply with either 
 request. There is so much in Paris to ad- 
 mire, and so much to dislike, such a mixture 
 of real taste and genius, with so much frip- 
 pery and affectation, the sublime is so oddly 
 mingled with the ridiculous, and the pleasing 
 with the fantastic and whimsical, that I shall 
 probably leave the capital of France without 
 being able to determine which train of ideas it 
 
288 Paul's letters 
 
 has most frequently excited in my mind. One 
 point is, however, certain ; — that, of all capitals, 
 that of France affords most numerous objects 
 of curiosity, accessible in the easiest manner ; 
 and it may be therefore safely pronounced 
 one of the most entertaining places of resi- 
 dence which can be chosen by an idle man. 
 As for attempting a description of it, that, you 
 know, is far beyond the limits of our compact, 
 which you must have quite forgotten when 
 you hinted at such a proposal. The following 
 sketch may not, however, be uninteresting. 
 
 If we confine our observation to one quar- 
 ter of Paris only, that, namely, which is adja- 
 cent to the Royal Palace, I presume there is 
 no capital which can show so many and such 
 magnificent public edifices within the same 
 space or' ground. The Tuilleries, whose im- 
 mense extent makes amends for the defici- 
 encies of the architecture, communicate with 
 the royal gardens, which are used as public 
 walks, and these again open into the Place 
 de Louis Quinze, a large octagon, guarded by 
 a handsome balustrade, richly ornamented at 
 the angles, having, on the one hand, the royal 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 289 
 
 gardens with the range of the palace, on the 
 other the Champs Ely sees, a large space of 
 ground, planted and laid out in regular walks 
 like those of Hyde-Park. Behind is the ex- 
 tensive colonnade of a palace, called by Buo- 
 naparte the Temple of Victory, and since the 
 Restoration the Temple of Concord. Another 
 large and half-finished temple was rising in 
 the front by the command of Buonaparte, 
 which was dedicated to the honour of soldiers 
 who had died in battle. The building was to 
 have been consolidated solely by the weight 
 of the massive stones made use of, and neither 
 wood, iron, or lime, was to be employed in its 
 construction ; but schemes of ambition as ill- 
 cemented interrupted its progress. A line 
 of buildings extend on either hand, forming 
 a magnificent street, called La Rue Rivoli, 
 which runs parallel with the iron palisade of 
 the garden of the Tuilleries. 
 
 It was on the second night after my arrival 
 in Paris, that, finding myself rather too early 
 for an evening party to which I was invited, 
 I strolled out, enjoying the pure and delici- 
 ous air of a summer night in France, until I 
 
 T 
 
290 paul's letters 
 
 found myself in the centre of the Place de 
 Louis Quinze, surrounded, as I have described 
 it, by objects so noble in themselves, and so 
 powerfully associated with deep historic and 
 moral interest. " And here I am at length in 
 Paris," was the natural reflection, " and under 
 circumstances how different from what I dared 
 to have anticipated ! That is the palace of 
 Louis le Grand, but how long have his de- 
 scendants been banished from its halls, and 
 under what auspices do they now again pos- 
 sess them ! This superb esplanade takes its 
 name from his luxurious and feeble descend- 
 ant ; and here, upon the very spot where I now 
 stand, the most virtuous of the Bourbon race 
 expiated, by a violent death inflicted by his 
 own subjects, and in view of his own palace, 
 the ambition and follies of his predecessors. 
 There is an awful solemnity in the reflection, 
 how few of those who contributed to this 
 deed of injustice and atrocity now look upon 
 the light, and behold the progress of retribu- 
 tion. The glimmering lights that shine among 
 the alleys and parterres of the Champs Ely- 
 sees, indicate none of the usual vigils common 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 291 
 
 in a metropolis. They are the watch-fires of 
 a camp, of an English camp, and in the ca- 
 pital of France, when- an English drum has 
 not been heard since 1436, when the troops 
 of Henry the Sixth were expelled from Paris. 
 During that space, of nearly four centuries, 
 there has scarce occurred a single crisis which 
 rendered it probable for a moment that Paris 
 should be again entered by the English as 
 conquerors ; but least of all could such a 
 consummation have been expected at the 
 conclusion of a war, in which France so long 
 predominated as arbitress of the continent, 
 and which had periods when Britain seemed 
 to continue the conflict only in honourable 
 despair." 
 
 There were other subjects of deep interest 
 around me. The lights which proceeded from 
 the windows and from the gardens of the 
 large hotel occupied by the Duke of Wel- 
 lington, at the corner of the Rue des Champs 
 Ely sees, and which chanced that evening to 
 be illuminated in honour of a visit from the 
 allied sovereigns, mingled with the twinkle of 
 the camp-fires, and the glimmer of the tents ; 
 
292 Paul's letters 
 
 and the music, which played a variety of Eng- 
 lish and Scottish airs, harmonized with the 
 distant roll of the drums, and the notes of 
 that beautiful point of war which is perform- 
 ed by our bugles at the setting of the watch. 
 In these sounds there was pride and victory 
 and honour, some portion of which descend- 
 ed (in imagination at least) to each, the most 
 retired and humblest fellow-subject of the 
 hero who led, and the soldiers who obeyed, in 
 the achievements which had borne the colours 
 of Britain into the capital of France. But 
 there was enough around me to temper the 
 natural feelings of elation, which, as a Bri- 
 ton, I could not but experience. Monuments 
 rose on every side, designed to commemo- 
 rate mighty actions, which may well claim 
 the highest praise that military achievement 
 alone, abstracted from the cause in which it 
 was accomplished, could be entitled to. From 
 the centre of the Place Vendome, and above 
 the houses of the Rue Rivoli, arose the sum- 
 mit of the celebrated column which Buona- 
 parte had constructed upon the plan of that 
 of Trajan j the cannon taken at Ulm and 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 293 
 
 Austerlitz affording the materials of its ex- 
 terior, and which is embossed with a de- 
 tailed representation of the calamities and 
 subjection of Austria. At no great distance 
 lay the Bridge of Jena, an epithet which re- 
 calls the almost total annihilation of the king- 
 dom of Prussia. In the front of the Tuille- 
 ries are placed, on a triumphal arch, the Ve- 
 netian Horses, the trophies of the subjugation 
 of Italy, and in the neighbouring Louvre 
 are deposited the precious spoils of victories 
 gained and abused in every country of Eu- 
 rope, forming the most resistless evidence, that 
 the hand which placed them there had once 
 at its arbitrary disposal the fortunes of the 
 civilized world. No building among the 
 splendid monuments of Paris, but is marked 
 with the name, or device, or insignia of an 
 emperor, whose power seemed as deeply 
 founded as it was widely extended. Yet the 
 gourd of the prophet, which came up in a 
 night and perished in a night, has proved the 
 type of authority so absolute, and of fame so 
 diffused ; and the possessor of this mighty 
 power is now the inhabitant of a distant and 
 
294 paul's letters 
 
 sequestered islet, with hardly so much free- 
 will as entitles him to claim from his warders 
 an hour of solitude, even in the most solitary 
 spot in the civilized world. The moral ques- 
 tion presses on every bosom, Was it worth 
 while for him to have climbed so high to ren- 
 der his fall the deeper, or would the meanest 
 of us purchase the feverish feelings of gratified 
 ambition, at the expence of his reflections, 
 who appeared to hold Fortune chained to his 
 footstool ? Could the fable of the Seven Sleep- 
 ers have been realized in Paris, what a scene 
 of astonishment would have been prepared for 
 those who, falling asleep in I8i3, awakened 
 from their torpor at the present moment ! He 
 who had seen the pope place the crown upon 
 the head of Napoleon, and the proud house 
 of Austria compelled to embrace his alliance, 
 Prussia bent to the dust beneath his footstool, 
 England excluded from each continental con- 
 nection of commerce or alliance, Russia over- 
 awed and submissive, while Italy, Germany, 
 and the greater part of Spain, were divided 
 as appanages among his brothers and allies, — 
 what would have been the surprise of the wa* 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK, 295 
 
 king moment which should have shown him 
 the Prussian cannon turned upon the bridges 
 of Paris, and the sovereigns of Austria, Rus- 
 sia, and Prussia, with the representatives of 
 almost all the other nations of Europe, feast- 
 ing in the capital of France with the general 
 and minister of England, supported by a force 
 which made resistance equally frantic and 
 hopeless ! The revolution of ages must have 
 appeared to him to have been accomplished 
 within the space of little more than twenty- 
 four months. 
 
 From this slight sketch, you may have some 
 general idea of the magnificence of that quar- 
 ter of Paris which adjoins to the Tuilleries, 
 crowded as it is with palaces, public monu- 
 ments, and public buildings, and comprehend- 
 ing in its circuit ornamented gardens and 
 extended walks, open to the inhabitants for 
 exercise or pleasure. I ought also to describe 
 to you the front of the palace itself] a magni- 
 ficent range of buildings, corresponding with 
 the Louvre, another immense royal mansion, 
 from which the Tuilleries is only divided by 
 the superb square, called La Place du Carousel. 
 
296 Paul's letters 
 
 The only screen betwixt this square and the 
 court of the Tuilleries, is a magnificent rail- 
 ing of wrought iron, which gives freedom to 
 the eye, not only to survey the extended front 
 of the chateau, but to penetrate through the 
 central vestibule of the palace into the gar- 
 dens beyond, and as far as the Champs Ely- 
 sees. In the centre of this screen the public 
 have admittance to the court-yard of the pa- 
 lace, beneath a triumphal arch, which Buo- 
 naparte erected in imitation of that of Sep- 
 timius Severus. The effect of this monu- 
 ment seems diminutive when compared to the 
 buildings around ; the columns, made of a 
 mixed red and white marble, are rather gau- 
 dy, and the four celebrated Venetian horses, 
 formed of Corinthian brass, which occupy the 
 top of the arch, have been injudiciously har- 
 nessed with gilded trappings to a gilded car, 
 driven by a gilded Victory. It is said Buo- 
 naparte intended to have placed his own figure 
 in the car ; but it came to his ears (for he was 
 self- tormentor enough to enquire after such 
 matters) that the disaffected had hailed it, as 
 likely to afford a good opportunity for calling 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 297 
 
 him mountebank with impunity, since, while 
 they should point to the chariot, the epithet 
 Le Charlatan might easily be substituted for 
 Le Char le tient. Thus a threatened pun saved 
 Napoleon's image one descent at least, by 
 preventing its temporary elevation ; and it also 
 saved the French taste the disgrace of adding 
 another incongruity to the gilded car, har- 
 ness, and driver. This monument is now un- 
 dergoing considerable alterations. The Aus- 
 trians are busy in exchanging for plain slabs 
 of marble, the tablatures placed around the 
 arch : The sculptures almost all relate to the 
 humiliation of the Emperor of Austria, there 
 represented cap in hand before Buonaparte, 
 who appears covered and in an authoritative 
 posture. The French rebelled against the mu> 
 tilation of this monument at its commence- 
 ment, and attempted something like a riot, 
 but were instantly called to order by a strong 
 Prussian guard. The work now goes on quiet- 
 ly, and not without some respect to the feel- 
 ings of the Parisians ; for there are blinds of 
 wood put up before the scaffolding, to save 
 their eyes the mortification of seeing its pro- 
 
298 Paul's letters 
 
 gress. It is not doubted that the horses them- 
 selves will be removed in due time.* 
 
 In the meanwhile the statue of Buonaparte, 
 which was last year taken down from the pil- 
 lar in the Place Vendome, is said to have ex- 
 perienced an odd transition. It had been ex- 
 changed for a certain number of busts and 
 small figures of Louis XVIII., just as a large 
 piece of coin of one reign is given for an 
 equivalent in the small money of another. 
 The figure of the abdicated emperor for some 
 time found refuge in the yard of an artist, by 
 whom it has since been sold to an English- 
 man. The purchase is believed to be made in 
 behalf of the Duke of Wellington, in which 
 case the statue will be a striking ornament to 
 the palace destined by national gratitude as 
 an acknowledgment at least of the debt, which 
 even the wealth and generosity of Britain can- 
 not pay in full. 
 
 To return to the works of Buonaparte. It 
 cannot be denied that he showed great ability 
 
 This removal has since taken place. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 299 
 
 and dexterity in availing himself of that taste 
 for national display, which is a leading feature 
 of the French character. Yet this was, at 
 least, as much evinced in the address with 
 which he adopted and carried through the 
 half-accomplished plans of Louis XIV. and his 
 successors, as in any work of original genius 
 which can be decidedly traced to his own 
 design. The triumphal arch, and the pillar 
 in the Place Vendome, are literal, almost 
 servile, imitations of the column of Trajan 
 and the arch of Severus. But the splendid 
 extension of the Louvre, by the combination 
 of that striking pile with the Tuilleries, upon 
 the side which had been left unfinished, al- 
 though the work of Buonaparte, and bearing 
 his name, is, in fact, only a completion of the 
 original design of Louis XIV. One original 
 plan Napoleon may indeed claim as his own 
 — the project, namely, of erecting a stupen- 
 dous bronze figure of an elephant upon the 
 scite of the Bastile. The sort of castle, or 
 Howdar, with which this monstrous statue 
 was to have been accoutred, was designed 
 for a reservoir, the water of which, being dis- 
 
300 Paul's letters 
 
 charged through the trunk into a large cis- 
 tern, or fountain, surrounding the pedestal on 
 which the animal was placed, was to supply 
 with water all that quarter of Paris. The 
 model of this gigantic grotesque is exhibited 
 in stucco near the place which it was design- 
 ed to have occupied, and such is the deference 
 of the present government for the feelings of 
 la gloire national^ that they have not yet 
 ventured to avow, that, in a time of national 
 poverty and distress, they mean to dispense 
 with erecting a monument, which, after being 
 accomplished at immense expence, must ap- 
 pear bizarre and fanciful, rather than grand 
 and impressive. In the meanwhile they are, in 
 justice to the ancestors of the present king, 
 reclaiming for the Bourbons those public 
 buildings, which, by inscriptions and emblems, 
 Napoleon had consecrated to his own dynas- 
 ty. N.'s are every where disappearing, or 
 undergoing a conversion into H.'s and B/s, 
 atl operation in which the royal stonecutters 
 are as much called upon to exert their dexte- 
 rity as the poor sign painters in Roye, Pe- 
 ronne* and Cambray. They have, indeed, 
 
 3 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 301 
 
 the same benefit of experience, having, not 
 very long ago, accomplished the counterpart 
 of the metamorphosis. Such are the minute 
 and ridiculous consequences which indicate 
 a change of government, as much as the mo- 
 tion of straws, twigs, and withered leaves 
 upon the surface, indicates the progress and 
 subsiding of a torrent. 
 
 On the whole, it must be acknowledged, 
 that Buonaparte, though unscrupulous in ap- 
 propriating the merit of his predecessors, bent 
 an earnest and active attention to perfecting 
 whatever grand or magnificent plans they 
 had left uncompleted, thus establishing his 
 own reputation as heir of the monarchy, as 
 well as of the revolution. His ambition to 
 distinguish himself sometimes soared beyond 
 popular prejudice, and hurried him into ex- 
 travagancies of expence, which the Parisians 
 seem in general to deem unnecessary. Such 
 is the plan of his Rue de V Empereur, now 
 Rue de la Paix^ a fine street, running from 
 the Place Vendome to the Boulevards des 
 Capucines, which not only boasts a breadtli 
 
302 Paul's letters 
 
 corresponding to the magnificence of the 
 buildings, but is actually accommodated with 
 two gutters, one on each side, instead of that 
 single kennel in the centre, where the filth 
 floats or stagnates in all the other streets of 
 Paris. But even the Emperor Napoleon, in 
 the height of his dignity, dared not introduce 
 the farther novelty of a pavement on each 
 side. This would be, indeed, to have de- 
 stroyed that equality between horse and foot, 
 walkers, drivers, and driven, which appears to 
 give such delight to a Parisian, that, if you extol 
 to him the safe pavements and foot-paths of an 
 English street, or road, he will answer with 
 polite composure—" CUst tres bien pour Mes- 
 sieurs les Anglois — pourmoi, J'aime la totalitS 
 de la rue" Good phrases, saith Justice Shal- 
 low* are and ever must be commended ; and 
 this, of la totalite de la rue, reconciles a Pari- 
 sian walker to all the inconveniences of being 
 ridden down or driven over. But the privi- 
 lege of totality by no means reconciles the 
 aged, the timid, the infirm, not to mention 
 females and children, to the accidents to which 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 303 
 
 they are exposed. At present these are mul- 
 tiplied by the numerous accession of strangers, 
 all of whom drive in their own way, and give 
 their own mode of warning, which the pedes- 
 trian must construe rightly upon his own pe- 
 ril. Here he hears the Hey ! hey ! of a mem- 
 ber of the English Four-in-hand Club; there he 
 is called to attention by the Gave ! Gave ! of a 
 Parisian petit maitre, or a German Freyherr; 
 and having escaped all these hair-breadth 
 risks, he may be ridden down at the next 
 turning by a drosky, the driver of which, a ve- 
 nerable Russian charioteer, with a long beard 
 flowing down to his girdle, pushes right on 
 to his destined course with the most unper- 
 turbed apathy, without giving passengers 
 warning of any kind to shift for themselves. 
 
 The risk, however, to pedestrians, does not 
 form my only objection to the French metro- 
 polis, abstracted always from those splendid 
 streets which belong to the quarter of the 
 Tuilleries. The rest of Paris, excepting the 
 Boulevards, sl peculiar sort of open suburb by 
 which it is surrounded, is traversed by nar- 
 
304 paul's letters 
 
 row streets, which divide buildings dark, high, 
 and gloomy, the lower windows grated with 
 projecting iron rails of the most massive de- 
 scription, and the houses belonging to persons 
 of importance opening by what is called a 
 port cocheer, or carriage-entrance, into courts 
 which intervene between them and the street. 
 By thus sequestering their mansions, the great 
 do indeed deprive the shop-keeper, or rotu- 
 rier, who lives opposite, of the powers of 
 looking upon the windows of his neighbour 
 the duke, count, or marquis. Nevertheless, 
 mansions constructed upon this unsocial and 
 aristocratic plan, by which the splendour of 
 the habitations of the noble and wealthy is 
 reserved and veiled, as too dazzling and preci- 
 ous to form a part of the public street, cannot 
 contribute to the general beauty of the city 
 in which they are placed. I do not, however, 
 mean to say that the other quarters of Paris, 
 though gloomy, dark, and traversed chiefly 
 by these narrow and perilous passes, are devoid 
 of a strong and peculiar interest. On the 
 contrary, the constant appearance of public 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 305 
 
 edifices, distinguished in history, of Gothic 
 churches and halls, of squares and places, 
 surrounded by stately buildings perpetually, 
 even in the most disagreeable quarters of Paris, 
 reminds us that we are in a capital early dis- 
 tinguished for arts and arms, and where even 
 the rudeness and inconvenience of many 
 streets, joined to the solid, massive, andantique 
 structures to which they give access, argue at 
 once early importance and ancient dignity. 
 
 It appears a remarkable peculiarity to a 
 British eye, when Paris is viewed from a dis- 
 tance, that over buildings so closely piled to- 
 gether, there arises not that thick and dense 
 cloud of smoke which sometimes graces and 
 dignifies, but more frequently deforms, a view 
 of London, or any other large town in our 
 island. This is owing to the Parisians using 
 wood for fuel, and that frequently in the shape 
 of charcoal, but always sparingly, and in 
 stoves, instead of our sea-coal burnt in open 
 chimnies. Seen from the heights of Mont- 
 martre, or the dome of St Genevieve, Paris 
 exhibits a distinct mass of houses, steeples, 
 
 u 
 
306 paul's letters 
 
 and towers, unclouded, but also unsoftenn 
 ed, by the dusky canopy which hangs over 
 a British city. My Parisian friends laughed 
 heartily, and, on the whole, deservedly, at my 
 regretting the absence of this dusky accom- 
 paniment, which, laying aside associations, 
 does nevertheless add a shadowy importance, 
 and even a softness, to the landscape ; or, ad- 
 mitting associations, and pleading on those to 
 which we are accustomed, gives an assurance 
 of business and life to what, without such an 
 indication of living bustle, seems not unlike 
 the appearance of the town in the Arabian 
 tale, whose inhabitants had been all petrified. 
 I own this is a prejudiced feeling, and do not 
 contest the right which a Frenchman has to 
 associate with the cloud which overhangs our 
 metropolis, all that is disgusting, and perhaps 
 unhealthy, in the gross evaporation of our 
 coarser fuel. 
 
 The Seine is usually appealed to by the 
 Parisians as the principal beauty of their city, 
 and it is at least one of its greatest conveni- 
 ences. But Lord Chesterfield furnished an 
 answer to the proud question, whether Eng? 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK, 307 
 
 land could show the like — " Yes — and we 
 call it Fleet-ditch.'' This gasconade is like 
 that of the French veteran lecturing upon in- 
 vasion, who spits upon the ground, and says'lto 
 his audience, " Voila la Tamise," — a hyperbole 
 which may be excused from ignorance, as no 
 French soldier has happened to see the Thames 
 for many a century, excepting as a guest or a 
 prisoner in England. But, laying jests aside, 
 the Seine is far from having the majestic ap- 
 pearance of the Thames, being diminutive 
 both in depth and breadth, and strait-waist- 
 coated by a range of ungraceful quays, a great- 
 er deformity than those of London, because 
 rendered conspicuous by the narrowness of 
 the stream. The river being divided also at 
 two intervals by small islands, completely 
 occupied by buildings, we are induced to en- 
 tertain a contemptuous opinion of the Seine, 
 as completely subjugated and tyrannized over 
 by the despotic authority of human art. Se- 
 veral of the walks along its side are never- 
 theless most interesting, particularly the Quai 
 de Voltaire, from which the passenger views 
 the superb and long extent of colonnade be- 
 
308 haul's letters 
 
 longing to the Louvre, while farther down the 
 river are seen the gardens of the Tuilleries 
 and the trees of Les Champs Elysees. 
 
 The finest views of Paris are to be seen 
 from the heights of Montmartre, which rise 
 as close behind the city as the Calton-hill in 
 respect to Edinburgh, and from some of the 
 steeples, particularly that of St Genevieve, a 
 magnificent new church of Grecian architec- 
 ture, originally dedicated to the titular saint 
 of Paris ; next polluted by the appellation of 
 the Temple of Reason ; then solemnly entitled 
 the Pantheon, because it was to be the place 
 for depositing the bodies of departed sages 
 and patriots ; and lastly restored by Buona- 
 parte to the character of a Christian church, 
 without taking away its destination as a gene- 
 ral mausoleum for departed worth. The ho- 
 nours, however, of those who received this dis- 
 tinction were not al way superman en t. There 
 was " no snug lying in the abbey." Several of 
 those revolutionary chiefs whose remains the 
 faction of the day had installed in this sanc- 
 tuary, were torn from thence shortly after- 
 wards, and thrown, like the corpse of Sejanus, 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 309 
 
 into the common-sewer of the city. The bo- 
 dies of other heroes of the day have been 
 withdrawn in secret, lest they should suffer 
 the same fate. In some instances the tem- 
 porary tenant of the tomb was dispossessed, 
 and made to give way to a popular character 
 of more recent celebrity. Thus the corpse of 
 Mirabeau was removed from the Pantheon to 
 make room for that of Marat ; on which oc- 
 casion one of the family of the former return- 
 ed thanks to heaven for an expulsion, which* 
 as he expressed himself, " re-established the 
 honour of his house." The corpse of the 
 villain Marat, after having had at least the 
 honour of one bloody sacrifice, in the trial 
 and execution of a man who had offered an 
 insult to his temporary monument, was soon 
 after, 28th July, 1793, dragged from the 
 church, and thrown into the common-sewer 
 of the Rue de Montmartre. At length, weary 
 or ashamed of their own versatility, the Na- 
 tional Convention, in the year 1795, decreed 
 that no citizen should receive the honours of 
 the Pantheon until ten years after his death ; 
 a decree which amounted almost to an uni- 
 
S10 paul's letters 
 
 versal sentence of exclusion in a country where 
 the present occupies solely the attention of 
 the public. Of all those to whom the various 
 legislative bodies of Prance decreed this post- 
 humous distinction, there have only remained 
 in the Pantheon the tombs of two authors, 
 Voltaire and Rousseau. The remains of these 
 distinguished literary characters were deposit- 
 ed here, during the early fervour of the Revo- 
 lution, with shouts, and with hymns, and with 
 tears, and with transports of that universal 
 philanthropy, which shortly afterwards made 
 its real character evident to the world. A 
 painted wooden sarcophagus, much like a deal 
 packing-box in form and materials, is laid 
 above the grave of each, with a mouldering 
 inscription expressive of what the Legislative 
 Assembly intended to do for the honour of 
 the philosophers whose talents illumined the 
 18th century. But the rotten board on which 
 their decrees are registered, frail as it is, has 
 proved a record more permanent than the 
 power that placed it there. The monuments 
 of despotism are more durable than those of 
 anarchy i and accordingly some of Buona- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 311 
 
 parte's generals and senators are buried in 
 the Pantheon, and, though men of inferior 
 note, have been suffered to enjoy in quiet that 
 repose which even the tomb could not secure 
 for the republican demagogues. 
 
 In visiting this church, or temple, I was 
 entertained by the dry answer of an English- 
 man, who had followed us up to the dome 
 without the observation of the sexton. Our 
 guide seemed a little hurt at the strangers 
 presumption, and from time to time addressed 
 to him a few words of reprehension, stating 
 the risk he run of being bewildered in the 
 vaults, and perhaps shut up there. As I per- 
 ceived my countryman did not understand in 
 what he had given offence, , I explained to 
 him the sexton's remonstrance. "Tell him," 
 answered the stranger, with great gravity, 
 " that if the misfortune he threatens had really 
 befallen me, I would have had only to call 
 out Sixpence, and all Paris would have come 
 to my rescue." With deference, however, to 
 this honest specimen of John Bull, the access 
 ©f the public to what is worthy of notice in 
 
312 Paul's letters 
 
 Paris is much less impeded by a functionary 
 stretching forth his hand for a fee than is the 
 case in London ; and when we recollect the 
 mode in which the various departments of St 
 Paul's and Westminster Abbey are secured by 
 a dozen of petty turnpikes and tax-gatherers, 
 we may judge more fairly of the sexton of St 
 Genevieve. 
 
 The liberality of the French nation, in af- 
 fording every possible means to the public of 
 enjoying the collections of curiosities, or of 
 scientific objects, made for their behalf, in- 
 stead of rendering them sources of profit to 
 some obscure pensioner, pervades all their 
 establishments ; and strangers, for whose ease 
 and convenience even greater facilities are 
 afforded than are given to the natives, are 
 called upon to acknowledge it with gratitude. 
 If there be in this open display of the trea- 
 sures which they possess some traces of na- 
 tional pride, it is in this case an honest and 
 fair pride, and those who derive so much be- 
 nefit from its effects ought to be the last to 
 question its motive. One or two of these 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 313 
 
 objects of curiosity I shall briefly notice in my 
 next letter, not with the purpose of giving a 
 regular description of them, but to mark, if 
 I can, by a few characteristic strokes, the pe- 
 culiarities which attracted my own attention. 
 Adieu ; I rest ever your affectionate 
 
 Paul, 
 
814 Paul's letters 
 
 LETTER XIIL 
 
 THE SAME TO THE SAME* 
 
 I have already said, my dear sister, that of 
 all capitals in the world, Paris must afford the 
 most delightful residence to a mere literary 
 lounger; and if we add, that; his fortune is 
 limited (as is usually the case with such a 
 character,) it will suit him, after a little expe- 
 rience, as well in point of economy as of taste. 
 The Jardin des Plantes, the National library, 
 the Collection of French Monuments, the Na- 
 tional Institute, above all the Grand Museum 
 in the Louvre, are gratuitously opened t<? 
 his inspection and use, while theatres, and 
 public amusements of various kinds, in the 
 evening, may be frequented for little expence. 
 
 I know that nothing in Paris would delight 
 you more than the Jardin des Plantes. This 
 grand botanical garden, of several acres extent, 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 315 
 
 richly stocked with the most varied and cu- 
 rious productions of the$ vegetable world, is 
 equally interesting to the scientific student, 
 and to the idler, who seeks only for shaded 
 walks and interesting and beautiful points of 
 view. The variety of the ground, the dispo- 
 sition of the trees, and the neighbourhood of 
 the Seine, afford the last in considerable va- 
 riety ; while the shade, so grateful in this 
 warm climate, is secured by many a long 
 alley and avenue. The establishment is main- 
 tained entirely at the expence of the public. 
 The learned in physics may there have the 
 advantage of a chemical laboratory, of lec- 
 tures upon botany and natural history by men 
 Of approved science, of an anatomical col- 
 lection, and a valuable library, composed of 
 works relative to natural history. There is 
 also a menagerie upon a great scale of splen- 
 dour, as well as of comfort to the animals with 
 which it is tenanted. Those which are of a 
 dangerous description are properly secured, 
 but still with due attention to their habits 
 and convenience. The bears, for example, 
 inhabit subterranean residences, each of which 
 
316 Paul's letters 
 
 opens into a sunk area, of depth enough to 
 prevent escape, but where Bruin may repose 
 himself, or take exercise, at his pleasure, I 
 seldom pass this place without seeing some of 
 the Prussian or Russian soldiers engaged in 
 talking to and feeding the bears, whom, in 
 this southern clime, they probably regard as a 
 kind of countrymen. The elephant, a most 
 magnificent animal of the kind, has, as befits 
 his good sense and civilized behaviour, a small 
 paddock around his cabin, secured from the 
 public by a strong palisade. He had a mate 
 some years ago, but is now a widower ; very 
 good humoured, however, and familiar with 
 the passengers. Gentler animals, such as the 
 varieties of the deer species, are allowed space 
 in proportion to their size ; and it is only the 
 fiercer tribes of Africa and Asia, lions, tigers, 
 and leopards, which are committed to strict 
 confinement. These also are kept clean, and 
 made as comfortable as circumstances will 
 permit ; and on the whole, it is impossible to 
 conceive an institution of the kind managed 
 with more respect to the feelings and conve- 
 nience of the creatures contained in it. If a 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK, 317 
 
 stranger is curious to know the names of the 
 various animals, there is always some French- 
 man near, who, either merely to do the ho- 
 nours to Monsieur PEtranger, or at most 
 for quelque chose pour boire, walks with you 
 through the collection, and displays at once 
 his eloquence, and that sort of information 
 which is frequently found among the Parisi- 
 ans, even of the lower orders. To me, who 
 am no naturalist, such a guide seems often as 
 interesting a specimen as any in the collec- 
 tion. The contrast of his meagre looks and 
 tattered dress, with the air of patronage which 
 he assumes towards the stranger under his 
 charge ; his pompous encomiums on the ob- 
 jects he exhibits ; his grave injunctions not 
 to approach too near the grates of the more 
 dangerous quadrupeds ; the importance with 
 which he gives the scientific appellation of 
 each animal, condescendingly adding that 
 which is in more vulgar use ; and the polite 
 gratitude of his * Monsieur est tres honnete" 
 when he pockets his little gratuity, and puts 
 jon the schakos, which he has hitherto held 
 
 8 
 
318 Paul's letters 
 
 in his hand for the sake of aiding his elo. 
 quence, — all these points brought together 
 give a character of the lower rank not to be 
 met with out of France, and rarely out of 
 Paris. 
 
 The antiquary who visits Paris must be 
 deeply interested by a visit to the Museum 
 des Monumens Fran9ais, assembled by Mons. 
 Le Noir in the church, convent, and gardens of 
 Les petits Augustins. This collection proved 
 a sort of asylum for such monuments of art as 
 could be saved from popular fury during the 
 first revolutionary fever, comprehending the 
 tombs of princes, legislators, and heroes. 
 When the churches were sacked and pillaged, 
 and the property of the clergy was confiscated 
 to the use of the nation, 1 Mons.Le Noir had the 
 courage to attempt to save from impending 
 ruin objects invaluable for the history of the 
 arts and for that of the nation, and he had the 
 address to devise a probable mode of succeed- 
 ing in a plan, which, in these furious days, 
 might have been represented as savouring of 
 aristocracy and inckisme. He obtained from 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK, 319 
 
 the National Assembly a recommendation to 
 their Committee of Alienation, to watch over 
 and protect the monuments of art in the 
 churches and domains which they had confis- 
 cated to national use. This was followed by a 
 warrant, authorising a committee of S$avans, 
 of whom LeNoir was most active, to select and 
 transport to Paris these reliques of antiquity, 
 and there to arrange them in one general col- 
 lection, so as to afford a view of the progress 
 of the arts during the several periods of French 
 history. Much exertion accordingly has been 
 made, and upon the whole with considerable 
 success, to dispose this various and miscella- 
 neous collection according to centuries, and 
 at the same time to place the productions of 
 each aera in the best and fittest order. You 
 accompany therefore at once the progress of 
 the arts and that of history, as you wander 
 from hall to hall, and compare the rude ima- 
 ges of Clovis and Pharamond with what the 
 Italian chisel produced to commemorate de- 
 parted greatness, in that happy epoch which 
 the French artists call Le Siecle de la Renal* 
 
320 Paul's letters 
 
 sance. Several monuments, the size of which 
 rendered them unfit for a cloister, are erected 
 in the gardens; and particularly the tomb 
 of Abelard and Heloise, with those of Des 
 Cartes, Moliere, La Fontaine, Boileau, and 
 others dear to French literature. 
 
 Yet such is the caprice of the human mind, 
 that even from this rich mental feast we re- 
 turn with some degree of dissatisfaction. The 
 inspection of the Museum inspired me at 
 least with a feeling greater in degree, but si- 
 milar in origin, to that with which I have re- 
 garded a collection of English portraits — 
 
 " Torn from their destined page — unworthy meed 
 Of knightly counsel or heroic deed," — 
 
 and compiled to illustrate a Grainger, at the 
 expence of many a volume defaced and ren- 
 dered imperfect. Far deeper is that sensa- 
 tion rooted, when we consider that the stones 
 accumulated around us have been torn from 
 the graves which they were designed to mark 
 out and to protect, and divided from all those 
 associations arising from the neighbourhood 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 321 
 
 of the mighty dead. It is also impossible, 
 with the utmost care and ingenuity, that the 
 monuments should be all displayed to advan- 
 tage ; and even the number of striking objects, 
 huddled together, diminishes the effect which 
 each, separately, is calculated to produce upon 
 the mind. These wayward reflections will 
 arise, and can only be checked by the recol- 
 lection, that without prosecution of the plan 
 wisely adopted and boldly prosecuted, the re- 
 liques around us would have ceased to exist, 
 and that the ingenious collector, far from 
 being the plunderer of a wreck, has saved 
 and protected its scattered fragments, which 
 must have otherwise perished for ever. 
 
 If, in the Museum of Monumens Francois, 
 we contrast with advantage the principle and 
 mode by which the collection is formed, with 
 the effect produced by the piesent arrange- 
 ment, and pardon, for the sake of the former, 
 the necessary imperfections attached to the 
 latter, no such favourable result can be drawn 
 by the reflecting traveller who visits the ini- 
 mitable collection of paintings and statues in 
 
 x 
 
322 Paul's letters , 
 
 % 
 
 the Louvre, called the Central Museum of 
 the Arts. It is indeed, abstractedly, a sub- 
 ject of just] pride to a nation, that she can 
 exhibit to strangers this surpassingly magni- 
 ficent display of the works of human genius 
 when in its most powerful and active mood, 
 awakened as it were from the sleep of ages, 
 and at once bringing to the service of art 
 such varied talent as never was nor will be 
 equalled. But if, with these exulting consi- 
 derations, it were possible for the French to 
 weigh the sum of evil which they have suffer- 
 ed and inflicted to obtain this grand object 
 of national vanity, they might well view the 
 most magnificent saloon in Europe as a char- 
 nel-vault, and the works of Raphael, Titian, 
 and Salvator, as no better than the sable and 
 tattered scutcheons which cover its moulder- 
 ing walls. Each picture, indeed, has its own 
 separate history of murder, rapine, and sacri- 
 lege. It was perhaps the worst point in Buo- 
 naparte's character, that, with a firm and un- 
 remitting attention to his own plans and his 
 own interest, he proceeded from battle to plun- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 825 
 
 tier, less like a soldier than a brigand or com- 
 mon highwayman, whose immediate object is 
 to rifle the passenger whom he has subdued by 
 violence or intimidation. But Napoleon knew 
 well the people over whom he was called to 
 rule, and was aware that his power was secure, 
 despite of annihilated commerce and exhaust- 
 ed finances, despite of his waste of the lives 
 of Frenchmen and treasure of France, despite 
 of the general execration of the human race, 
 echoed from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, 
 providing he could prove to the Parisians that 
 he was still the Emperor of the World, and 
 Paris its capital. Savans, therefore, amateurs* 
 and artists, whose skill and taste might supply 
 the deficiency of his own, regularly attended 
 upon his military expeditions ; and when a 
 city had surrendered, or had otherwise fallen 
 into his power, whatever it possessed in pub- 
 lie or private property evincing excellence in 
 the arts, was destined to augment the Cen- 
 tral Museum, and furnish a topic of conso- 
 lation to those Parisians whose sons perhaps 
 had fallen in battle under its walls. For this 
 purpose every town in Italy was ransacked, 
 
324 Paul's letters 
 
 and compelled by open violence, or a still 
 more odious influence exercised under pre- 
 text of treaties, to surrender those specimens 
 of sculpture and painting whose very names 
 had become associated with the classical situ- 
 ations, from which a true admirer of the arts 
 would have deemed it sacrilege to have torn 
 them. The Low Countries were compel- 
 led to yield up those masterpieces of the Fle- 
 mish school, which are prized by amateurs as 
 almost equal to those of Italy. Dresden, long 
 famous for its collection of paintings, which 
 Frederick the Great contented himself with 
 admiring, was plundered to the bare walls. 
 Berlin and Potzdam underwent a similar fate ; 
 and while Buonaparte affected to restore to 
 the subdued monarch of Prussia his crown and 
 kingdom, he actually pillaged his palaces of 
 their most precious and domestic ornaments. 
 Vienna was severely ransacked, with every 
 inferior town in the emperor's dominions, and 
 that even at the period of an alliance cemented 
 by Buonaparte's union with a daughter of the 
 house of Austria. The ancient capital of the 
 czars was destined to consign its old magnifi- 
 
, TO HIS KINSFOLK. 325 
 
 cence to the same accumulated heap of spoil. 
 But there the robber s arm was shortened, and 
 the plunder of the Kremlin was retaken ere it 
 had crossed the Beresina. The very orna- 
 ments of the apartments were acquired by the 
 same iniquitous means which had rilled them 
 with paintings and statues. The twelve gra- 
 nite pillars which supported the Hall of Sculp- 
 ture were plundered from Aix la Chapelle, 
 and the beautifully-wrought bronze folding 
 doors at the upper end of the Grand Saloon 
 were the spoils of a church at Rome. Omnis 
 Thais 'lhaida olet. The collection in all its 
 parts, magnificent and unmatched as it is, 
 savours of the cruelty, perfidy, and rapine by 
 which it was accumulated. 
 
 M my have therefore been tempted to think 
 that there was less wisdom or justice than mag- 
 nanimity in the conduct of the allies during 
 the preceding year, who, to save the feelings of 
 the French, which in this case had no title to 
 a moment's consideration, sacrificed the jus- 
 tice due to their own despoiled countries, and 
 let pass the opportunity of giving a great mo- 
 ral lesson, without inflicting on France a single 
 
326 Paul's letters 
 
 hardship excepting what might flow from her 
 wounded vanity. But Prussia, it seems, was 
 satisfied with a promise (ill kept by the re- 
 stored family) that her property should be re- 
 delivered w 7 hen affairs were settled in France y 
 and for the other nations no stipulation seems 
 to have been made. If the allies on this oc- 
 casion neglected to reclaim by force their own 
 property when in their power, it would never- 
 theless have been just, and perhaps prudent, 
 in the Bourbon family, to have of their own 
 accord relinquished spoils which could only 
 remind them of their own misfortunes. But 
 they were too anxious to establish themselves 
 in the opinion of their new subjects as good 
 Frenchmen, to recollect that justice, open 
 and even-handed, is the first duty of a mo- 
 narch. They were afraid to face the clamour 
 which would have stigmatized an act of ho- 
 nest restitution as the concession of coward- 
 ice. As Buonaparte had been the heir of the 
 Revolution, they were willing to be the heirs 
 of Buonaparte, and appear to have been as 
 little disposed to the doctrine of restitution as 
 the worthy corregidor of Leon, who succeed- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 827 
 
 ed to the treasures of Captain Rolando's sub- 
 terranean mansion. At least they were not 
 unwilling, like the sons of a usurer, to pos- 
 sess treasures of such value, without sharing 
 the guilt of the original acquisition. They 
 did not reflect that every token which carried 
 back the Frenchman's recollection to the em- 
 peror, must excite comparisons, among the 
 thoughtless and unprincipled, highly unfa- 
 vourable to the legitimate possessor of the 
 crown. 
 
 The day of reckoning is at length arrived. 
 The Museum, when I first arrived in Paris, 
 was still entire. But Blucher, who was not, 
 it seems, to be foiled a second time, has since 
 made several visits, attended by a German 
 artist, for the purpose of ascertaining and 
 removing the pictures which belong to Prus- 
 sia, or to the German states now united with 
 her. The French guardians of the Museum 
 also attended, no longer to decide upon the 
 point of view in which the spoils of nations 
 should be disposed, but to plead, occasionally 
 and timidly, that such a picture formed no 
 part of the cabinet of Potzdam, but had been 
 
328 Paul's letters 
 
 stolen from some other collection. These de- 
 murrers were generally silenced by a " Lais 
 to?" or " Halt maul" * from the veteran of 
 Laon and Waterloo, who is no friend to pro- 
 longed discussions. If you ask, whether Prus- 
 sia has recovered all the pictures which had 
 been carried off at different times, I fancy I 
 may return the same emphatic answer given by 
 an old Scotch serving-man, when his master 
 asked him if he had been careful to pack up 
 all his wardrobe at leaving a friend's house, — 
 " At least, your honour." Not that I suppose 
 the Prince-Marshal has got a single article to 
 which the French had any just title, but the 
 late enlargement of the dominions of Prussia 
 has greatly extended her claims of restitution 
 in right of states and cities newly annexed to 
 her dominions. Still, however, though nearly 
 a hundred pictures have in this manner gra- 
 dually disappeared, I have not missed one of 
 those masterpieces to which the attention of 
 the visitor is earliest directed and longest ri- 
 veted. It is when the claims of Italy and the 
 
 * << 
 
 Hold your tongue." 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK, 329 
 
 Netherlands shall be enforced that the prin- 
 cipal disgoiging of spoil will take place ; and 
 when that day comes, I believe it will drive 
 some of the French amateurs to actual dis- 
 traction. Their attachment to these paintings 
 and statues, or rather to the national glory 
 which they conceive them to illustrate, is as 
 excessive as if the Apollo and Venus were 
 still objects of actual adoration ; and on the 
 day of their departure I anticipate them ex- 
 claiming with Micah, "Ye have taken away 
 my gods and go your ways, and what have I 
 more ? — How then say ye unto me, what ail- 
 eth me ?" 
 
 It is, however, understood to be definitively 
 settled by the allied sovereigns, that the French 
 must undergo this mortification ; as is evident 
 by the generals, at the capitulation of Paris, 
 having refused to sanction an article of the 
 treaty proposed by the French, for securing 
 the possession of these monuments. It is a 
 severe mortification doubtless ; but, indepen- 
 dent of the undeniable justice of the measure, 
 it is wholesome that the French should have 
 in future no trophies to appeal to as memo- 
 
330 paul's letters 
 
 rials, that they had exercised a power over 
 other states, which their victors never had 
 courage to retaliate 5 as ensigns of past con- 
 quest, and as the incentive to new wars. The 
 contents of the Museum have been found by 
 bitter experience to perpetuate recollections, 
 which, for the peace of France and of Eu- 
 rope, ought to be effaced as speedily and ab- 
 solutely as possible. Such associations render 
 the removal of the objects which excite them 
 as necessary a precaution, as the burning of 
 Don Quixote's library to prevent the recur- 
 rence of his phrenzy. 
 
 With respect to the arts, you know I pre- 
 tend to no skill in the province of the ama- 
 teur ; but the best judges seem to allow that 
 the dispersion of this immense collection is by 
 no means unfavourable to their progress and 
 improvement. We readily admit, and each 
 spectator has felt, that nothing can be more 
 magnificent, more august, more deeply im- 
 pressive, taken as a whole, than that noble 
 gallery, prolonged to an extent which the eye 
 can hardly distinctly trace, and crowded on 
 every side with the noblest productions of the 
 
 9 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 331 
 
 most inspired artists. Fourteen hundred paint- 
 ings, each claiming rank as a masterpiece, dis- 
 posed upon walls which extend for more than 
 twelve hundred feet in length, form, united, a 
 collection unparalleled in extent and splen- 
 dour. But a part of this charm vanishes 
 when we have become familiar with the coup 
 d'ceuil ; and the emotions of surprise and plea- 
 sure which the transient visitor receives, are 
 gained in some degree at the expence of the 
 student, or studious amateur. In a saloon of 
 such length and height, lighted too from both 
 sides, it is impossible that all the pictures can 
 be seen to advantage ; and, in truth, many can- 
 not be seen at all. In a selection where all 
 is excellent, and worthy of studious and heed- 
 ful attention, this is a disadvantage of no com- 
 anon kind. But it is not the only one. Each 
 of these paintings, almost without exception, 
 have in them something excellent ; but, inde- 
 pendent of the loss which they sustain in com- 
 mon, by being so much crowded together, and 
 by making part rather of one grand and bril- 
 liant whole, than subjects important enough 
 for detached and separate consideration, the 
 
332 Paul's letters 
 
 merit of some of these chefs d'ceuvre so far ex- 
 ceeds that of others, as altogether to divert 
 the attention from objects of inferior, though 
 still of exquisite merit. Few, possessing even 
 the most eager love for the art, though they 
 have consumed hours, days, weeks, and months, 
 in the Museum, have been able to escape 
 that fascination which draws them to the 
 Transformation of Raphael, the Communi-on 
 by Domenichino, the Martyrdom of the In- 
 quisitor, and some other masterpieces. About 
 fifty pictures at most therefore are copied, 
 studied, examined, and worshipped, while 
 more than twenty times that number are ne- 
 glected and unseen, and, with all their ad- 
 mitted excellence, draw as little attention 
 as the Nymphs and Graces in the suite of 
 Venus. This shews that the appetite of taste, 
 as well as of epicurism, may be satiated and 
 rendered capricious by the exhibition of too 
 rich and sumptuous a banquet, and that, our 
 capacity of enjoyment being limited, there 
 is no wisdom in an injudicious accumulation 
 of means for its gratification. To the young 
 student in particular, the feelings of satiety 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 335 
 
 are peculiarly hazardous ; for either he be- 
 comes accustomed to indulge a capricious 
 and presumptuous contempt of works which 
 he has slightly studied, or he is deterred from 
 boldly and vigorously venturing upon a labori- 
 ous and difficult art, when he sees that excel- 
 lence of a pitch to which he dare not aspire, 
 may, in company with the ultimate efforts of 
 genius, be insufficient to secure respect and 
 attention. 
 
 It might be added, that there are particu- 
 lar points, in which even those distinguished 
 and selected patterns of supereminence which 
 throw every inferior degree of merit into 
 shadow, lose, in some degree, the full im- 
 pression of their own merit, by being dis- 
 joined from the local associations with a view 
 to which they were painted. This is espe- 
 cially the case with the religions subjects 
 executed for altar-pieces, and for the orna- 
 ments of chapels, where the artist had labour- 
 ed to suit not only his size of figures and 
 disposition of light to the place which the 
 painting was to occupy, but had also given 
 them a tone of colouring and a general cha- 
 
334 Paul's letters 
 
 racter, harmonizing with the solemnity, not 
 only of the subject, but of the scene around. 
 To many a thorough-paced and hackneyed 
 connoisseur, who considers the finest painting 
 merely as a subject for his technical criticism, 
 the divesting it of these exterior accompani- 
 ments will seem of little consequence. But 
 those who love the art for the noble and 
 enthusiastic feelings by the excitement of 
 which it is best applauded, will feel some dif- 
 ference in considering a scripture-piece over 
 the altar of a Gothic church, and in viewing 
 the same painting where it forms part of an 
 incongruous assemblage of landscapes and 
 flower-pieces, with a group of drinking boors 
 placed on the one side, and an amour of Ju- 
 piter upon the other. 
 
 These observations apply only to the os- 
 tentatious assemblage of so many and such 
 various specimens of the art in one extensive 
 gallery. But had this objection not existed 
 — had these paintings been so disposed in va- 
 rious apartments as to give each its appropri- 
 ate situation, and secure for each that portion 
 of attention which it merits, still objections 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 335 
 
 would remain to the whole system. There is 
 no wisdom in venturing as it were the for- 
 tunes of the world of art in one single collec- 
 tion, exposed to total and irredeemable loss 
 either from accidental fire, or the havoc of 
 war, or popular phrenzy. Had the Museum 
 existed during the first years of the Revolu- 
 tion, its danger must have been most immi- 
 nent, and twice during the space of a very 
 few months has it narrowly escaped the risks 
 which must have attended it had Paris been 
 stormed. 
 
 Independent even of these considerations, 
 and admitting this general accumulation of 
 the treasures of art to be as desirable as it is* 
 certainly august and impressive, I should still 
 hesitate to say that Paris is the city where 
 they ought to be reposited. The French 
 school, though it has produced many good 
 artists, has been as remarkable for wanting, 
 as the Italians for possessing, that dignity and 
 simplicity of feeling which leads to the sub- 
 lime. Poussin alone excepted, there is a 
 flutter and affectation, a constraint of attitude 
 to create point, and a studied contrast of co- 
 
336 Paul's letters 
 
 lour and light to bring out effect, which marks 
 the national taste; and from the charms of 
 such Dalilahs, as Dry den calls similar flou- 
 rishes in poetry, they never have weaned 
 themselves, nor ever will. Their want of real 
 taste and feeling may be estimated by the 
 unawed audacity with which they have in se- 
 veral notorious instances undertaken to re- 
 pair, and even to alter, the master-pieces which 
 conquest and rapine had put within their 
 power. The same deficiency of real taste is 
 evinced by the rash comparisons which they 
 make between their schools of music and 
 painting and those of Italy, in which Gay's 
 lines still describe the present Parisian as 
 well as him of his own day : 
 
 Mention the force of learned Corelli's notes, 
 Some squeaking fiddler of their ball he quotes ; 
 Talk of the spirit Raphael's pencil gives, 
 Yet warm with life, whose speaking picture lives, 
 ■ Yes, sir,' sajs he, ■ in colour and design, 
 Rigaut and Raphael are extremely fine.' 
 
 Where the taste of those with whom he 
 must naturally associate is systematically de- 
 ficient, the young artist may lose as much 
 11 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 337 
 
 through the influence of a French preceptor, 
 as he could gain by studying in the Museum. 
 I might also hint how little a capital like Pa- 
 ris, containing so many temptations to idle- 
 ness and dissipation, is a safe abode for the 
 young artist. But enough has been said to 
 justify the sacrifice now exacted from France, 
 however it may lower her pride and mortify 
 her vanity. First, it is a demand of justice, 
 and therefore must be enforced ; and next, 
 the artist, though he must in future extend 
 his travels, and visit various cities in search of 
 those excellencies which are now to be seen 
 collected in the Louvre, will have greater be- 
 nefit from the experience which has cost him 
 some toil ; and if he must traverse Switzer- 
 land and Italy, to view the sculptures of an- 
 cient Greece, and the paintings of modern 
 Rome, he will have the double advantage of 
 taking lessons on his route from Nature her- 
 self, in the solitary grandeur of the one and 
 the profuse luxuriance of the other. 
 
 The taste of the French seems to be turned 
 more towards the Hall of Sculptures than the 
 Gallery of Paintings, and I think I can trace 
 
 y 
 
338 Paul's letters 
 
 something of a corresponding partiality in the 
 works of David, their greatest living artist, 
 whose figures, though often nobly conceived 
 and disposed, have a hardness of outline re- 
 sembling statuary. My own taste (formed 
 probably on habit, for we see few good sta- 
 tues in Britain,) would have inclined other- 
 wise, and I grieve to say I was rather disap- 
 pointed with some of those statues of antiqui- 
 ty from which I expected most pleasure. One 
 monument can disappoint no one— I mean 
 the Apollo Belvidere, the sublime simplicity 
 of whose attitude, and the celestial expression 
 of his countenance, seem really more than 
 mortal. It is said there is a chance of his vi- 
 siting England : while I looked upon so ex- 
 quisite a specimen of ancient art, I could not 
 muster virtue enough to wish the report false ; 
 but writing in my solitary closet, and in 
 mature consideration, I do hope sincerely 
 that neither by purchase, nor gift, or other- 
 wise, however fairly, will Britain possess her- 
 self of that or any other the least part of those 
 spoils, since the French would eagerly grasp 
 at such a pretext for alleging that we sought 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 339 
 
 the gratification of our own selfish ends* 
 while we affected to render justice to others. 
 Indeed, unless I am much mistaken, the 
 personage whose taste might be most grati- 
 fied by such an acquisition would not enter 
 into a transaction calculated to throw the 
 slightest shade of suspicion on the pure faith 
 of Britain, to acquire all that Phidias ever 
 carved, or Raphael painted. This fine statue, 
 and the other specimens of art, seem to rise 
 in value with the French as the hour of part- 
 ing with them approaches. They talk to them, 
 weep to them, kneel to them, and bid adieu 
 to them, as if they were indeed restored to 
 the rank of idols. But Baal boweth down, 
 Nebo stoop eth— the hammer and wedge have 
 given awful note of preparation ; the Venus, 
 the Dying Gladiator, and many other statues, 
 have been loosened from their pedestals, and 
 stand prompt for returning to their native 
 and appropriate places of abode. Many a 
 lowering eye and frowning brow marks the 
 progress of these preparations; and such is the 
 grotesque distress in the countenance of others, 
 
340 paul's letters 
 
 that, as Poins says of Falstaff, if it were not 
 for laughing I could pity them. 
 
 After all, however, they are not objects of 
 compassion, even in the despoiled state, as 
 they express themselves, to which they are 
 likely to be reduced. France possesses, as 
 public property, besides the paintings of her 
 own school, a noble collection formed by the 
 Bourbon race, and the Borghese" pictures, ho- 
 nestly bought and paid for by Buonaparte* 
 She has also to boast the gallery of the Lux- 
 embourg palace, containing that splendid se- 
 ries of historical pictures by Rubens, comme- 
 morating the principal actions in the life of 
 Mary de Medicis, to the brilliancy of which 
 there can only be objected the incongruous 
 mixture of mythological and allegorical per- 
 sonages, with characters of historical reality. 
 But this mixture of truth and fiction, and men 
 and genii, and heathen gods and Christian 
 emblems, seems to me so inconsistent, that, 
 could I entertain the ambitious hope of pos- 
 sessing a picture of Rubens, I would prefer 
 one of his boar -hunts, or groupes of peasants 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 341 
 
 going to market, to the most splendid picture 
 in the Luxembourg gallery. 
 
 At Malmaison there are also some fine 
 paintings, besides a number of good copies 
 from the pictures of the Museum. This was 
 the abode of Josephine, of whom all speak 
 with regret and affection. I was particularly- 
 struck with the figure of a dancing Nymph, 
 in marble, which, to my poor judgment, might 
 have been placed beside any of the Grecian 
 monuments in the Halls of Sculpture, without 
 suffering much disparagement. It was cut by 
 Canova, that eminent artist, who, as he re- 
 monstrated formerly against the transference 
 of the works of art from Italy, has now the sa- 
 tisfaction of superintending their restoration 
 to that classical land. 
 
 This ample subject has exhausted my pa- 
 per. I remain, dear sister, affectionately 
 yours, 
 
 Paul, 
 
342 Paul's letters 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 PAUL, TO THE MAJOR. 
 
 Your appetite for military details, my dear 
 Major, is worthy of one who assisted at the 
 defence of Bergen -op-Zoom in the year 1747, 
 since it cannot be sated with the ample feast 
 which I sent you from Waterloo. Here in- 
 deed I see little around me but military of all 
 nations ; but how to describe the gay, glitter- 
 ing, and at the same time formidable scene, a 
 scene too so new to all my habits, is a point 
 of no little difficulty. Paris is one great camp, 
 consisting of soldiers of almost all nations, 
 and is under the military authority of the 
 Prussian Baron Muffling, as commandant for 
 the allies. You are not ignorant of the pro- 
 ceedings which led to this extraordinary crisis, 
 but I shall briefly recall them to your me- 
 mory. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 343 
 
 The only division of the French army which 
 remained entire after the rout of Waterloo, 
 was that of Grouchy and Vandamme, which, 
 by a retreat that did these generals the high- 
 est honour, was not only conducted unbroken 
 under the walls of Paris, but gained some ac- 
 cession of strength from the wrecks of the 
 main army. Upon their arrival they found 
 matters in a most singular state of crisis. Buo- 
 naparte had anticipated the tidings of the field 
 of Waterloo, and brought, like a certain ge- 
 neral renowned in song, the news of his own 
 defeat to the good city of Paris. It would 
 seem that he expected the Liberalists would 
 now, in this last and critical danger, have 
 made common cause with him, strengthened 
 his hands with all the power that unanimity 
 could bestow upon a dictator, called upon the 
 nation to rally around his standard, and tried 
 yet one desperate chance for conquest. But 
 he had measured his importance according to 
 former, not according to existing circumstan- 
 ces. The rump of the old Conventionalists 
 saw no more to overawe them in Buonaparte 
 defeated, than their predecessors of the Long 
 
344 Paul's letters 
 
 Parliament had seen in Richard Cromwell. 
 They instantly made known to him, and with 
 no friendly voice, that the times demanded 
 his resignation ; they called his ministers be- 
 fore them authoritatively, and intimated by 
 every movement their intention to take the 
 reins of government into their own hands* 
 Napoleon had no alternative left him but that 
 of defiance or of abdication. In the former 
 case, he might indeed have dissolved the re- 
 fractory chambers, for the troops, and the 
 lower class of the Parisian populace, who were 
 armed under the name of Feder6s, were reso- 
 lute in his behalf But he was not resolute in 
 his own determination. It was in vain that 
 his brother Lucien, who, having resumed the 
 thorny path of politics, was disposed to tread 
 it with his former audacity, urged him to 
 inarch a body of troops to the chambers, dis- 
 solve them at once, and take the full power 
 into his own hands. Success over the cham- 
 bers was indeed certain, but its consequences 
 would have called upon Napoleon to live or 
 die with the troops who should achieve it : 
 of the first he had little hope, and for the last 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 345 
 
 slender inclination. He therefore attempted 
 by a compromise to transfer his crown, now 
 entwined with thorns, to the head of his in- 
 fant son. The proposition was for some time 
 evaded by the Assembly, and Buonaparte's 
 adherents could only procure an indirect and 
 dubious assent to this condition. Lucien 
 pleaded and Labedoyere bullied in vain ; and 
 the chambers having possessed themselves of 
 this brief and precarious authority, began 
 such a course of debate as Swift ascribes to 
 his Legion Club,— 
 
 " While they sit and pick their straws, 
 Let them dream of making laws." 
 
 Instead of active preparations to oppose or 
 avert the progress of foreign invaders, the 
 Parisians saw with astonishment their senators 
 engaged in discussions of abstract theory, or 
 frivolous points of form. A matter-of-fact 
 man, who wished to know the distance be- 
 twixt Saint Quentin (then Lord Wellington's 
 head- quarters) and Paris, was called to order, 
 as going into matter irrelevant to the subject 
 of debate. The question, however, was not 
 
346 paul's letters 
 
 mal-apropos. Grouchy's army arrived, and 
 the allies were not long behind him. The 
 chambers, who had by this time assumed all 
 the old-fashioned mummery and jargon of 
 the Convention, sent forth a deputation of 
 its members, decorated with three-coloured 
 scarfs, to harangue the soldiers and the fede- 
 res ; and they were conjured by the member 
 who proposed the deputation to apprise the 
 soldiers, that the representatives were ready to 
 mix with them in their ranks, since, to those 
 who fell, the day of their death would be that 
 of their resurrection. It was supposed that 
 Mons. Gamier, not much accustomed to such 
 terms, had meant to say immortality, but this 
 impropriety of expression greatly maimed the 
 energy of his eloquence. 
 
 The representatives went forth with their 
 fine scarfs. They harangued the soldiers and 
 the armed banditti called feder6s upon the 
 original principles of liberty and the unpre- 
 scriptible rights of man, and recommended to 
 them, as a rallying word, Vive la Natio??, Five 
 la Libert e ! But the charm was as ineffectual 
 as that used by the Abbess of Andouillets, 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 34*7 
 
 The soldiers and federes only answered with 
 shouts of Five PEmpereur. The representa- 
 tives affeeted to consider these acclamations 
 as referring to Napoleon II., and having, like 
 the Duke of Buckingham, thanked their loving 
 friends and countrymen for sentiments which 
 they had never expressed, they returned to 
 make their report to the chambers. There 
 was, in truth, only one point of union between 
 these assemblies of soi-disant legislators and the 
 French troops, which was an obstinate deter- 
 mination, founded upon a combined sense of 
 crime and fear of punishment, to resist to the 
 uttermost the restoration of the legitimate 
 sovereign, although every wise man in France 
 had long seen it was the sole measure which 
 promised to avert the impending ruin of the 
 country. Upon this topic the most furious 
 speeches were made, the most violent resolu- 
 tions entered into ; and the Lower Chamber, 
 in particular, showed that it wanted only time 
 and power to renew the anarchy, as it had 
 adopted the language, of the early Revolution. 
 But there were cold fits to allay this fever, 
 and the perturbation of mind by which indi* 
 
348 Paul's letters 
 
 viduals began to find themselves agitated broke 
 out amid their bullying ridiculously enough. 
 Merlin of Douai (an old hack'd engine of 
 Philip Egalite, and Robespierre, under the 
 last of whom he promulgated the bloody edict 
 against suspected persons,) announced to the 
 Chamber of Representatives his having recei- 
 ved an untimely visit of two persons in a fiacre, 
 demanding to speak to him on the part of the 
 president of the provisional government ; that 
 the hour being one in the morning, he had re- 
 fused them admittance—- happily so refused 
 them— since, in the unanimous opinion of M er- 
 lin himself, of his wife, and honest Regnault 
 de St Jean d'Angely, these untimely visitors 
 could mean nothing good to his person. On 
 this annunciation, vigorous measures were pro- 
 posed for the protection of Monsieur Merlin, 
 when Boulay de la Meurthe stopped further 
 proceeding, by informing the assembly that the 
 supposed emissaries of royalty were in lactwhat 
 they called themselves, messengers from the 
 president upon a matter of emergency, which 
 they had communicated to himself upon being 
 refused access to Merlin, One member's ter- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 349 
 
 rors were excited by seeing in the street a 
 wounded officer, those of another broke out 
 upon spying — not a peer, as used to be the 
 cause of alarm in St Stephen's — but sight more 
 appalling, a royal Garde de Corps in full uni- 
 form under the gallery. These alarms were 
 faithfully reported to the chambers, and though 
 the wiser representatives suppressed their own 
 fears, there were many indications that they 
 did not less deeply entertain them. 
 
 The anxiety of the government and of the 
 chambers was singularly contrasted by the ex- 
 treme indifference of him who had been the 
 origin of all the turmoil and bloodshed, and 
 who continued for some time to travel from 
 the palace of Bourbon Elyse£s to Malmaison 
 and back again, to give fetes there, and to 
 prepare for a journey no one could say whi- 
 ther, with as much composure as if the gene- 
 ral distraction concerned him as little, or le*s, 
 than any other temporary sojourner in France. 
 To complete this scene of characteristic affec- 
 tation, he sent a message to the chambers to 
 request copies of two books which he desired 
 might be placed at his disposal. But the 
 
350 Paul's letters 
 
 near approach of the allies at length accele-* 
 rated his departure, and on the 29th June, 
 when they were within three leagues of the 
 city, he finally left the capital, which he had 
 lately called his own, to make the best defence 
 or capitulation they could. At first the cham- 
 bers resolved upon defence. But the means 
 were very imperfect. 
 
 When Buonaparte, before leaving Paris for 
 Avesnes, consulted Carnot on the means ne- 
 cessary for the defence of the metropolis, the 
 latter is said to have estimated them at two 
 hundred millions, and the labour of three 
 years. " And when that sum of treasure and 
 labour has been expended, sixty thousand 
 good troops," continued the ex-director, "and 
 a sustained assault of twenty-four hours, may 
 render it all in vain." Nevertheless Buona- 
 parte undertook preparations for this gigantic 
 and hopeless task. The heights of Mont- 
 martre were fortified with extreme care, and 
 amply supplied with artillery. The village of 
 Saint Denis was also strongly garrisoned, and 
 a partial inundation being accomplished by 
 means of stopping two brooks, the water was 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 351 
 
 introduced into the half-completed canal De 
 POurcq, the bank of which being formed into 
 a parapet, completed a formidable line of 
 defence on the northern side of the city, 
 resting both flanks upon the Seine. The po- 
 pulace of Paris had laboured at these lines 
 with an enthusiasm not surpassed in the most 
 exalted phrensy of the Revolution ; nor were 
 their spirits or courage at all lowered by the 
 approach of the conquering armies of Eng- 
 land and Prussia, in the act of being support- 
 ed, if need were* by the whole force of Russia 
 and Austria. They confided in what had re- 
 peatedly and carefully been impressed upon 
 their minds, — that Paris could only fall by 
 treachery ; and boasted that they had now 
 Massena, and Soult, and Davoust, (as much 
 celebrated for military talent as for the atro- 
 city which he displayed in the defence of 
 Hamburgh,) to direct the defence of the capi- 
 tal, instead of Marmont, by whom, in the pre- 
 ceding year, they were taught to believe it 
 had been basely betrayed. 
 
 But although the line of defence to the 
 north was such as to justify temporary confi- 
 3 
 
352 Paul's letters 
 
 dence, the city on the opposite side was en- 
 tirely open, excepting the occupation of the 
 villages of Issy, and the heights of St Cloud 
 and Meudon These two points, if they could 
 have been maintained, would have protected 
 for a time that large and level plain which 
 extends on the south side of Paris, and which 
 now presented no advantages for defence, ex- 
 cepting an imperfect attempt at a trench, and 
 a few houses and garden-walls accommodated 
 with loop-holes for the use of musquetry. 
 On this defenceless side, therefore, the allied 
 generals resolved to make the attack, and the 
 Prince-Marshal on the 30th June crossed the 
 Seine at St Germains, and, occupying Versail- 
 les, threatened the French position at Meu- 
 don, Issy, and the heights of St Cloud, while 
 the Duke of Wellington, holding Gonesse, 
 opened a communication with the Prussians by 
 a bridge at Argenteuil. The French, though 
 their situation was desperate, did not lose 
 courage, and one gleam of success shone on 
 their arms. General Excelmans, by a well- 
 conducted assault, surprised the Prussians 
 who occupied Versailles, and made prisoners 
 10 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 353 
 
 some cavalry. But the French were assaulted 
 in their turn, driven from the heights of St 
 Cloud, from Issy, and from Meudon, and 
 forced close under the city itself. This hap- 
 pened on the 2d July, and Blucher had al- 
 ready sent to the British general to request 
 the assistance of a battery of Congreve's rock- 
 ets, — a most ominous preparation for the assault 
 which he meditated. Meanwhile the wealthy 
 and respectable Parisians were equally appre- 
 hensive of danger from their defenders and 
 from the assailants. The temper of the French 
 soldiers had risen to phrenzy, and the mob of the 
 Fauxbourgs, animated by the same feelings 
 of rage, vomited threats and execrations both 
 against the allies and against the citizens of Pa- 
 ris who favoured the cause of peace and legi- 
 timacy. Such was the temper of this motley 
 garrison, as formidable to the capital as the 
 presence of an incensed enemy, when upon 
 the 3d July the terms of capitulation between 
 the allies and Massena, who acted as com- 
 mander in chief of the French, were arranged 
 and signed, Paris once more subjected to the 
 z 
 
354 Paul's letters 
 
 mercy of Europe, and the Queen of Provinces 
 a second time made a bondswoman. 
 
 A brief but fearful period of anarchy pass- 
 ed ere the French army, now men without a 
 cause and without a leader, evacuated Paris 
 and its vicinity, and ere their yet more savage 
 associates, the federes, could be prevailed up- 
 on to lay down the arms with which they still 
 threatened death and devastation to each roy- 
 alist, or rather to property and all its possess- 
 ors. The firmness of the National Guards is 
 universally acknowledged to have saved Paris 
 in that awful moment, when, in all human 
 probability, the first example of plunder would 
 have been followed both by the populace and 
 by the foreigners, and a scene of universal 
 blood, rapine, and conflagration, must have 
 become the necessary consequence. 
 
 There are indeed fervent politicians, whom 
 now and then of an evening we have heard 
 breathe an ardent wish that Paris had been 
 burnt to the ground. These are words soon 
 spoken in the energy of patriotic hatred, or a 
 desire of vengeance for outraged morality $ 
 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 355 
 
 but if we can picture to ourselves without 
 shrinking those horrid scenes which ensue, 
 
 " Where the flesVd soldier, rough and hard of heart, 
 In liberty of bloody hand shall range, 
 With conscience wide as hell," 
 
 we ought yet to remember upon how many 
 thousands such dreadful vengeance must have 
 fallen, who can only be justly considered as 
 common sufferers by the very acts of aggres- 
 sion of which Europe has such just reason to 
 complain, and how many thousands more age 
 and incapacity exempted even from the~possi- 
 bility of having been sharers in the offence. 
 It is impossible to look around upon this splen- 
 did capital without remembering the affecting 
 plea which the Deity himself condescended 
 to use with his vindictive prophet : " Should 
 not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein 
 are six score thousand persons that cannot 
 discern between their right hand and their 
 left, and also much cattle ?" Least of all 
 ought we to wish that any part of the British 
 forces had been partakers in the horrid li- 
 cense that must have followed on such a 
 
356 Paul's letters 
 
 catastrophe, during which the restraints of 
 discipline and the precepts of religion are 
 alike forgotten in the headlong course of pri- 
 vileged fury. It was observed of the veteran 
 army of Tilly, that the sack of Magdeburg 
 gave a death-blow to their discipline, and we 
 know how the troops of France herself were 
 ruined by that of Moscow. In every point of 
 view, therefore, as well with regard to the 
 agents as the sufferers, the averting the de- 
 struction of Paris, when it appeared almost 
 inevitable, has added to the glories which the 
 Duke of Wellington has acquired in this im- 
 mortal campaign. For it is not to be denied, 
 that to his wise and powerful interference was 
 chiefly owing the timely arrangement of the 
 articles of capitulation, in consequence of 
 which the King of France again obtained pos- 
 session of his capital, and the allied armies 
 became the peaceful garrison of Paris. 
 
 By the time I reached the capital the poli- 
 tical convulsions had entirely subsided, and 
 the royal government, to all external appear- 
 ance, was in as quiet an exercise of authority 
 as if Louis XVIII. had never been dispossess- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK, 357 
 
 ed of the throne. But the public mind was 
 not as yet accustomed to consider the change 
 as permanent, being influenced and agitated 
 by a thousand gloomy reports of plots and 
 conspiracies, as the sea after the storm has 
 subsided continues still to heave and swell 
 with the impulse it has received. It was said, 
 in particular, that Labedoyere, who had been 
 found concealed in Paris, and there arrested, 
 was agent of a conspiracy, in which the iede- 
 res of the fauxbourgs, with the disbanded 
 soldiers of the army of the north, were to be 
 enlisted. One party of the conspirators was 
 to wear the dress and arms of the Parisian 
 National Guard, and so accoutered were to 
 assault simultaneously the hotels of the Em- 
 perors of Austria and of Russia, of the King 
 of Prussia, of Lord Castlereagh, of the Duke 
 of Wellington, and of Blucher ; while other 
 bands, disguised in the uniforms of the allied 
 troops, should storm the posts of the National 
 Guard, and particularly those maintained at 
 the palace of the Tuilleries. That a project 
 so wild and impracticable should have been 
 seriously attempted, I can hardly credit j but 
 
358 Paul's letters 
 
 that so many reckless and desperate men as 
 were now in Paris were meditating something 
 of peril and violence, is extremely probable, 
 fof at this very time all the guards maintained 
 on the illustrious personages I have mention- 
 ed were on a sudden strongly reinforced, and 
 unusual strictness was exercised by the cen- 
 tinels in challenging those who approached 
 their posts. Indeed, the great and combined 
 military force would have rendered any such 
 conspiracy an effort of fruitless, though per- 
 haps not bloodless, phrenzy. 
 
 The internal duty of Paris is chiefly per- 
 formed by the National Guard, who, in dress 
 and appearance, remind me very much of the 
 original or blue regiment of Edinburgh Vo- 
 lunteers. They furnish picquets for the va- 
 rious guards upon public places, and around 
 the Tuilleries ; a severe duty for the respect- 
 able class of citizens of whom these regi- 
 ments are composed, since I suppose at least 
 five hundred men are required for the daily 
 discharge of it. But the corps is very nu- 
 merous, and a consciousness that the peace of 
 the city and security of property depend up- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 359 
 
 on its being regularly and punctually per- 
 formed, reconciles these citizen-soldiers to 
 their task. 
 
 The guards upon the king's person and pa- 
 lace are entrusted to the Gardes de Corps, or 
 household troops, fine-looking men, very hand- 
 somely, though not gaudily, dressed. They 
 are said, with few exceptions, to have be- 
 haved with great loyalty in the late trying 
 crisis ; but as they are an expensive corps, 
 holding the rank of gentlemen, and being 
 paid accordingly, it is supposed their num- 
 bers will be much limited in future. They 
 are very civil in their deportment, and in the 
 discharge of their duty, particularly to Eng- 
 lish strangers. My infirmities perhaps claimed 
 a little compassion, and it is no discredit to 
 them that I have seen Messrs. les Gardes de 
 Corps feel the claim, and make a little way, 
 by the influence of voice and authority, for 
 one who was not so able to make it for him- 
 self. And indeed there was a kind of chival- 
 rous feeling in most of these gentlemen, a 
 modesty of demeanour, a gentleness of con- 
 
360 Paul's letteks 
 
 duct towards the crowd, and a deference to 
 the claims of hospitality, a sense, in short, 
 that he who has the momentary power should 
 use it with tenderness and forbearance, which 
 might be mere urbanity, but which a profess- 
 ed aristocrat is apt to consider as mixed with 
 a higher feeling. This corps, I have been in- 
 formed, suffered much in attending the king 
 to the frontiers ; a few, who had been select- 
 ed from Buonaparte's followers in a spirit of 
 conciliation, returned to their first vocation j 
 but the rest followed their master as far as 
 they were permitted, and experienced much 
 hardship and distress in consequence, besides 
 the actual slaughter of many of their compani- 
 ons. A stranger is an indifferent judge of such 
 matters, but I am so old-fashioned as to think 
 that a body of real men-at-arms, chosen from 
 the younger sons of the nobility and gentry, 
 is not only a graceful institution as a defence 
 and ornament to the throne, but may in 
 France be the means of retrieving the real 
 military character, so dishonoured and dis- 
 graced of late years. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 361 
 
 There is another armed force, of a very 
 different description, frequently seen in Pa- 
 ris, — the patroles of the modern gens d'ar- 
 mes, or military police ; men picked out for 
 the office, and who, in files of two or four, 
 upon foot or horseback, constantly parade 
 every part not only of Paris, but of France. 
 Their dress and arms are those of heavy dra- 
 goons, and therefore they may be at first 
 thought less adapted for discharging their pe- 
 culiar duty, which is that of police-officers. 
 But there is a very perfect system, of which 
 these are the agents, and when, as in the case 
 of the late effort of Buonaparte, the police 
 seems to have proved ineffectual, it is not the 
 fault of the inferior and operative agents, but 
 of those superintend ants from whom they re- 
 ceive their signals. These gens d'armes were 
 the agents so dreaded under the imperial go- 
 vernment, whose appearance made every knee 
 tremble, and every cheek grow pale. If they 
 are less formidable under a legitimate govern- 
 ment, it is because even the enemies of the 
 constitution may shelter their crimes beneath 
 the laws instituted for the protection of inno- 
 
 8 
 
362 Paul's letters 
 
 cence. Through all France, however, the 
 ubiquity of the police is something striking 
 and singular. In the most retired scene 
 which you can choose, if you see a solitary 
 horseman, or still more, if you see two riding 
 together, it is five to one that they belong to 
 the gens d' armerie. At this moment they 
 have full employment for their address and 
 omnipresence ; and I believe it is exercised 
 in no common degree, unless we should be- 
 lieve the scandal of the royalistes purs, who* 
 pretend that Fouche under the Bourbons is 
 a much more tractable person than Fouche 
 under the Republic and under Buonaparte. 
 
 The National Guards, Gardes de Corps, 
 or household troops, and the Gens d' Armes, 
 compose the only French military force to be 
 at present seen in Paris. MareschalM'Donald, 
 Duke of Tarentum, is intrusted with the difc 
 ricult task of disbanding and reorganizing the 
 army beyond the Loire, the remnants, namely, 
 of the old imperial army. M'Donald is equally 
 remarkable for military skill and loyalty ; his 
 march from the extremity of Italy to unite 
 himself with Moreau, previous to the battle 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 36 
 
 & 
 
 of Novi, and the successful retreat which he 
 made even after losing that dreadful and well- 
 fought action 3 against the redoubted Suwar- 
 row, prove his military talent, as his beha- 
 viour during Buonaparte*s last invasion has 
 established his military faith. Your question 
 is ready, I know, my dear Major, Which of 
 the M'Bonalds is he ? for of true blood you 
 unquestionably have already deemed him. To 
 satisfy a wish so laudable, I can inform you, 
 from the best authority, that the Mareschal 
 is descended of that tribe or family of the 
 M c Donalds of Clanronald who are called Mac- 
 Eachan, or Sons of Hector, as claiming their 
 descent from a cadet of the house of Clan- 
 ronald, so named. The father of the Duke 
 of Tarentum was engaged in our affair (I 
 love a delicate expression) of 1745, and was 
 very useful to Prince Charles Edward during 
 his rash enterprize. He was a Highlander, 
 bred to the church, and educated in France. 
 He spoke, therefore, Gaelic, English, French, 
 and Latin, and was, besides, intelligent, bold, 
 and faithful. He was one of the seven who 
 embarked with the unfortunate Chevalier 
 
364: Paul's letters 
 
 when bis expedition of knight-errantry had 
 utterly failed. On his return to France, Mac- 
 Eachan took the more general name of his 
 tribe, and appears to have preferred the mili- 
 tary service to resuming his studies for the 
 church. His son is now one of the most re- 
 spectable characters whom the French army 
 list presents to us. I had letters to him from 
 his friends in Sky, but had not the good for- 
 tune to meet him at Paris. He was more use- 
 fully engaged ; and, by all accounts, the king 
 could not have reposed confidence in a more 
 loyal and gallant character. How should it 
 be otherwise ? Is he not a Scotchman, and a 
 McDonald ?— eh, Major ? 
 
 Of foreign troops, all included, there are 
 generally said to be in France to the number 
 of a million ; but I am informed, from the 
 best authority, that they do certainly amount 
 to eight hundred thousand men, an assem- 
 bly of troops scarce paralleled save in the an- 
 nals of romance. Of these the British, Prus- 
 sians, and Russians, are nearest to Paris, so 
 stationed as to have an army of one hundred 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 365 
 
 and fifty thousand men within a day's march 
 of the city. 
 
 The Austrians are chiefly in the South of 
 France. The French complain more of the 
 severity of the usage which the inhabitants 
 receive from them, than of the rest of the al- 
 lies. Those whom we see here are part of 
 the Emperor's Hungarian guards, selected 
 men, of fine and tall figure, which is set off 
 by their white dress. They are unquestion- 
 ably, in point of exterior appearance, the 
 handsomest of the allied troops ; but such 
 bulky men want the hardy and athletic look 
 of the British, Russians, or Prussians. Tell 
 the ladies also that this same white uniform 
 looks better upon a line of troops in the field, 
 than on an individual officer in a ball-room, 
 whose appearance involuntarily, and rather 
 unfairly, reminds me of the master of a regi- 
 mental band. The hussar uniforms of Aus- 
 tria are very handsome, particularly those of 
 the Hungarians, to whose country the dress 
 properly belongs. 
 
 The Russians are in the neighbourhood in 
 very considerable force. I was present at a 
 
566 Paul's letters 
 
 splendid review which was made of these 
 northern warriors by the Allied Sovereigns* 
 the Duke of Wellington, &c. The principal 
 avenue of the Champs Ely sees was crowded 
 with troops of all sorts ; and the reflection of 
 the sun upon their arms appeared almost in- 
 tolerably bright. The monarchs, generals, and 
 their suite, occupied the centre of the Place 
 Louis Quinze, almost the very spot in which 
 Louis XVI. was beheaded, and for more than 
 two hours the troops defiled before them with- 
 out a pause, in a close column, whose front 
 occupied the whole space afforded by the 
 breadth of the avenue. The infantry were 
 fine, firm, steady-looking men, clean, hand- 
 some, but by no means remarkable for stature* 
 From the green uniform, and the short and 
 sturdy make of the Russians, the French 
 nicknamed them Cornichons> as if they re- 
 sembled the green cucumbers, so called when 
 pickled. They had a formidable train of ar- 
 tillery, in the highest possible order, and were 
 attended by several regiments both of dra- 
 goons and cuirassiers. The cuirassiers of the 
 guard had burnished steel breastplates, which 
 
 5 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 367 
 
 glanced to the sun, and made a noble dis- 
 play. The cuirasses of the other regiments 
 seemed to be of hammered iron. The cava- 
 liers were remarkably fine men ; the horses, 
 excepting those of the officers, seemed to be 
 of an inferior description, and rather weak 
 for that sort of service ; but the general ef- 
 fect was indescribably grand. The troops 
 swept on, wave rolling as it were after wave, 
 to the number of at least twenty thousand 
 men, the sound of one band of martial music 
 advancing as the other died away, and the 
 column moving on as^ if the procession would 
 stretch out to the crack of doom. During 
 this grand display of the powers of the North, 
 the ground was kept by the regular Cossacks 
 of the Russian guard, very fine men, and un- 
 der good discipline. The irregular Cossacks, 
 and light troops of a similar description, are 
 only occasionally seen in Paris j but their 
 Hettman, Prince Platow, is a constant resi- 
 dent in the capital, and to him these children 
 of the desert are occasionally summoned. 
 The appearance of the proper Cossack is pre- 
 possessing. He has high features, keeps his 
 
368 paul's letters 
 
 long blue coat strictly clean, and displays 
 some taste for splendour in his arms and ac- 
 coutrements, which are often richly decora- 
 ted with silver. But the Tartar tribes, whom 
 the French unite under the same appellation, 
 have frequently a most uncouth and savage 
 appearance. Cloaks of sheep-skin, bows, 
 arrows, shields made of dried hides, and 
 other appointments savouring of the earliest 
 state of society, were seen among them ; from 
 which the French, whom even invasion, with 
 all its ills, cannot deprive of their jest, call 
 them Les Cupidons de Nord. I saw one man 
 who had come with his tribe from near to the 
 Great Wall of China, to fight against the 
 French under the walls of Paris ! The poor 
 fellow was in the hospital from a very natural 
 cause, the injury which his feet had sustained 
 in so long a march. But these wilder light 
 troops were judiciously kept at a distance 
 from Paris, where the splendour and wealth 
 of the shops formed rather too strong tempta- 
 tions for Tartar morality. 
 
 The Prussian troops have gradually as- 
 sumed a more respectable exterior, as the 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 369 
 
 new clothing, at the expence of France, has 
 been completed and delivered. They are a 
 handsome fair-haired race of men ; their uni- 
 forms almost exclusively blue and red. Both 
 they and the Russians seem to think, that 
 the beauty of the male form consists in re- 
 sembling as much as possible a triangle, or 
 rather a lady in an old-fashioned pair of high 
 stays. So they draw their waists tight by 
 means of a broad belt, or some similar con- 
 trivance, and stuff out and pad the breast and 
 shoulders till the desired figure is attained. 
 Almost all of them are young men summoned 
 to arms by the situation of Europe, and their 
 own country in particular,— a call which was 
 obeyed with such ardent enthusiasm, that I 
 suppose no civilized kingdom ever had under 
 arms, as a disposable force, so large a propor- 
 tion of its population. Many regiments are 
 composed oflandwehr 9 or militia, and some of. 
 volunteers. It necessarily follows, from this 
 intermixture of various descriptions of force, 
 that they cannot be all under the same de- 
 gree of strict military discipline; and to this 
 must be attributed the irregularities they 
 2 a 
 
370 paul's letters 
 
 committed upon their march, and which were 
 sometimes imputed to them in their quarters. 
 They have never been accused, however, of 
 gross violence, of assailing life or honour, or 
 of wantonly injuring the churches or public 
 buildings, crimes which were objected to the 
 French armies in Prussia. Their resentment, 
 indeed, was stirred at the name of the bridge 
 of Jena, and they had made preparations for 
 the destruction of that useful and beautiful 
 edifice. But the intercession of the Duke of 
 Wellington procured a delay, until the King 
 of Prussia upon his arrival repealed this hasty 
 and vindictive order. 
 
 I sa\> a large body of these troops quar- 
 tered in the celebrated Chateau de Mont- 
 morency. The owner of this fine seat, and 
 the beautiful domain annexed, was attach- 
 ed to Buonaparte, had fled upon Napoleon's 
 first exile, and had returned to share his tri- 
 umph. The brief interval before the battle 
 of Waterloo, which compelled him to a second 
 retreat, had been employed in refitting the 
 chateau with painting, pannelling, and sculp- 
 ture, in the most expensive style. The Prus- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 371 
 
 sians were now busily undoing all that he 
 had commenced, and the contrast between 
 recent repair and the work of instant destruc- 
 tion was very striking. The rich furniture 
 was stripped by the female followers of the 
 camp, and the soldiers were boiling their 
 camp-kettles with the gilded frames of pic- 
 tures, the plate-glass windows were smashed 
 to pieces, and the breaches repaired by old 
 jackets and pantaloons. One of my friends, 
 who had been long in the Spanish war, ob- 
 served with composure, that the chateau was 
 in a way of being handsomely rumped, a 
 technical word for what was going ony which 
 you may insert at my peril in your collection 
 of military phrases. When quartered upon 
 inhabited houses, the French chiefly com- 
 plained of the extent of the Prussians' appe- 
 tite, as a craving gulf, which they found it 
 very difficult to satisfy. They were not 
 otherwise cruel or ill-natured ; but, like the 
 devouring cannibal in the voyages of Aboul- 
 fouaris, their hunger could not be lulled to 
 sleep longer than three hours at a time. Much 
 of this was undoubtedly greatly exaggerated. 
 
372 paul's letters 
 
 It is certain, however, that means have 
 been put into the power of the Prussian offi- 
 cers to indulge themselves in the pleasures of 
 Paris to an extent which their pay and allow- 
 ances, if limited to those drawn in their own 
 country, could not possibly have afforded. 
 They are the principal customers to the ex- 
 pensive restaur at eursy the principal frequent- 
 ers of coffee-houses, of theatres, and of the 
 Palais Royale, at regular and irregular hours, 
 — all indications of an expence not within the 
 ordinary reach of subaltern officers. It is 
 said, that some of our German subsidiary 
 troops made application to the Duke of Wel- 
 lington to be put upon the same footing with 
 the Prussians in these extra advantages. His 
 Grace, we are assured, expressed to them 
 (with the fullest acknowledgment of their 
 meriting every indulgence which could be 
 wisely bestowed) his decided opinion, that all 
 expedients which tended to place the soldier 
 upon a different footing of expence and 
 luxury in Fiance, than he held in his native 
 country, were injurious to discipline, detri- 
 mental to the character of the army, and to 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 373 
 
 the interest of the sovereign. His practice 
 expresses the same doctrine. The British 
 troops receive regularly the allowances and 
 rations to which they would be entitled in 
 England, and which are here raised at the 
 expence of France ; but neither directly nor 
 indirectly do they obtain further indulgence. 
 The strong sense and firmness for which the 
 Duke is as much distinguished as for skill in 
 arms and bravery in the field of battle, easily 
 saw that the high and paramount part which 
 Britain now holds in Europe, that pre-emi- 
 nence, which, in so many instances, has made 
 her and her delegates the chosen mediators 
 when disputes occurred amongst the allied 
 powers, depends entirely on our maintaining 
 pure and sacred the national character for 
 good faith and disinterested honour. The 
 slightest complaint, therefore, of want of dis- 
 cipline or oppression, perpetrated by a British 
 officer or soldier, has instantly met with repre- 
 hension and punishment, and the result has 
 been the reducing the French to the cruel si- 
 tuation of hating us without having any com- 
 plaint to justify themselves for doing so, even 
 
374 Paul's letters 
 
 in their own eyes. Our officers of rank have,, 
 in many instances, declined the quarters ap- 
 pointed them in private houses ; and, where 
 they were accepted, have arranged themselves 
 in the mode least likely to derange the fami- 
 ly, and declined uniformly the offers to ac- 
 commodate them with wine, or provisions, 
 which were made as a matter of course. They 
 receive the reward of this moderation in the 
 public respect, which, however the French 
 may dislike us as a nation, they are compelled 
 to pay to individual merit and courtesy. 
 
 On the other hand, strange and alarming 
 whispers are thrown abroad respecting the si- 
 tuation of the Prussian army. It is hinted, that 
 they are somewhat out of controul, and look 
 up less to the king than to their generals as 
 their paramount superiors. Blucher holds 
 the first rank ostensibly ; but it is pretended, 
 that General Gneisenau, so celebrated for his 
 talents as a quarter-master-general, possesses 
 most real influence. Much of this is sup- 
 posed to be exerted by means of secret so- 
 cieties, particularly that called The Order of 
 Faith and Honour. This association, which 
 % 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 375 
 
 derived its first institution from the laudable 
 and patriotic desire of associating against 
 French tyranny, has retained the secret cha- 
 racter with which it was necessarily invested, 
 when the foreign enemy possessed the fort- 
 resses of Prussia, but which now seems use- 
 less at least, if not capable of being rendered 
 hazardous. Almost all the officers of this 
 army belong to this order, which is a sort 
 of institution that has peculiar charms for 
 Germans; and it is said to be an object of 
 jealousy to the government, though it cannot 
 be supposed dangerous while headed by the 
 loyal Blucher. 
 
 Our forces, in general, are admired for 
 their appearance under arms, although, like 
 their countrymen under Henry V., 
 
 They are but warriors for the working day, 
 Their gayness and their gilt is all besmirch'd 
 With rainy marching on the painful field. 
 
 The serviceable state of the men, horses, 
 and equipments, fully compensates, to the 
 experienced eye, every deficiency in mere 
 .show. 
 
376 Paul's letters 
 
 The singular dress of our Highlanders makes 
 them particular objects of attention to the 
 French. In what class of society they rank 
 them, may be judged from part of a speech 
 which I heard a French lady make to her 
 companion, after she had passed two of these 
 mountaineers : " Aussi jai vu les salvages 
 dmericains." It was very entertaining to see 
 our Highlanders making their bargains upon 
 the Boulevards, the soldier holding his piece 
 of six sols between his finger and thumb, with 
 the gripe of a smith's vice, and pointing out 
 the quantity of the commodity which he ex- 
 pected for it, while the Frenchman, with 
 many shrugs and much chattering, diminish- 
 ed the equivalent as more than he could 
 afford. Then Donald began to shrug and 
 jabber in his turn, and to scrape back again 
 what the other had subtracted ; and so they 
 would stand for half an hour discussing the 
 point, though neither understood a word 
 which the other said, until they could agree 
 upon le prix juste. 
 
 The soldiers, without exception, both Bri- 
 tish and foreigners, conduct themselves in 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 3*77 
 
 public with civility, are very rarely to be 
 seen intoxicated, though the means are so 
 much within reach ; and, considering all the 
 irritating circumstances that exist, few quarrels 
 occur betwixt them and the populace. Very 
 strong precautions are, however, taken in case 
 of any accidental or premeditated commotion, 
 A powerful guard of Prussians always attends 
 at the Pont Neuf and Pont Royale, with two 
 pieces of artillery turned upon each bridge, 
 loaded with cannister-shot, horses saddled, 
 matches burning, and all ready to act on the 
 shortest warning. The other day an unplea- 
 sant accident took place* Some of the Pari- 
 sian populace, while the Prussian officer of 
 the day was visiting a post, quarrelled with 
 the orderly soldier who held his horse ; the 
 animal took fright, and escaped the man's 
 hold ; the officer came out, and was hustled 
 and insulted by the mob. In the meanwhile, 
 the orderly- man galloped off, and returned 
 with about thirty of his companions, who 
 charged with their lances couched, as if they 
 threatened death and destruction ; but, with 
 much dexterity, tilted up the point of the 
 
378 Paul's letters 
 
 spear when near a Frenchman's body, and 
 reversing the weapon, only struck with the 
 butt. They made five or six of the most tu- 
 multuous prisoners, who were carried before 
 Baron Muffling, reclaiming loudly the safe- 
 guard of the police, and demanding to be 
 carried before a French judge. But, in the 
 present situation of this capital, the com- 
 mandant preferred subjecting them to mili- 
 tary chastisement ; and a truss of straw being 
 laid down for each culprit, they were stretch- 
 ed out, and received a drubbing a la militaire 
 with the reins and girths of the hussars' 
 horses. The appearance of the sufferers acted 
 as a sedative upon the temper of the mob, 
 none of whom chose to seek further personal 
 specimens of the Prussian discipline. It 
 seemed a strong measure to the English spec- 
 tators ; but the question is, Whether a good 
 many lives were not saved at the expence of 
 the shoulders of those sufferers ; for where 
 combustibles are so plenty, the least spark of 
 fire must be trodden out with as much haste 
 as may be. In other frays, it has happened 
 that Prussian soldiers have been killed ; in 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 379 
 
 which case, the district where the accident 
 happened is subjected to severe contributions, 
 unless they can arrest the perpetrator. The 
 Palais Royale, where such scenes are chiefly 
 to be apprehended, is trebly guarded every 
 night by a company of the National Guard, 
 one of British, and one of Prussians. 
 
 As a matter of courtesy between the allied 
 powers, the duty of mounting guard upon the 
 person of the monarchs is performed by the 
 troops of each nation in succession ": So that 
 our guardsmen mount guard on the Empe- 
 ror of Russia, the Russians on the Emperor 
 of Austria, and the Highlanders, perhaps, on 
 the King of Prussia, in rotation ;— a judicious 
 arrangement, which tends to show both the 
 French and the allied troops the close and 
 intimate union of the sovereigns in the com- 
 mon cause of Europe. The important post of 
 Montmartre, which, in its present state of 
 strong fortification, may be called the citadel 
 of Paris, is confided to the care of the British, 
 who keep guard with great and unusual strict- 
 ness. Even foreign officers are not admitted 
 within these works, unless accompanied by 
 
380 PAUL S LETTERS 
 
 an Englishman. The hill is bristled with 
 two hundred pieces of cannon ; and they 
 make frequent discovery of military stores 
 and ammunition buried or concealed. All 
 these will fall to our share ; and, I trust, the 
 two hundred guns will be sent to keep com- 
 pany with the hundred and fifty taken at the 
 battle of Waterloo. 
 
 In the meanwhile, it is a strange and most 
 inconsistent circumstance, that the Castle of 
 Vincennes, within three miles of Paris, lying 
 in the midst of these armies, and of no more 
 strength than the White Tower of London, or 
 any other Gothic keep, affects to hold out 
 against the allied army. The commandant, 
 although he has hoisted the white flag, will 
 neither receive a Royalist nor an allied sol- 
 dier within the castle, and gives himself great 
 airs of defiance, as encouraged by an impunity 
 which he only owes to contempt, and to the 
 reluctance of the allied sovereigns to increase 
 the King of France's difficulties and unpopu- 
 larity by punishing the gasconade as it de- 
 serves. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 381 
 
 I do not observe that the soldiers of the 
 allied nations intermix much in company with 
 each other, although they seem on kind and 
 civil terms when occasionally thrown together. 
 The Museum, which is open to all ranks and 
 conditions, frequently, besides its other stri- 
 king beauties, exhibits a moving picture of 
 all the nations of Europe in their military 
 dresses. You see the tall Hungarian, the 
 swarthy Italian, the fair-haired Prussian, the 
 flat-faced Tartar, English, Irish, Guardsmen, 
 and Highlanders, in little bands of two or 
 three, strolling up and down a hall as im- 
 mense as that of the Caliph Vathek, and in- 
 dulging their curiosity with its wonders. The 
 wildest of them appeared softened and re- 
 spectful, while forming a part of this singular 
 assemblage, which looks as if all the nations 
 had formed a rendezvous at Paris by military 
 representation. Some of their remarks must 
 of course be very entertaining. One or two 
 
 I caught. " By , Jack," said an English 
 
 dragoon to his comrade, pointing to a battle- 
 piece by Salvator, " look at the cuirasses — 
 they have got the battle of Waterloo here 
 
 5 
 
382 Paul's letters 
 
 already." — " Pooh, you blockhead," said 
 the other, M that an't the battle of Waterloo ; 
 don't you see all the horses have got long 
 tails ?" I asked a Highland serjeant, who 
 was gazing earnestly on the Venus de Medi- 
 cis, " How do you like her, countryman ?" — 
 " God bless us — is your honour from Inver- 
 ness ?" was the first exclamation, and then, 
 ".I am told she is very much admired — but 
 I'll show your honour a much better propor- 
 tioned woman,"— and the ambitious serjeant, 
 himself a remarkably little man, conducted 
 me to a colossal female figure, eight feet high. 
 There is no disputing with the judgment of 
 artists, but I am afraid the beauties of this 
 statue are not of a kind most obvious to the 
 uninitiated. 
 
 Where there are monarchs at the head of 
 conquering armies, the pomp of war must of 
 course be displayed in its full glories. We 
 have reviews of many thousands every morn- 
 ing, from seven o'clock until ten or eleven. 
 That of the British cavalry was very much 
 admired, notwithstanding the dust which en- 
 veloped their movements. The Russians and 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 383 
 
 Prussians exhibited upon another occasion 
 the manoeuvres of a mock engagement, the 
 Emperor commanding the Prussian army, and 
 the King of Prussia, in the dress of a colonel 
 of the Russian guards, enacting the general 
 of the Muscovites. After the battle, the two 
 potentates met and greeted each other very 
 handsomely. On another occasion, the Prus- 
 sians entertained us with a rehearsal of the 
 battle of Issy, or the movements of the 
 French army and their own in the attack and 
 defence of that village, upon the 2d of June. 
 At one of these reviews the Russians were 
 commanded by the emperor to charge in 
 line, expressly for the gratification of the 
 English general. You know it is surmised, 
 that the British claim pre-eminence over 
 all other nations, because the steadiness and 
 bottom of the individual soldiers permit them 
 to hazard a general charge in line, whereas 
 the column is adopted for the purpose of at- 
 tack by the French and all other foreigners. 
 Perhaps this was designed as a rebuke to our 
 national vanity. However, the Russians went 
 
384 paul's letters 
 
 through the manoeuvre admirably well, dress- 
 ing a line of very great length with the ut- 
 most accuracy, during an advance of half & 
 mile. 
 
 It must be owned, that a politician more 
 gloomy than myself, might draw evil augury 
 from the habits, which the reigning sove- 
 reigns of Europe may possibly acquire by 
 being for years the inmates of camps, and 
 compelled by the pressure of the imminent 
 crisis to postpone the duties of the sove- 
 reign to those of the general. War has been 
 described as Cfc the game of princes ;" and 
 we know how easily the habit of gambling 
 is acquired, and how irresistible it soon be- 
 comes. If it should happen that these power- 
 ful monarehs, influenced by the military ideas 
 and habits which have been so long upper- 
 most, should find a state of peace a tedious 
 and dull exchange for the animating perils of 
 war, it will be one instance, among many, of 
 the lasting evils which French aggression, and 
 the necessary means of counteracting it, have 
 entailed on the kingdoms of Europe. I con- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 385 
 
 fide, however, something in the wisdom of 
 these princes, and a great deal in the pacific 
 influence of a deity whose presence we all de- 
 precate, notwithstanding the lessons of wis- 
 dom which she is supposed to teach — I mean 
 the Goddess of Poverty. 
 
 Two circumstances struck me in the grand 
 military spectacle which I have mentioned, — 
 the great number of actors, and, comparatively 
 speaking, the total absence of spectators. 
 The scale of the exhibition cannot indeed be 
 wondered at, considering the importance of 
 the actors : 
 
 Ha ! Majesty, how high thy glory towers, 
 When the rich blood of kings is set on fire ! 
 
 But, in the neighbourhood of so populous 
 a city as Paris, the inhabitants of w r hich have 
 been so long famous for their attachment to 
 public spectacles, one might have thought 
 spectators enough would have been found be- 
 sides the military amateurs not immediately 
 engaged, and a few strangers. But I never 
 2 b 
 
386 paul's letters 
 
 saw above a hundred Frenchmen, and those 
 of the very lowest order, looking on at these 
 exhibitions, not even at that made in the 
 Place Louis Quinze, under their very eyes. 
 This is the strongest sign of their deeply feel- 
 ing their present state of humiliation, and 
 proves, more than a thousand others, that they 
 taste the gall in all its bitterness, and that the 
 iron has entered into their soul. In my next 
 letter to my friend Peter, I will communicate 
 what else I have observed on the state of the 
 public mind in France. But I must first ac- 
 quit myself of my promise to our ghostly fa- 
 ther, the parson. 
 
 Your's entirely, 
 
 Paul. 
 
 Postscript. By the bye, you must allow 
 me to add to my Waterloo anecdotes, one 
 which relates to a gallant countryman of 
 ours, in whose family you well know that we 
 feel the interest of old and sincere friendships : 
 I mean Colonel Francis Hepburn, of the 3d 
 regiment of Guards, who had the distin- 
 guished honour of commanding the detach- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 387 
 
 ment sent to the relief of Hougoumont, 
 when it was attacked by the whole French 
 division of Jerome Buonaparte. He had the 
 charge of maintaining, with his own single 
 battalion, this important post, when the com- 
 munication was entirely cut off by the French 
 cavalry, and it was not until they were repul- 
 sed, that he was reinforced by two battalions 
 of Hanoverians and one of Brunswickers. 
 Colonel Woodforde of the Coldstream Guards, 
 who in the morning reinforced Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Macdonell, commanded in the house 
 and garden, and Colonel Hepburn in the orch- 
 ard and wood. I am particular in mentioning 
 this, because the name of Leiutenant- Colonel 
 Home, who acted under Colonel Hepburn, 
 appeared in the Gazette instead of his, by a 
 mistake incidental to the confusion of the 
 day, which rendered it impossible accurately 
 to distinguish individual merit. The error has 
 been admitted, but there is a difficulty in cor- 
 recting it publicly, though there can be none 
 in making our friends in Scotland acquainted 
 with the real share which the relative of our 
 deceased friend, the best and kindliest of ve- 
 
388 Paul's letters 
 
 terans, had, in the most memorable battle 
 that ever was fought, and which in no degree 
 takes away from the admitted gallantry of his 
 countryman, Lieutenant Colonel Home. Co- 
 lonel Hepburn, as you will remember, was 
 engaged in the Spanish war, and severely 
 wounded at the battle of Barossa. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 389 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 PAUL TO THE REVEREND MR , MINISTER OF 
 
 THE GOSPEL AT . 
 
 Do not blame me, my dear friend, if I have 
 been long in fulfilling my promise to you. 
 Religion, so ample a field in most countries, 
 has for some time been in France an absolute 
 blank. From my former letters you must 
 have learned, that in Flanders the catholic 
 system still maintains itself in great vigour. 
 The churches are full of people, most of them 
 on their knees, and their devotion, if not en- 
 lightened, seems fervent and sincere. One 
 instance I saw with peculiar pleasure, at Ma- 
 lines — Two Religieuses, sisters of charity, I be- 
 lieve, entered the church at the head of a 
 small school of about twenty poor children, 
 neatly, though coarsely, dressed, and kneeled 
 
390 Paul's letters 
 
 down with them to their devotions. I was 
 informed, that the poor nuns had dedicated 
 their little income and their whole time, strug- 
 gling occasionally with all the difficulties in- 
 cident to a country convulsed by war and po- 
 litical revolutions, to educate these children 
 in the fear of God, and in useful knowledge. 
 Call them nuns, or call them what you will, I 
 think we will neither of us quarrel with an or- 
 der who thus employ their hours of retirement 
 from the world. 
 
 I was less edified by the frequent appear- 
 ance of a small chapel and an altar, on the 
 side of the road, where the car-man will 
 sometimes snatch a flying prayer, while his 
 huge waggon wanders on at the will of the 
 horses. But your own parishioners sometimes 
 leave their horses' heads for less praise- worthy 
 purposes, and therefore much cannot be said 
 on that score. The rites and solemnities of 
 the catholic church made less impression on 
 me than I expected ; even the administra- 
 tion of high mass, though performed by a 
 cardinal, fell far short of what I had antici- 
 pated. There is a fidgetting about the whole 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 391 
 
 ceremony, a perpetual dressing and undress- 
 ing* which seems intended to make it more 
 elaborate and complex, but which destroys the 
 grandeur and simplicity so appropriate to an 
 act of solemn devotion. Much of the impo- 
 sing exterior may now indeed be impaired — 
 the church was the first object of plunder 
 wherever the French came, and they have 
 left traces of their rapacity which will not 
 soon be erased. The vestments look anti- 
 quated and tawdry, the music is but indiffer- 
 ent, the plate and jewels have all vanished. 
 The priests themselves are chiefly old men, 
 on whom the gaudy dresses with which they 
 are decorated, sit awkwardly, and who seem 
 in many instances bowed down by painful re- 
 collections, as much as by infirmity. In a 
 word, the old Dame of Babylon, against whom 
 our fathers testified so loudly, seems now hard- 
 ly worth a passing attack, even in the Nine- 
 teenthly of an afternoon's sermon, and is in 
 some measure reduced to the pave. Old John 
 Bunyan himself could hardly have wished to 
 see her stand lower in influence and estima- 
 
392 Paul's letters 
 
 tion, than she does in the popular mind itl 
 France ; and yet a few years, and the Giant 
 Pope will be, in all probability, as innoxious as 
 the Giant Pagan. Indeed, since his having 
 shared the fate of other giants, in being tran- 
 sported, like a show, from place to place, by 
 the renowned charlatan Buonaparte, his for- 
 mer subjects have got familiar with his ter- 
 rors, and excommunication scarcely strikes 
 more horror than the fee fauf urn of a nursery 
 tale. 
 
 It is remarkable, that this indifference seems 
 to have extended to the enemies, as well as 
 the subjects, of the catholic church. When 
 Rome was stormed in 1527, the chief amuse- 
 ment of the reformed German soldiers was 
 insulting the rites of the Roman religion, and 
 ridiculing the persons of their clergy. But in 
 1815, when the conquering armies of two pro- 
 testant kingdoms marched from Brussels to 
 Paris, the idea of showing scorn or hatred to 
 the catholic religion never occurred to any 
 individual soldier. I would gladly ascribe 
 this to punctuality of discipline ; but enough 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 393 
 
 was done, by the Prussians at least, to show, 
 that that consideration alone would not have 
 held back their hands, had they felt any temp- 
 tation to insult the French through the me- 
 dium of their religion. But this does not 
 seem to have appeared to them a vulnerable 
 point, and not a crucifix or image was touch- 
 ed, or a pane of painted glass broken, that 
 we could see or hear of, upon the route. 
 
 In the churches which we visited, very few 
 persons seemed to attend the service, and 
 these were aged men and women. In Paris 
 this was still more remarkable ;■ for, notwith- 
 standing the zeal of the court, and the exam- 
 ple which they exhibit of strict attention to 
 the forms of the church, — an example even 
 too marked for good policy, — those of the 
 city of Paris are empty and neglected. It is 
 melancholy to think that, with the external 
 forms and observances of religion, its vital 
 principles also have fallen into complete dis- 
 use and oblivion. But those under whose 
 auspices the French Revolution commenced, 
 and by whom its terrors were for a time con- 
 ducted, found their own interest intimately 
 
394 Paul's letters 
 
 and strictly connected with the dissolution 
 of the powerful checks of religious faith and 
 moral practice. And although the Directory 
 afterwards promulgated, by a formal edict, that 
 France acknowledged the existence of a Su- 
 preme Being, and, with impious mockery, ap- 
 pointed a fete in his honour, all opportunity 
 of instruction in religious duties was broken 
 off by the early destination of the youth of 
 France to the trade of arms. A much- esteem- 
 ed friend at Paris happened to have a domestic 
 of sense, information, and general intelligence 
 above his station. His master upon some oc- 
 casion used to him the expression, " It is do- 
 ing as we would be done by, — the Christian 
 maxim." The young man looked rather sur- 
 prised; "Yes," repeated my friend, " I say it is 
 the doctrine of the Christian religion, which 
 teaches us not only to do as we would be 
 done by, but also to return good for evil." — 
 " It may be so, sir," answered the valet ; 
 " but I had the misfortune to be born during 
 the heat of the Revolution, when it would 
 have been death to have spoken on the sub- 
 ject of religion, and so soon as I was fifteen 
 
 3 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 395 
 
 years old, I was put into the hands of the 
 drill serjeant, whose first lesson to me was, 
 that, as a French soldier, I was to fear nei- 
 ther God nor devil." My friend, himself a 
 soldier, and a brave one, but of a very differ- 
 ent cast of mind from that which was thought 
 necessary for the service of France, was both 
 shocked and astonished at this strong proof 
 of the manner in which the present genera- 
 tion had been qualified from their childhood 
 to be the plagues of society. The considera- 
 tion, that they were thus perverted in their 
 early youth, and rendered unfit for all pur- 
 poses but those of mischief, is the best conso- 
 lation for such French patriots as mourn over 
 the devastation which has overwhelmed the 
 youth of their country. 
 
 Buonaparte, who, when not diverted from 
 his purpose by his un satiable ambition, had 
 strong views of policy, resolved upon the re- 
 establishment of the church as a sort of out- 
 work to the throne. He created accordingly 
 archbishops, bishops, and all the appendages 
 of a hierarchy. This was not only intended 
 
396 paul's letters 
 
 that they might surround the imperial throne, 
 with the solemn splendours of a hierarchy, and 
 occasionally feed their master's ears with flat- 
 tery in their pastoral charges,— an office which, 
 by most of them, was performed with the most 
 humiliating baseness, — but also in order to 
 form an alliance between the religious creed 
 which they were enjoined to inculcate, and 
 the sentiments of the people towards the im- 
 perial dignity. The imperial catechism, pro- 
 mulgated under authority, proclaimed the du- 
 ties of the catechumen to the emperor, to be 
 love, obedience, fidelity, and military service ; 
 the causes assigned were Napoleon's high and 
 miraculous gifts, his immediate mission from 
 the Deity, and the consecration by the pope ; 
 and the menace to disloyalty was no less than 
 eternal condemnation — here and hereafter. I 
 am sorry to say, that this summary of jus di- 
 mnum was not entirely of Buonaparte's inven- 
 tion ; for, in a Prussian catechism for the use of 
 the soldiers, entitled, " Pflichten der U?iter* 
 thanen" (the Duties of Subjects,) and printed 
 at Breslau, in 1 800, I find the same doctrines 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. S97 
 
 expressed, though with less daring extrava- 
 gance. Buonaparte reaped but little advan- 
 tage from his system of church government, 
 partly owing to the materials of which his mo- 
 narchy was constructed, (for the best and most 
 conscientious of the clergy kept aloof from 
 such promotion,) partly from the shortness of 
 his reign, but principally from the stern im- 
 patience of his own temper, which could not 
 long persist in apparent veneration for a power 
 of his own creating, but soon led the way in 
 exposing the new prelates to neglect and con- 
 tempt. 
 
 We must learn to look with better hope 
 upon the more conscientious efforts for re-esta- 
 blishing the'altar, which have been made by the 
 king. Yet we cannot but fear, that the order 
 of the necessary reformation has been, to a cer- 
 tain extent at least, the reverse of what would 
 really have attained the important purposes de- 
 signed by the sovereign. The rites, forms, and 
 ceremonies of a church, all its external obser- 
 vances, derive, from the public sense of religion 
 itself, the respect which is paid to them. It 
 
398 Paul's letters 
 
 is true, that, as the shell of a nut will subsist 
 long after the kernel is decayed, so regard 
 for ceremonies and forms may often remain 
 when true devotion is no more, and when ig- 
 norant zeal has transferred her blind attach- 
 ment from the essence of religion to its mere 
 forms. But if that zeal is quenched, and that 
 attachment is eradicated, and the whole sys- 
 tem is destroyed both in show and in sub- 
 stance, it is not by again enforcing the formal 
 observances which men have learned to con- 
 temn and make jest of, that the vivifying prin- 
 ciple of religion will be rekindled. Indeed, 
 far from supposing that the foundation of the 
 altar should be laid upon the ritual of the 
 Romish church, with all the revived supersti- 
 tions of the twelfth century, it would be more 
 prudent to abandon to oblivion, a part at least 
 of what is shocking to common sense and rea- 
 son ; which, although a Most Christian King 
 might have found himself under some diffi- 
 culty of abrogating when it was yet in formal 
 observance, he certainly cannot be called up- 
 on to renew, when it has fallen into desuetude. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 399 
 
 The catholics of this age are not excluded 
 from the lights which it has afforded ; and the 
 attempt to re-establish processions, in which 
 the officiating persons hardly know their pla- 
 ces, tales of miraculous images, masses for the 
 souls of state criminals, and all the mummery 
 of barbarous ages, is far from meeting the en- 
 larged ideas which the best and most learned 
 of them have expressed. The peculiar doc- 
 trines of their church prohibits, indeed, the 
 formal rejection of any doctrine or observance 
 which she has once received ; but I repeat, that 
 the time is favourable in France for rebuilding 
 the Gallican church on a more solid basis 
 than ever, by leaving room for the gradual 
 and slow reformation introduced by the lapse 
 of time, instead of forcing back the nineteenth 
 century into the rude and degrading darkness 
 of the ages of excommunications and crusades. 
 It is with the hearts of the French, and not 
 with the garments of their clergy, that the re- 
 formation, or rather the restoration, of reli- 
 gion ought to commence ; and I conceive 
 the primary object should be securing the 
 
400 Paul's letters 
 
 instruction of the rising generation in religi- 
 ous and moral duties, as well as in general 
 education, by carefully filling up the ranks of 
 the parochial clergy, on whose patient and 
 quiet attention to the morals of their flocks 
 the state of the nation must depend, and not 
 upon the colour of a cap, the tinkle of a bell, 
 or the music of high mass. 
 
 The truth is, that the king's most natural 
 and justifiable zeal for the establishments of 
 religion, which were his chief consolation in 
 adversity, has already given alarm to several 
 classes of his subjects. Bigotted, or interest- 
 ed priests have been already heard misrepre- 
 senting the intentions of their sovereign, so 
 far as to a3£nn, he means to restore to the 
 church all her rights, and impose anew upon 
 the subject the burdens of tithes, and the 
 confusion which must arise from the reclama- 
 tion of the church lands. How these reports, 
 malignantly echoed by the enemies of the 
 royal family, sound in the ears of men of pro- 
 perty, I leave to your own judgment ; and can 
 only regret that it is as difficult as it is desi- 
 10 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 401 
 
 rable, for the king to oppose them by a public 
 contradiction. 
 
 It is chiefly in the southern districts, where 
 the French protestants still maintain them- 
 selves, that this alarm is excited, cherished, 
 and fostered, by those who care for neither 
 one religion nor the other, further than as the 
 jealousies and contentions of both may be en- 
 gines of bloodshed, depression, and revolu- 
 tion. In the province of Languedoc especi- 
 ally, the angry passions of both parties are 
 understood to be at full tide ; and it unfor- 
 tunately happens that the contending parties 
 are there envenomed by political hatred. 
 Buonaparte, whose system of national religion 
 included universal toleration, expended his 
 special protection to the professors of the re- 
 formed doctrines, and by an organic law con- 
 cerning worship, published in the year X, 
 guaranteed to them the free exercise of their 
 religion, being the first public indulgence 
 which had been extended to them since the 
 revocation of the Edict of Nantes. A system 
 of consistories was established for their inter- 
 2c 
 
402 paul's letters 
 
 nal church government ; and so highly were 
 they favoured, that the public exercise of the 
 catholic religion, by processions or other ri- 
 tual observances performed without the walls 
 of the church, was positively prohibited in 
 suchtowns as had consistorial churches belong- 
 ing to the protestants. This distinction in fa- 
 vour of a body of subjects, amounting, it has 
 been computed, to two millions of souls, at- 
 tended by the triumph conferred by the inter- 
 diction of the catholic rites where their eyes 
 could be offended by them, raised the spirits of 
 the protestants as much as it exasperated and 
 depressed those of the catholics. They took 
 their ranks in political contest accordingly ; 
 and although interests of various kinds pre- 
 vented the rule from being absolute, yet it 
 was observed, during the last convulsions of 
 state, that the catholics of the South were in 
 general royalists, whereas many of the pro- 
 testants, in gratitude for past favours confer- 
 red on their church, in jealousy of the family 
 of Bourbon, by the bigotry of whose ancestors 
 their fathers had suffered, and confiding in the 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK* 403 
 
 tolerant spirit of Buonaparte, lent too ready 
 and willing aid to his usurpation. During that 
 event, and those which followed, much and 
 mutual subject of exasperation has unfortu- 
 nately taken place between these contending 
 parties. Ancient enmities have been awaken- 
 ed, and, amid contradictory reports and state- 
 ments, we can easily discover that both par- 
 ties, or individuals at least of both, have been 
 loud in their appeal to principles of modera- 
 tion when undermost, and very ready when 
 they obtained the upper hand to abuse the 
 advantages which the changes of the state had 
 alternately given to them. This is a deep 
 and rankling wound, which will require to be 
 treated with no common skill. The protest- 
 ants of the South are descendants of the ar- 
 dent men who used to assemble by thousands 
 in the wilderness — I will not say with the 
 scoffer, to hear the psalms of Clement Marot 
 sung to the tune of Reveille z vous, belle Endor- 
 mie — but rather, as your Calvinistic heroes of 
 moor and moss, in the days of the last Stuarts, 
 are described by a far different bard, dear in 
 remembrance to us both, for the affectionate 
 
404 paul's letters 
 
 sympathy and purity of his thoughts and feel 
 ings j when in the wilderness 
 
 " arose the song, the loud 
 
 Acclaim of praise : The whirling plover ceased 
 Her plaint; the solitary place was glad, 
 And on the distant cairns the watcher's ear 
 Caught doubtfully at times the breeze borne note." 
 
 On the other hand, the catholics are nu- 
 merous, powerful in the hope of protection 
 and preference from the crown, and eager to 
 avenge insults, which, in their apprehension, 
 have been aimed alike at the crown and the 
 altar. If we claim for the protestants, whose 
 nearer approach to our own doctrines recom- 
 mends them to our hearts as objects of interest, 
 the sympathy which is due to their perilous 
 situation, let us not, in candour, deny at least 
 the credit of mistaken zeal to those whom 
 different rites divide from us. In the name of 
 that Heaven, to whose laws both forms of re- 
 ligion appeal, who has disclaimed enforcing 
 the purest doctrines by compulsion, and who 
 never can be worshipped duly or acceptably by 
 bloody sacrifices, let us deprecate a renewal 
 

 TO HIS KINSFOLK. 405 
 
 of those savage and bloody wars, which, found- 
 ed upon difference of religious opinion, seem 
 to convert even the bread of life itself into 
 the most deadly poison. British interference, 
 not surely so proposed as to affront France's 
 feelings of national independence, a point 
 on which late incidents have made her pe- 
 culiarly irritable — but with the earnest and 
 anxious assurances of that good- will, for which 
 our exertions in behalf of the royal family, 
 and our interest in the tranquillity of France, 
 may justly claim credit, — might, perhaps, have 
 some influence with the government. But in 
 what degree, or how far it may be prudent to 
 hazard it, can only be known to those upon 
 whom the momentous charge of public affairs 
 has devolved at this trying crisis. We need 
 not now take up the parable of Lord Shaftes- 
 bury, when he compared the reformed church-, 
 es of France and Savoy to the sister of the 
 spouse in the Canticles, and asked the asto- 
 nished peers of Charles the Second, " What 
 shall be done for our sister in the day when 
 she shall be spoken for?" But it is cer- 
 tain, that the security of the protestant re- 
 ligion abroad is now, as in the days of that 
 
406 haul's letters 
 
 statesman, a wall and defence unto that which 
 we profess at home ; and at all times, when 
 England has been well administered, she has 
 claimed and exercised the rights of interces- 
 sion in behalf of the Reformed Churches. I 
 trust, however, that our mediation will be, in. 
 the present case, unnecessary, and that the 
 king himself, with the sound judgment and 
 humane disposition which all parties allow him 
 to possess, will show himself the protector of 
 both parties, by restricting the aggressions of 
 either. In the meanwhile, admire the singu- 
 larity of human affairs. In Ireland discontents 
 exist, because the catholics are not possessed 
 of all the capacities and privileges of their pro- 
 testant fellow subjects ; — in the Netherlands 
 the catholic clergy murmur at the union, be- 
 cause the king has expressed his determination 
 to permit the free exercise of the protestant re- 
 ligion amid his catholic dominions;— and in 
 the south of France the sword is nearly drawn, 
 upon the footing of doubts, jealousies, and 
 apprehensions of mutual violence, for which 
 neither party can allege any feasible ground, 
 except mutual dislike and hatred. We may 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 407 
 
 without offence wish that all of them would 
 qualify their zeal for the doctrinal part of their 
 religion with some part of that meekness of 
 spirit, which would be the best proof of its 
 purity. 
 
 To return to the religious and moral state 
 of France. It is remarkable that the dissolu- 
 tion of religious principle, the confusion of 
 the Sabbath with the ordinary days of the 
 week, the reduction of marriage to a state of 
 decent and legal concubinage, from which 
 parties can free themselves at pleasure, have, 
 while thus sapping the foundations of the so- 
 cial affections, as well as of religious faith, 
 introduced more vices than crimes, much pro- 
 fligacy, but less atrocity than might have been 
 expected. A Frenchman, to whom you talk 
 of the general decay of morality in his coun- 
 try, will readily and with truth reply to you, 
 that if every species of turpitude be more 
 common in France, delicts of that sort against 
 which the law directs its thunders, are much 
 more frequent in Britain, Murders, robber- 
 ies, daring thefts, such as frequently occur in 
 the English papers, are little known in those 
 
408 Paul's letters 
 
 of Paris. The amusements and habits of the 
 lower orders are, on all occasions of ordinary 
 occurrence, more quiet, peaceable, and or- 
 derly than those of the lower English. There 
 are no quarrels in the street, intoxication is 
 rarely practised even by the lowest of the 
 people, and when assembled for the purpose 
 of public amusement, they observe a good- 
 humoured politeness to each other and to 
 strangers, for which certainly our countrymen 
 are not remarkable. To look at the thou- 
 sands of rabble whom I have seen streaming 
 through the magnificent apartments at Ver- 
 sailles without laying a ringer upon a paint- 
 ing or an article of furniture, and afterwards 
 crowding the gardens without encroaching 
 upon any spot where they could do damage ; 
 to observe this, and recollect what would be 
 the conduct of an English mob in similar cir- 
 cumstances, compels one to acknowledge, that 
 the French appear, upon such occasions, be- 
 yond comparison the more polished, sensible, 
 and civilized people. But release both parties 
 from the restraints imposed by the usual state 
 of society, and suppose them influenced by 
 
 10 
 
, TO HIS KINSFOLK. 409 
 
 some powerful incentive to passion and vio- 
 lence, and remark how much the contrast will 
 be altered. The English populace will huzza, 
 swear, threaten, break windows, and throw 
 stones at the Life Guards engaged in disper- 
 sing them ; but if a soldier should fall from 
 his horse, the rabble, after enjoying a laugh 
 at his expence, would lend a hand to lift him 
 to his saddle again. A French mob would 
 tear him limb from limb, and parade the 
 fragments in triumph upon their pikes. In 
 the same manner, the Englishman under arms 
 retains the same frank, rough loyalty of cha- 
 racter, without the alert intelligence and ap- 
 pearance of polished gallantry which a French 
 soldier often exhibits to strangers. But it 
 would be an outrage to our countrymen to 
 compare the conduct of the two armies when 
 pursuing a defeated enemy, or entering a 
 country as invaders, when every evil passion 
 is awake, and full license is granted to satiate 
 them. 
 
 The cause of so extraordinary a contrast 
 may, I think, be expressed in very few words. 
 
410 paul's letters 
 
 The French act from feeling, and the British 
 from principle. In moments, therefore, when 
 the passions are at rest, the Frenchman will 
 often appear, and be in reality, the more ami- 
 able of the two. He is generally possessed of 
 intelligence and the power of reflection, both 
 of which are great promoters of that limited 
 sort of honesty which keeps the windy side of 
 the law. He piques himself upon some un- 
 derstanding and perception of the fine arts, 
 by which he is told his country is distinguish- 
 ed, and he avoids the rudeness and violence 
 which constitute a barbarian. He is, be- 
 sides, habitually an observer of the forms and 
 decencies of society, and has ample means of 
 indulging licentious passions without trans- 
 gressing. The Frenchman is further, by na- 
 ture and constitution, a happy and contented 
 mortal, content with little, and attached to 
 luxuries of the more simple kind ; and a mind 
 so constituted is usually disposed to extend 
 its cheerfulness to others. The Englishman 
 is, in some degree, the reverse of all this. 
 His intelligence seldom goes beyond the art 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 411 
 
 to which he is trained, and which he most fre- 
 quently practises with mechanical dexterity 
 only ; and therefore he is not by habit, un- 
 less when nature has been especially bounti- 
 ful, much of a reasoning animal. As for pre- 
 tending to admire or understand the fine arts, 
 or their productions, he would consider such 
 an effort of taste as the most ridiculous affec- 
 tation, and therefore readily treats with con- 
 tempt and disrespect what he would upon 
 system be ashamed to understand. Vice and 
 crime are equally forbidden by the English- 
 man's system of religious morals ; if he be- 
 comes stained with gross immorality, he is ge- 
 nerally ready to rush into legal delict, since, 
 being divested of the curb of conscience, and 
 destroyed in his own esteem, he becomes, like a 
 horse without a bridle, ready to run upon any 
 course which chance or the phrenzy of the mo- 
 ment may dictate. And this may show why, 
 though the number of vicious persons be great- 
 er in France than in England in an enormous 
 ratio, yet the proportion of legal criminals is 
 certainly smaller. As to general temper and 
 
412 paul's letters 
 
 habits, the Englishman, less favoured in cli- 
 mate and less gay by constitution, accustom, 
 ed to be a grumbler by his birth-right, very 
 often disdains to be pleased himself, and is 
 not very anxious to please others. His free- 
 dom, too, gives him a right, when casually 
 mixed with his betters, to push, to crowd, to 
 be a little riotous and very noisy, and to insult 
 his neighbours on slight provocation, merely 
 to keep his privileges in exercise. But then 
 he is also taught to respect the law, which he 
 invokes as his own protection ; to weigh and 
 decide upon what is just and unjust, foul and 
 fair ; to respect the religion in which he has 
 been trained, and to remember its restraints, 
 even in the moment of general license. It 
 might indeed be wished that some of the 
 lighter and more amiable qualities of the 
 French could be infused into our populace. 
 But what an infinitely greater service would 
 the sovereign render to France, who should 
 give new sensibility to those moral feelings 
 which have too long lain torpid in the breasts 
 of her inhabitants ! 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 413 
 
 This great end can only be reached by pru- 
 dent and prospective regulations ; for neither 
 religion nor morality can be inforced upon a 
 nation by positive law. The influence of pa- 
 rochial clergy, and of parochial schools, com- 
 mitted to persons worthy of the important 
 trust, are, as I before hinted, the most obvi- 
 ous remedies. But there are others of a pro- 
 hibitory and preventive nature. It is in the 
 power of government to stop some grand 
 sources of corruption of morals, and tu »/ f h- 
 draw their protection and licence at least, 
 from those assemblies which have for their di- 
 rect object the practice of immoralities of 
 every sort. The Palais Royale, in whose sa- 
 loons and porticos Vice has established a pub- 
 lic and open school for gambling and licenti- 
 ousness, far from affording, as at present, an 
 impure and scandalous source of revenue to 
 the state, should be levelled to the ground, 
 with all its accursed brothels and gambling 
 houses, — rendezvouses, the more seductive to 
 youth, as being free from some of those dan- 
 gers which would alarm timidity in places of 
 avowedly scandalous resort. Gaming is indeed 
 
414 paul's letters 
 
 reduced to all the gravity of a science, and, 
 at the same time, is conducted upon the scale 
 of the most extensive manufacture. In the 
 Sallon des Etrangers, the most celebrated 
 haunt of this Dom-Daniel, which I had the 
 curiosity to visit, the scene was decent and 
 silent to a degree of solemnity* An immense 
 hall was filled with gamesters and spectators ; 
 those who kept the bank, and managed the 
 affairs of the establishment, were distinguish- 
 ed by the green shades which they wore to 
 preserve their eyes, by their silent and grave 
 demeanour, and by the paleness of their coun- 
 tenances, exhausted by constantvigils. There 
 was no distinction of persons, nor any pass- 
 port required for entrance, save that of a de- 
 cent exterior ; and on the long tables, which 
 were covered with gold, an artizan was at li- 
 berty to hazard his week's wages, or a noble 
 his whole estate. Youth and age were alike 
 welcome ; and any one who chose to play 
 within the limits of a trifling sum, had only 
 to accuse his own weakness if he was drawn 
 in to deeper or more dangerous hazard. Every 
 thing seemed to be conducted with perfect 
 fairness ; and indeed the mechanical construe. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 415 
 
 tion of the E O tables, or whatever they are 
 called, appears calculated to prevent the pos- 
 sibility of fraud. The only advantage possessed 
 by the bank (which is, however, enormous) is 
 the extent of its funds, by which it is enabled 
 to sustain any train of reverse of fortune; 
 whereas most of the individuals who play 
 against the bank are in circumstances to be 
 ruined by the first succession of ill luck ; so 
 that ultimately the smaller ventures merge in 
 the stock of the principal adventurers, as rivers 
 run into the sea The profits of the establish- 
 ment must indeed be very large to support 
 its expences. Besides a variety of attendants 
 who distribute refreshments to the players 
 gratis, there is an elegant entertainment, with 
 expensive wines, regularly prepared about 
 three o'clock in the morning, for those who 
 choose to partake of it. With such tempta- 
 tions around him, and where the hazarding 
 an insignificant sum seems at first venial or 
 innocent, it is no wonder if thousands feel 
 themselves gradually involved in the whirl- 
 pool whose verge is so little distinguishable, 
 until they are swallowed up with their time, 
 taleut, and fortune, and often also both body 
 
416 Paul's letters 
 
 and soul. This is Vice with her fairest vU 
 zard ; but the same unhallowed precincts 
 contain many a secret cell for the most hi- 
 deous and unheard of debaucheries, many an 
 open rendezvous of infamy, and many a den 
 of usury and of treason ; the whole mixed 
 with a Vanity -fair of shops for jewels, trin- 
 kets, and baubles, that bashfulness may not 
 lack a decent pretext for adventuring into the 
 haunts of infamy. It was here where the 
 preachers of the Revolution first found, amidst 
 gamblers, desperadoes, and prostitutes, ready 
 auditors of their doctrines, and active hands 
 to labour in their vineyard. In more recent 
 times, it was here that the plots of the Buona- 
 partists were adjusted, and the number of their 
 partizans recruited and instructed concerning 
 the progress of the conspiracy ; and from hence 
 the seduced soldiers, inflamed with many a 
 bumper to the health of the Exile of Elba, un- 
 der the mystic names of Jean de fEpee, and 
 Caporal Violet, were dismissed to spread the 
 news of his approaching return, and prepare 
 their comrades to desert their lawful sove- 
 reign. In short, from this central pit of 
 Acheron, — in which are openly assembled and 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK, 417 
 
 mingled those characters and occupations 
 which, in all other capitals, are driven to 
 shroud themselves in separate and retired re- 
 cesses — from this focus of vice and treason 
 have flowed forth those waters of bitterness of 
 which France has drunk so deeply. Why, af- 
 ter having occasioned so much individual and 
 public misery, this source of iniquity is not 
 now stopped, the tenants expelled, and the 
 buildings levelled to the ground, is a question 
 which the consciences of the French minis- 
 ters can best answer. Thus far at least is cer- 
 tain, that, with the richest soil, and the most 
 cultivated understandings, a people brave 
 even to a fault, kind-tempered, gay, and form- 
 ed for happiness, have been for twenty years 
 the plague of each other and of Europe ; and 
 if their disorders can be plainly traced to want 
 of moral character and principle, it cannot be 
 well to maintain amongst them, for the sake 
 of sharing its polluted profits, such a hot-bed 
 of avowed depravity. 
 
 If the French have no strong sense of reli- 
 gion or its precepts, they are not without a 
 share of superstition ; and an impostor is at 
 
 2 d 
 
418 Paul's letters 
 
 present practising among them, who, by aH 
 accounts, is as successful as Joanna South- 
 cote herself. This lady, a woman, I am assu- 
 red, of rank and information, pretends, like 
 Baron Swedenborg, to an immediate inter- 
 course with the spiritual world, and takes her 
 ecstatic trances for the astonishment of par- 
 ties of good fashion, to whom, on her return 
 to her senses, she recounts the particulars of 
 her visit to the spiritual world, and whom she 
 treats with explanations of their past lives, and 
 predictions of the future. It is said her art 
 has attracted the attention of some men of 
 high rank in the armies of our allies. 
 
 If you disbelieve the powers of this lady, 
 you may also distrust the apparition of I 9 Hom- 
 me Rouge, or the red man, said to have haunt- 
 ed Napoleon as the daemon did Ras Mi- 
 chael, and advised him in matters of impor- 
 tance. He was, saith the legend, a little 
 muffled figure, to whom, whenever he appear- 
 ed, access was instantly given, for the spectre 
 was courteous enough to request to be an- 
 nounced. At Wilna, before advancing into 
 Russia, while Buonaparte was engaged in tra- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 419 
 
 eing the plan of his march, he was told this 
 person requested to speak with him. He desi- 
 red the attendant to inform his summoner that 
 the Emperor was engaged. When this reply 
 was communicated to the unknown, he assu* 
 med an authoritative voice and accent, and, 
 throwing open his cloak, discovered his dress 
 under it, which was red, without mixture of 
 any other colour. " Tell the Emperor," said he, 
 u that I Homme Rouge must speak with him." 
 He was then admitted, and they were heard to 
 talk loud together. As he left the apartment, 
 he said publicly, " You have rejected my ad- 
 vice ! you will not again see me till you have 
 bitterly repented your error." The visits of 
 V Homme Rouge were renewed on Buonaparte's 
 return from Elba ; but before he set out on 
 his last campaign, Napoleon again offended 
 his familiar, who took leave of him for ever, 
 giving him up to the red men of England, who 
 became the real arbiters of his destiny. If you 
 have not faith enough for this marvellous 
 story, pray respect the prophecy which was 
 made to Josephine, by one of the negroe 
 sooth-sayers in the West Indies, that she 
 
420 paul's letters 
 
 should rise to the highest pinnacle of modern 
 greatness, but without ever being a queen; 
 that she should fall from thence before her 
 death, and die in an hospital. I can myself 
 vouch for the existence of this prophecy be- 
 fore the events which it was supposed to pre- 
 dict, for it was told me many years ago, 
 when Buonaparte was only general of the 
 army of Italy, by a lady of rank who lived in 
 the same convent with Josephine. The coin- 
 cidence of the fortune-teller s presages with 
 the fact, would have been marred by the cir- 
 cumstances of the ex-empress's death, had 
 not somebody's ingenuity discovered that her 
 house, as the name Mal-maison implies, had 
 once been a hospital. Buonaparte, it is well 
 known, had strange and visionary ideas about 
 his own fated destiny, and could think of for- 
 tune like the Wallenstein of the stage. The 
 following lines from that drama, more grand 
 in the translation of Coleridge than in the 
 original of Schiller, seem almost to trace the 
 career of Napoleon : — 
 
 " Even in his youth he had a daring soul : 
 His frame of mind was serious and severe 
 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 421 
 
 Beyond his years ; his dreams were of great objects. 
 
 He walk'd amid, as if a silent spirit, 
 
 Communing with himself: Yet have I known him 
 
 Transported on a sudden into utterance 
 
 Of strange conceptions ; kindling into splendour, 
 
 His soul reveal'd itself, and he spoke so 
 
 That we look'd round perplex'd upon each other, 
 
 Not knowing whether it were craziness, 
 
 Or whether 'twere a God that spoke in him. 
 
 Thenceforth he held himself for an exempted 
 
 And privileged being, and, as if he were 
 
 Incapable of dizziness or fall, 
 
 He ran along the unsteady rope of life, 
 
 And paced with rapid step the way to greatness ; 
 
 Was Count, and Prince, Duke Regent, and Dictator, 
 
 And is all, all this too little for him ; 
 
 He stretches forth his hands for a King's crown, 
 
 And plunges in unfathomable ruin." 
 
 Farewell, my dear friend ; light and leisure 
 are exhausted in this long detail, concerning 
 the religion of which the French have so little, 
 and the superstition of which they have a 
 considerable portion. 
 
 You will groan over many parts of this 
 epistle, but the picture is not without its 
 lights. France has afforded many examples, 
 in the most trying crisis, of firmness, of piety, 
 
422 paul's letters 
 
 of patience under affliction \ many, too, of 
 generosity and courtesy and charity. The 
 present Royal Family have been bred in the 
 school of adversity, and it is generally allow- 
 ed that they have the inclination, though per- 
 haps they may mistake the means, of amelio- 
 rating the character of the nation, to the go- 
 vernment of which they have been so provi- 
 dentially restored. 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 423 
 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 PAUL TO HIS COUSIN PETER. 
 
 I am in the centre, you say, of political in- 
 telligence, upon the very area where the fate 
 of nations is determined, and send you no in- 
 telligence. This seems a severe reproach ; for 
 in England, with a friend in the foreign-of- 
 fice, or the advantage of mixing in a certain 
 circle of society, one can always fill up a let- 
 ter with political events and speculations 
 some days sooner, and somewhat more accu- 
 rately, than they appear in the newspapers. 
 But they manage matters otherwise in France. 
 The conferences between the ministers of the 
 allied powers and those of Louis XVIII., are 
 conducted with great and praise-worthy se- 
 crecy. They are said to be nearly concluded ; 
 but a final arrangement will probably be post- 
 
424 paul's letters 
 
 poned by an expected change of ministry in 
 the Tuilleries. 
 
 All politicians were surprised (none more 
 than thou, Peter) at the choice which the 
 king made of his first ministry. That Fouch£, 
 who voted for the death of his brother, Louis 
 XVI., who had been an agent of Robe- 
 spierre and a minister of Buonaparte — who, 
 in the late Revolution, was regarded as a 
 chief promoter of the unexpected and unna- 
 tural union between the discontented patriots, 
 or Liberalists, and the followers of Buona- 
 parte, — that he should have been named 
 minister of police under the restored heir of 
 the Bourbons, seemed wonderful to the roy- 
 alists. His companions in the provisional 
 government saw themselves with equal asto- 
 nishment put under the surveillance of their 
 late associate, in his new character ; and the 
 letters between him and Carnot, when the 
 latter applied to Fouche, agreeably to the 
 royal proclamation, that a place of residence 
 might be assigned to him, fully, though brief- 
 ly, express their characteristic feelings. " Ou 
 veux tu que ge rrfen vais^ Traitre?" signed, 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 425 
 
 Carnot, was a brief question, to which the 
 minister of police as briefly replied, " Ou tu 
 veuoc> Imbecille" Fouche. 
 
 There are two ways of considering the 
 matter ;— with reference to the minister who 
 accepted the office, and with regard to the 
 sovereign who nominated him. 
 
 On the former point little need be said. 
 Times of frequent and hasty changes, when 
 a people are hurried from one government to 
 another, necessarily introduce among the 
 leading statesmen a versatility of character, at 
 which, those who are remote from the pres- 
 sure of temptation, hold up their hands and 
 wonder. In looking over our own history, we 
 discover the names of Shaftesbury and Sunder- 
 land, and of many other statesmen eminent 
 for talent, who changed their political creed 
 with the change of times, and yet contrived 
 to be employed and trusted by successive go- 
 vernments who confided in their fidelity, at 
 least while they could make that fidelity their 
 interest. Independent and steady as the Eng- 
 lish boast themselves, there were, during the 
 great civil war, persons who made it an avow- 
 
426 paul's lettehs 
 
 ed principle to adhere to the faction that 
 was uppermost, and support the administra- 
 tion of the day, enough to form a separate 
 sect, who, in the hypocritical cant of the 
 times, assumed the name of Waiters upon 
 Providence. This prudential line of conduct 
 has been rendered so general in France, du- 
 ring the late frequent changes of government, 
 as to give matter for a catalogue of about 
 four hundred and fifty pages, which has been 
 recently published, under the name of the 
 Dictionnaire des Girouettes, in which we find 
 the names of almost all the men distinguished 
 for talents, or influence, now alive in France, 
 with a brief account of the changes of their 
 political lives. The list grew so scandalously 
 comprehensive, that the editor announces his 
 intention of suppressing, in a second edition, 
 all those who had changed only once, consi- 
 dering them, comparatively, as men of steady 
 political faith and conscience. They must 
 know little of human nature, who can suppose 
 the result would be otherwise with the mass 
 of mankind in times, when universal example 
 sanctioned changes of principle, which were 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 427 
 
 besides pressed upon each individual by am- 
 bition, by avarice, by fear, by want, in short, 
 by their interest under the most pressing and 
 seductive forms. The conduct of Fouch6, 
 therefore, is by no means singular ; although, 
 if it be true, that, in assuming power under 
 Buonaparte, his real wish was to serve the 
 king, his case merits a particular distinction, 
 — whether favourable or no, may be reason- 
 ably doubted. 
 
 That Fouch6 should have accepted power 
 was, therefore, in the order of things, as they 
 have lately gone in France. But, that the 
 king should have trusted, or at least employ- 
 ed him, and that his appointment should have 
 given acknowledged satisfaction to the Duke 
 of Wellington and to Lord Castlereagh, thou, 
 Peter, wilt think more difficult to account 
 for. Consider, however, that Fouche* was at 
 the head of a numerous faction, comprehend- 
 ing the greater part of that third party in 
 the state, which, as uniting all shades of 
 those who use the Word Liberty as their 
 war-cry, are generally called Liberalists. If 
 
428 Paul's letters 
 
 these were divided from the king in the mo- 
 ment of his return, what remained to him 
 save the swords of a few nobles and men of 
 honour, the scattered and subdued bands of 
 La Vended, and the inert wishes of the mass 
 of the population, who might indeed cry Vive 
 k Roi, but had plainly shewed they loved 
 their own barns better than the house of 
 Bourbon. The bayonets of the allies, indeed, 
 surrounded Paris, but Buonaparte was still in 
 France and at large, the army of the Loire 
 continued independent and unbroken, many 
 garrisons held out, many provinces were still 
 agitated ; and the services of Fouch6, who 
 held in his hand the various threads of cor- 
 respondence through the distracted kingdom, 
 who knew the character and principles of 
 each agitator, and the nature of the materials 
 be had to work with, who possessed, in 
 short, that extent of local and personal know- 
 ledge peculiar to one who had been long the 
 head of the French police, were essentially ne- 
 cessary to the establishment of the royal au- 
 thority, and to preventing a scene of blood 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 429 
 
 and total confusion. That Fouche served the 
 king with great address, cannot be doubted, 
 and his admission into the high office of 
 trust, which he has for some time enjoyed, 
 was a great means of calming the public 
 mind, and restoring to confidence those, who, 
 feeling themselves involved in the general de- 
 fection, might otherwise have been rendered 
 desperate by the fear of punishment. Tal- 
 leyrand, also, whose loyalty to the house of 
 Bourbon, during the last usurpation, was 
 never doubted, is understood to have ex- 
 pressed his strong sense of the peremptory ne- 
 cessity of receiving Fouch6 and his party into 
 power at least, if not into confidence. So 
 much, therefore, for the propriety, or rather 
 necessity, of a measure, which looked strange 
 enough when viewed from a distance, which 
 could not be agreeable to the king personal- 
 ly, and which had its political inconveniences ; 
 but, nevertheless, was at the time essential to 
 the royal interest. The first benefit which 
 resulted from this appointment was the close 
 and vigilant pursuit that compelled Napo- 
 leon to surrender to the English. The same 
 
430 paul's letters 
 
 activity exercised by this experienced po- 
 litician and his agents, decided and secu- 
 red a bloodless counter-revolution in most 
 of the towns in France. Upon the general 
 interests of Europe, Fouch6 is well under- 
 stood to have entertained such just and mo- 
 derate views as were acceptable to the mini- 
 sters of the allied powers, and particularly to 
 those of Britain. 
 
 Notwithstanding these advantages, it is not 
 supposed that Fouche* will keep his ground 
 in the ministry, and it is supposed the change 
 will occasion the resignation of Talleyrand. 
 As the king's party appears better consolida- 
 ted, and his power becomes more permanent, 
 the faction of the Royalist ts purs et par excel* 
 lence acquires members and courage, and be- 
 comes daily more shocked with the incongruity 
 of Fouch6's high place in the administration. 
 His influence is supposed to have one effect, 
 which, if true, is a very bad one— that, name- 
 ly, of delaying the selecting and bringing to 
 punishment the more notorious agents of the 
 last usurpation. All who know this nation must 
 
 5 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 481 
 
 be aware of what importance it is that their 
 ruler should not seem to fear them ; and the 
 king must be aware that his authority will 
 seem little more than an idle pageant till he 
 shall show he is possessed of the power of 
 maintaining it. On the other hand, nothing 
 can be more impolitic than to keep up the 
 memory of this brief usurpation, and the in- 
 secure and jealous feelings of all connected 
 with it, by long hesitation on the choice of 
 victims to the offended laws. The sooner that 
 two or three principal criminals can be execu- 
 ted, some dangerous agitators banished, and a 
 general amnesty extended to all the rest, with- 
 out exception, the sooner and the firmer will 
 the royal authority be established. We have as 
 yet had only one example of severity in the fate 
 of Labedoyere, although no good reason can 
 be given why others of superior consequence, 
 such as Ney and Massena, should not share 
 his fate. But the death of this comparatively 
 subordinate agent has acted as a sedative up- 
 on the spirit of faction. Last week nothing 
 was heard but threats and defiance, and bold 
 declarations, that the government would not, 
 
432 Paul's letters 
 
 and dared not, execute the sentence. The 
 rights of the Bourbons seemed to have been 
 so long in abeyance, that it was thought scarce 
 possible to be guilty of treason against them, 
 or that they should dare to regard and punish 
 it as such. This is a popular feeling which the 
 king must remove by a display of firmness, or 
 it will most assuredly once more remove his 
 throne. Accordingly the execution of this cri- 
 minal has had some effect, and the tone of mu- 
 tiny and defiance is greatly lowered. The hand- 
 some sufferer, however, finds the usual degree 
 of favour in the eyes of the fair. One lady 
 talked of his execution as un horreur, an atro- 
 city unequalled in the annals of France. — 
 " Did Buonaparte never order such execu- 
 tions ?" — Who? the Emperor ?— never." — 
 " But the Due d'Enghien, madam V 9 conti- 
 nued the persevering querist. — " Ah ! parlez 
 moi d'Adam et d'Eve" was the reply. A re- 
 trospective of three or four years was like 
 looking back to the fall of man; and the 
 exclamation affords no bad key to the French 
 character, to whom the past is nothing, and 
 the present every thing. 
 
 8 
 
TO HIS KtNSFOLK. 433 
 
 The attacks upon Fouch6 in our English 
 newspapers are said to have no small share 
 In unsettling his power, by seeming to ex- 
 press the opinion of our nation against him. 
 I have great reason to doubt whether his 
 successor may not be appointed out of a 
 class to whom we are, as a nation, less ac- 
 ceptable- For, with a few exceptions. I do 
 not think that the English are so much dis- 
 liked, even by the military men and Imperi- 
 alists, as they are by the nobility and pure 
 royalists. This class of politicians, whatever 
 may be thought of their bias to despotism, 
 numbers among them so much of high ho- 
 nourable feeling and sincere principle, that 
 I willingly look for some apology for their 
 entertaining sentiments towards England and 
 Englishmen, which, to say the least, are an 
 indifferent requital for our former hospitali- 
 ty and our late effective assistance. I will, 
 therefore, make every allowance for the na- 
 tural prejudice which they entertain against 
 us for having, as they may conceive, stopped 
 short in the services which it was in our 
 power to have rendered them, and declined 
 2 E 
 
434 paul's letters 
 
 to back their pretensions to complete resto- 
 ration of the rights and property which they 
 had forfeited in the king's cause. I will per- 
 mit them to feel as Frenchmen as well as 
 royalists, and to view, with a mingled feel- 
 ing, the victory of Waterloo and the capture 
 of Paris, although their own interest and 
 that of the king was immediately dependent 
 on the success of the allies. I can suppose, 
 that it is painful for them to see foreigners 
 residing at Paris as lords of the ascendant ; 
 and it may be a laudable sensibility to the 
 misfortunes of their country, which makes 
 them at this moment retreat from the duties 
 of hospitality, and shun mixing in society 
 with those whose best blood has been so re- 
 cently shed in the king's service. I can even 
 forgive them, that, being conscious of their 
 weakness in point of numbers and influence 
 (unless through that of the sovereign), they 
 are glad to snatch opportunities of making 
 * common cause with the bulk of their coun- 
 trymen at the expence of foreigners, and 
 are therefore fain to lead the cry against 
 the allies, and especially against our coun- 
 11 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 435 
 
 try, in order to show, that whatever may be 
 their interests, their hearts have always been 
 French. But while we pardon the motives, 
 we must be A allowed to smile at the effects 
 of this animosity. One would almost sup- 
 pose while hearing them, that our interfe- 
 rence in the affairs of France was altogether 
 gratuitous and unnecessary, and had only 
 prevented a grand re-action, by which Na- 
 poleon would have been walked out of the 
 kingdom as he had walked into it, and a 
 counter-revolution accomplished, as nearly 
 resembling that which concludes the Re- 
 hearsal, as the last revolution seemed in 
 ease and celerity to rival that of King Phys. 
 and King Ush. in the same drama. They 
 even extol the conduct of those command- 
 ants upon the frontier, who, in defiance of 
 their sovereign's mandate, and with a brutal 
 indifference to human life, maintain, without 
 motive, or means, or hope, a senseless opposi- 
 tion to the allied troops. Some of them have 
 been honourably acquitted when brought to 
 trial ; all are praised and caressed, as having 
 maintained the frontiers of France against 
 
436 Paul's letters 
 
 foreigners, instead of being shot or degraded 
 for the bloodshed occasioned by their re- 
 sistance both to their country and to the 
 king's allies. Upon the same principle, I 
 suppose the governor of Vincennes, who 
 still holds out his old Donjon, is to be con- 
 sidered as a true patriot, although he, and 
 those who think like him, have no object in 
 view but to show a reckless and unavailing 
 resistance to their victors. In one of the 
 king's proclamations to his subjects on his 
 restoration, he has been made to take credit, 
 that not one of his own followers had been 
 permitted to draw a sword in defence of his 
 rights, &c. If the state of the royal army 
 was indeed justly rated at twenty-four thou- 
 sand men and forty pieces of cannon, as gi- 
 ven in an order of the day signed by the 
 Duke of Feltre, on 7th April 1815, we may 
 justly complain of the mistaken tenderness 
 which withheld such a force from the con- 
 flict, and demand of the King of France a 
 reckoning for the lives of forty thousand 
 brave men killed in his quarrel, many of 
 whom might have been saved by such a rein- 
 forcement. But if the attendants of the king 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK, 437 
 
 consisted chiefly of a few hundred officers 
 and gardes de corps, to whom the timely ar- 
 rival of cinq Cent Suisses (that is, not five hun- 
 dred Swiss, as a sanguine Englishman was 
 led to interpret the phrase, from the plea- 
 sure with which he heard the incident de- 
 tailed, but five individuals of the corps called 
 les Cent Suisses,) was hailed as a timely rein- 
 forcement, it should be considered, that, since 
 the days of chivalry are ended, and since no 
 single knight can now rout a legion of cui- 
 rassiers with his own good sword, the king 
 must have owed his restoration to Welling- 
 ton and Blucher ; and those who only walk- 
 ed forward in the path which our swords 
 hewed out for them ought to bear with some 
 patience the measures to which their own 
 proved weakness, and the experienced art 
 and strength of their powerful adversaries, 
 compel us to have recourse. It was, I think, 
 Edward I., who replied with scorn to a com- 
 petitor for the Scottish crown, in whose cause 
 he had invaded Scotland, when, after the vic- 
 tory at Dunbar, he ventured to remind him 
 of his pretensions, Ne awns nous autre chose # 
 
 4 
 
438 paul's letters 
 
 faire que a vous reaumeys gagner ?* Such an 
 answer we might have returned to Louis 
 XVIII., had we inclined to support any other 
 competitor among the ample choice which 
 the provisional government held out to us ; 
 and although we claim no merit for follow- 
 ing the open path of faith and loyalty to an 
 unfortunate ally, we ought at least to escape 
 the censure of those who have been most be- 
 nefited by our exertions, and who confessedly 
 were unable or unwilling to assist themselves. 
 In the meanwhile, if it is meant to con- 
 fine the king's choice of ministers to the 
 faction of royalistes purs, we are afraid his 
 choice will be limited ; for, excepting a few 
 individuals who have been employed in Rus- 
 sia, where strangers are more readily promo- 
 ted to offices of confidence than elsewhere, 
 we know few who have had the means of ac- 
 quiring experience in state business. Brave, 
 loyal, and gallant, the French noblesse are 
 by their charter; but the heat of temper 
 which confounds friends and foes ; the pre- 
 
 * i. e. " Have we nothing to do but to conquer king- 
 doms for you V 9 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 439 
 
 sumption which pushes direct to its object 
 without calculation of obstacles ; a sense of 
 wrongs received, and a desire of vengeance, 
 make them dangerous counsellors at such a 
 crisis as the present. 
 
 From the more violent portion of the op- 
 posite faction, (inclusive of the Imperialists, 
 who are now hastily melting into the ranks 
 of the general opposition,) the king can, I 
 fear, look for little cordiality, and only for 
 that degree of support which he can make it 
 their interest to afford him. Still, however, 
 there are many cases where ability without 
 principle may be successfully employed, 
 when it would be unsafe to trust to princi- 
 ple unguided by experience and prudence; 
 just as a proprietor will sometimes find it his 
 interest to employ, in the management of his 
 affairs, a skilful knave rather than an honest 
 fool. This is taking an extreme case : there 
 are many degrees between a. jacobin enrage 
 and a royalist e pur, and some of the wisest 
 and best of each party will perhaps at length 
 see the necessity of joining in an administra- 
 tion exclusive of neither, which should have 
 at once for its object the just rights of the 
 
440 paul's letteks 
 
 throne, and the constitutional liberties of the 
 subject. To such a coalition, the king's name 
 would be, indeed, a tower of strength ; but 
 founded upon a narrower basis, must run the 
 risque of falling itself, and bearing to ground 
 all who adhere to it. 
 
 It must be owned, nevertheless, that the 
 general rallying point of the Liberalists is an 
 avowed dislike to the present monarch and 
 his immediate connections. They will sacri- 
 fice, they pretend, so much to the general 
 inclinations of Europe, as to select a king 
 from the Bourbon race ; but he must be one 
 of their own chusing, and the Duke of Or- 
 leans is most familiar to their mouths. And 
 thus these politicians, who assume the title 
 of Constitutional Royalists, propose to begin 
 their career by destroying hereditary suc- 
 cession, the fundamental principle of a limit- 
 ed monarchy. In Britain, we know that the 
 hereditary right of succession is no longer 
 indeed accounted divine and indefeasible, as 
 was the principle of our ancient royalistes 
 purs et par excellence. But the most sturdy 
 whig never contended that it could be de- 
 feated otherwise than by abdication or for- 
 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 441 
 
 feiture, or proposed the tremendous measure 
 of changing the succession purely by way 
 of prevention or experiment. In the most; 
 violent times, and under the most peculiar 
 circumstances, the Exclusion Bill, although 
 founded upon an acknowledged and plausible 
 ground of incapability, and levelled against 
 the person of a successor, not of an existing 
 monarch, was rejected as a dangerous inno- 
 vation on the constitution. It is in order to 
 prevent, as far as possible, such violent and 
 hazardous experiments, that we impute the 
 faults of monarchs not to themselves, but to 
 their ministers, and view, in a political sense, 
 the well-known maxim, that the king can do 
 no wrong. For the same reason, in the height 
 of popular indignation against James II., the 
 word abdication was selected in preference to 
 desertion or forfeiture, to express the manner 
 in which the throne became vacant at the 
 Revolution. But the doctrine now held in 
 France strikes at the very foundation of he- 
 reditary right, being founded on no overt 
 act of the sovereign tending to affect the li- 
 berties of his subjects, but upon jealousies 
 and fears that he has, or may call, evil coun- 
 
442 paul's letters 
 
 sellors around him, who, at some time or 
 other, will persuade him to attempt the re- 
 establishment of the feudal rights of the no- 
 bility and the domination of the church. In 
 this grand counterpart to our constitutional 
 maxim, it is not even alleged that the king 
 has done wrong, but it is assumed that he 
 will do wrong, and proceedings are to be 
 grounded on this prediction as if the evil 
 foreseen already existed. The fact seems 
 to be, that the objections of this faction to 
 the present line is much more a matter of 
 taste or caprice than they are willing to ac- 
 knowledge. The vanity of the nation, and 
 especially of this class of statesmen, who have 
 not the least share of it, is affronted at being 
 compelled to receive back from the conquer- 
 ing hand of the allies the legitimate monarch, 
 in whose causeless expulsion they had assist- 
 ed. They would willingly have had a bit of 
 sugar with the wholesome physic which was 
 forced upon them by English and Prussian 
 bayonets, and they still long for something 
 which may give them an ostensible pretext 
 to say, that their own conduct had not been 
 entirely inconsistent, nor their rebellion al- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 443 
 
 together fruitless. Hence the obstinacy of 
 Buonaparte's two chambers to the very last, 
 in rejecting Louis XVIII. Hence the nick- 
 names of Le Prefet de fAngleterre, and Louis 
 V Inevitable, which their wit attached to the 
 restored monarch; and to this feeling of morti- 
 fied vanity, less than to any real fears of ag- 
 gression upon their liberties, may be traced 
 their wish to have a king whose title should 
 be connected with the Revolution, and who 
 might owe his crown more to their courtesy 
 than to his own right. But who will warrant 
 those that set such a dangerous stone rolling, 
 where its course will stop ? The body now 
 united in one mass of opposition to the roy- 
 alistes purs comprehend among themselves a 
 hundred various shades of difference, from 
 the Constitutionalist of J 814 to the Republi- 
 can of 1793, or the Imperialists of Buona- 
 parte's time. It happened regularly in the 
 French revolution, that so soon as one point 
 was gained or yielded, which the popular 
 party represented as an ultimatum, new de- 
 mands were set up by demagogues, who af- 
 fected to plead still higher doctrines of free- 
 dom than those with which their predecessors 
 
444 Paul's letters 
 
 had remained satisfied ; the force of those 
 who had been satisfied with the concessions 
 being uniformly found insufficient to defend 
 the breach they themselves had stormed, 
 until all merged in anarchy, and anarchy it- 
 self in military tyranny. We have seen al- 
 ready the progress of an Orleans faction, as 
 well as its fatal termination. We have no 
 desire to give another whirl to the revolu- 
 tionary E O table, or once more to shuffle 
 the cards for the chance of turning up such 
 trumps as will best suit the political gam- 
 blers of the Palais Royale. 
 
 Besides these two violent parties, one of 
 which aims to restore the abrogated tyranny 
 of priests and seigneurs, and the other to 
 render a hereditary monarchy an elective one 
 at a sweep, there are two classes of great im- 
 portance, namely, the army and the mass of 
 the people. Much must undoubtedly depend 
 on the disposition of the former, which has 
 been for some time accustomed to act as a 
 deliberative body, and which, however mu- 
 tilated and disjoined, will, like the several 
 portions of a snake, continue long to writhe 
 under the same impulses by which it was agi- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 445 
 
 tated when entire. Every effort is now ma- 
 king to place this formidable engine in the 
 hands of the crown, by the dissolution and 
 new-formation of the regiments, by recruits, 
 and by the addition of separate corps, levied 
 in the places most attached to the royal inte- 
 rest. But this is, in a great measure, coun- 
 teracted by the insane policy which, as we 
 have already noticed, applauds in military 
 men the very conduct that indicates, as in 
 the case of Huningen, and other places de- 
 fended after the king's restoration, an oppo- 
 sition to his mandates ; and if bravery alone 
 shall be accounted a sufficient apology for 
 rebellion, the French government will cer- 
 tainly have enough of both. Were a breach, 
 therefore, to take place at this moment be- 
 tween the King and the Constitutionalists. I 
 have little doubt that great part of the army 
 would take part with the latter, though per- 
 haps more out of pique than principle. The 
 Royalists, with all their vehemence in words, 
 have already shewn how infinitely inferior 
 they are to the opposite party in intrigue, as 
 well as in audacity ; and discontented sol- 
 diers may be seduced to declare for a change 
 
446 Paul's letters 
 
 of dynasty, or for a republic, as readily as 
 for a Buonaparte. Besides, distant and se- 
 cure as is Napoleon's present place of exile, 
 we have but scotched the snake, not killed 
 him ; and while life lasts, especially after his 
 extraordinary return from Elba, there will 
 not be wanting many to rely upon a third 
 avatar of this singular emanation of the 
 Evil Principle. This is an additional and 
 powerful reason for the king to avoid, in 
 thought, act, and deed, the slightest inno- 
 vation on the liberties of his subjects as as- 
 certained by the constitutional charter, as 
 certain to provoke a contest in which he 
 would prove inferior. 
 
 If you ask me, then, what are the legiti- 
 mate resources of this unfortunate monarch, 
 placed between the extremes of two violent 
 factions, I would answer, that, under God, 
 I conceive them to rest upon the good-will 
 of the mass of the people of France. The 
 agitators and intriguers of both parties bear 
 an exceedingly small proportion to the num- 
 bers of those who only desire peace, tran- 
 quillity, and the enjoyment of the fruits of 
 their industry, under a mild and steady go- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 447 
 
 vernment. With this class of people Louis 
 XVIII. is deservedly popular ; their tears 
 attended his expulsion, and their rejoicings 
 his return. It is true that this general feel- 
 ing of good-will and affection was not strong 
 enough to bring them to the field, though it 
 threw great obstacles in the way of the usur- 
 per. But it is also true, that this class of 
 Loyalists were taken totally at unawares, and 
 became only apprized of their danger when 
 it was too late to take measures for encoun- 
 tering a veteran army, masters of all the 
 fortresses in the kingdom. The general class 
 of proprietors are also (for the present) dis- 
 heartened, drained of the young and active 
 spirits whom Buonaparte sacrificed in his 
 wars, rendered callous by habit to the vari- 
 ous changes of government, and more passive 
 under each than it is possible for English- 
 men to comprehend. But there is very ge- 
 nerally among the middling orders in France, 
 and among all, indeed, who are above the 
 lowest vulgar, a kind and affectionate feeling 
 towards the king, well deserved by his mild 
 and paternal character, and which further 
 experience of the blessings of peace, and of 
 
448 paul's letters 
 
 a settled government, will kindle into zeal* 
 ous attachment. The best policy of the mo- 
 narch is, to repress the ardent tempers of the 
 clergy and nobles ; to teach them that their 
 real interest depends upon the crown ; and 
 that they will themselves be the first suffer- 
 ers, if they give pretext for a new attack 
 upon the Bourbons, by setting up preten- 
 sions equally antiquated and ill adapted with 
 a free government. At the same time it may 
 be necessary for the king, by exhibiting 
 vigour and decision in his measures, to con- 
 vince the more violent of the opposite faction 
 that they cannot renew their attempts against 
 the throne with the facility and impunity 
 which heretofore have attended them. The 
 very violence with which these parties op- 
 pose each other affords the king the means 
 of mediating betwixt both. Let the people 
 at length see clearly that the king desires no 
 more than his own share in the constitution, 
 but that he stands prepared to defend his 
 own rights, as well as theirs. It may, per- 
 haps, take some time to awaken the indiffe- 
 rent from that palsy of the mind which we 
 have alluded to, and to put to rest the jealous 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK, 449 
 
 fears of the proprietors of national property, 
 But good faith and persevering steadiness on 
 the part of the crown may accomplish both, 
 and with these fears will subside the hopes 
 entertained by those who delight in change; 
 revolution will become difficult in propor- 
 tion as its chance of success shall disappear; 
 the ardent spirits who have frequeated its 
 dangerous paths will seek more pacific ave- 
 nues to wealth and distinction ; and from 
 being her own plague and the terror of her 
 neighbours, France may again be happy in 
 herself, and the most graceful ornament of 
 the European commonwealth. 
 
 Upon the subject of awakening France to 
 her true interests, use might surely be made 
 of the principle uppermost in the heart of 
 every Frenchman, and which is capable of 
 guiding him to much good or evil, the inte- 
 rest, namely, which high and low take in 
 the glory of their country. Through the 
 abuse of this sentiment, (noble in itself, be- 
 cause disinterested,) Napoleon was enabled 
 to consolidate his usurped government in 
 such a manner that it required all his own 
 2 f 
 
450 paul's letters 
 
 rashness to undermine it. Did the people ask 
 for bread? — he showed them a temple. Did 
 they require of him the blood of 1:heir chil- 
 dren? — he detailed to them a victory, — and 
 they retired, satisfied that, if they suffered 
 or wept, France had been rendered illustri- 
 ous and victorious. It cannot be, that so 
 strong and disinterested a sentiment should 
 be applicable to evil purposes alone ; nor do 
 I believe the French so void of reflection or 
 common sense, as not to be made capable, by 
 experience, of valuing themselves as much 
 upon personal freedom, an equal system of 
 laws, a flourishing state of finance, good faith 
 to other nations, and those moral qualities 
 which equally adorn a people r and individuals, 
 as they now esteem their country decorated 
 by an unnecessary palace, or by a bloody and 
 fruitless victory. It is true, that the reforma- 
 tion must begin where the corruption was first 
 infused, and that, although converts may be 
 gained gradually to the cause of sound rea- 
 son, yet we must necessarily be obliged to 
 wait the effects of a better education upon 
 the rising race, before real and genuine pa- 
 2 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 451 
 
 triotism can be generally substituted for what 
 is at present merely national vanity. 
 
 This appetite for glory has of late been 
 fed with such unsubstantial food, as has 
 apparently rendered the French indifferent 
 to the distinction betwixt what is unreal and 
 what is solid. Any thing connected with 
 show and splendour, — any thing, as Bayes 
 says, calculated to surprise and elevate, is 
 what they expect from their governors, as 
 regularly as the children of London expect 
 a new pantomime at Christmas. Buonaparte 
 contrived to drown the murmurs which at- 
 tended his return to Paris, in the universal 
 speculation which he excited by announcing 
 his purpose of holding a Champ deMai, which 
 is much the same as if William III. had paved 
 the way to the throne by summoning a Wit- 
 tenagemot. In England, some would have 
 thought the Prince of Orange had lost his 
 senses, and some, that he was speaking 
 Dutch. But all in England knew the mean- 
 ing of a National Convention, the deomina* 
 tion by which William distinguished the 
 assembly which he convoked. In Paris, it 
 was exactly the contrary — the people did not 
 
452 paul's letters 
 
 want to see a national convention, or a na- 
 tional assembly either — they knew, like Cos- 
 tard, " whereuntill that did amount;" ]but 
 the Champ de Mai was something new, some- 
 thing not easily comprehended ; and it would 
 have been a motive with many against expel- 
 ling Buonaparte prematurely,that they would 
 have lost the sight of the Champ de Mai. 
 And thus they sacrificed their good sense 
 to their curiosity, and showed their minds 
 were more bent on the form of the assembly 
 than on its end aud purposes. After all, the 
 fete was indifferently got up, and gave little 
 satisfaction, notwithstanding the plumes and 
 trains of the principal actors. But still it had 
 its use. The Bourbons have been compelled 
 also to sacrifice to this idol ; and the king is 
 himself obliged, contrary to his own good 
 sense and. taste, to conform to this passion 
 for theatrical effect. A man was condemned 
 to death, to whom it had been resolved to 
 extend the royal pardon, and the king ima- 
 gined, tout bonnement, that he had nothing to 
 do but issue one from his chancery. But no — 
 that would have been to defraud the public 
 of their share in the scene. So he was ad* 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 453 
 
 vised to go (by pure accident) in the course 
 of his evening drive, into some remote cor- 
 ner of the city, where he was to meet (also 
 accidentally) with the municipality, who 
 were to fall on their knees, and beg mercy 
 for this delinquent, which the king was then 
 to grant with characteristic grace and boun- 
 ty, and all the by-standers were to shout 
 Vive le Roi. It must not be supposed that 
 a nation, so shrewd and ingenious as the 
 French, are really blinded by these exhibi- 
 tions £»£ up for their amusement. But they 
 are entertained for the time, and are no more 
 disgusted with the want of reality in the dra- 
 ma, than with the trees upon the stage for 
 being made of pasteboard. They consider 
 the accompaniments as of more importance 
 than the real object of the representation, 
 and fall under the censure due to Prior's 
 
 idle dreamer, 
 
 Who leaves the pye to gnaw the streamer. 
 
 To reclaim hawks which have been accus- 
 tomed to so wild a flight, requires all the 
 address of a falconer. Yet there is at the 
 
454 Paul's letters 
 
 bottom a strong fund of disinterested pa- 
 triotism to work upon ; for who will deny 
 its existence to a people, the bulk of whom 
 have, on all occasions, thought always of the 
 nation, and never of themselves individually? 
 Should, therefore, the present king meet with 
 a minister calculated, like Fabius, to arrest 
 immediate dangers, and protract or evade 
 angry discussions, until such a long train 
 of quiet shall have elapsed, that men's minds 
 have become estranged from all ideas of force 
 and violence, he may, even in his own time, 
 lay such a foundation of a better system, as 
 will lead future Frenchmen to place their 
 pride less in vain parade or military glory, 
 than in the freedom, arts, and happiness of 
 France. 
 
 The approaching meeting of the National 
 Representatives^ if they meet, as the time so 
 peremptorily demands, in the spirit, not of 
 partizans, but of conciliators, may do much 
 to accelerate so desirable an issue. But it is 
 too much to be feared, that it will be found 
 very difficult to assemble such a body of re- 
 presentatives, as may be justly considered as 
 the organ of the nation. Could such a senate 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 455 
 
 be convoked, we should hear on every side 
 the language of peace and moderation, nor 
 would the debates be warmer or more obsti- 
 nate, than is necessary for elucidation of the 
 measures proposed. Such an assembly, in 
 the name of the proprietors of France, would 
 deprecate the senseless agitation of theore* 
 tical questions, would recommend brief sen- 
 tence on a limited and narrow selection of 
 the principal agents of the last usurpation, 
 whose fate seems essential to the vindica- 
 tion of justice, and the intimidation of the 
 disaffected • and when that painful duty was 
 executed, would proceed with joy to the 
 more agreeable task of promulgating such a 
 general amnesty as should throw a perpetual 
 veil over the crimes and errors of that un- 
 happy period. I might add, that such a se* 
 nate would proceed by secret committees to 
 tent the wounds of the country, to turn their 
 attention towards the state of religion and 
 morals, and to ensure the means of bringing 
 up the rising generation, at least, free from 
 the errors of their fathers. In their adjust- 
 ment of foreign relations, such a council of 
 state would recollect, that if the country 
 
456 Paul's letters 
 
 liad suffered reiterated humiliation, it was in 
 consequence of reiterated aggression ; and, 
 avoiding painful and irritating discussions 
 concerning the past, they would offer by- 
 such moderation the surest guarantee for 
 peace and amity in future. Such would be 
 the language of the representatives of the 
 people, did they really speak the sense of 
 the proprietors of France— not that those 
 proprietors are sufficiently enlightened to re- 
 commend the special measures for attaining 
 peace and tranquillity, but because they are 
 sighing for that state of good order to which 
 the measures of an enlightened representa- 
 tion ought to conduct them. But I have 
 doubts whether this calm and wise course 
 can be expected from the senators to be 
 shortly assembled, since we hear of nothing 
 on all sides but the exertions made by the 
 two political factions of Royalists and Li- 
 beralists to procure returns of their own 
 partizans. We must, therefore, prepare to 
 witness a warm, and, perhaps, a deadly war 
 waged between two contending parties, of 
 which one proposes a complete re-action and 
 restoration of things, as they stood in the 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 457 
 
 reign of Louis XV., with the advantages per- 
 haps of new confiscations to avenge those by 
 which they were themselves ruined, and the 
 other proposing a gratuitous and uncalled-for 
 alteration of the laws of succession, while each 
 is content to hazard in the attempt a renewal 
 of the horrors of the Revolution. 
 
 You may wonder that a spirit should be ex- 
 pected to prevail among the representatives 
 so different from that of the mass of the people 
 by whom they are chosen. The cause seems 
 to be, that those gradations, not of rank only, 
 but of education, intelligence, and habits of 
 thinking upon political men and measures, 
 which enable Englishmen both to chuse re- 
 presentatives, and to watch their conduct when 
 chosen, cannot at present be said to exist in 
 France. Those who propose themselves as 
 candidates are men altogether distinct in their 
 habits of thinking from the voters whom 
 they are to„ represent. They are considered 
 as politicians by profession, as men belong- 
 ing to a class entitled exclusively to be cho- 
 sen, and who, when chosen, relieve their 
 electors from all further trouble in watching 
 ©r directing their political conduct. The 
 
458 paul's letters 
 
 electors may assemble in their organic col- 
 leges, and may give their suffrages to a can- 
 didate for the Chamber of Representatives ; 
 but it will be in the same manner as they 
 might chuse a person to repair the town- 
 clock, when almost all the voters are igno- 
 rant of the means which the artist is to adopt 
 for its regulation, and probably some of them 
 cannot tell the hour by the dial-plate when 
 the machine is put in order. On the con- 
 trary, the class in England upon whom the 
 election of parliament devolves, is trained to 
 their task by long habit, by being freeholders, 
 members of common councils, vestries, and 
 other public bodies, or by hearing business 
 of a public nature discussed upon all occa- 
 sions, whether of business or pleasure, and are 
 thereby habituated to consider themselves 
 as members of the body politic* Though, 
 therefore, many may be seduced by interest, 
 biassed by influence, or deluded by prejudice, 
 there will be found among the mass of the 
 British electors, taken generally over the 
 kingdom, a capacity of judging of the fit- 
 ness of their representatives, a distinct power 
 of observing with attention their conduct in 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 459 
 
 their high office ; and they possess means 
 also, collectively speaking, of making their 
 own opinion heard and respected, when there 
 is pressing occasion for it. 
 
 I do not mention this difference between 
 the inhabitants of the two countries, as a 
 reason for refusing to France the benefits 
 of a free representation, but to shew, that, 
 for some time at least, it cannot have the 
 salutary effect upon the political horizon 
 of that country which arises from the like 
 institution in our own, where there ex- 
 ists an intimate and graduated connection 
 between the representative and electors, 
 a general diffusion of political knowledge, 
 and a systematic gradation from the mem- 
 ber of parliament to the lowest freeholder 3 
 — where, in short, there is a common feel- 
 ing between the representative and his con- 
 stituent, the oue knowing the nature of 
 the power delegated, as well as the other 
 does that which he receives, and both, though 
 differing in extent of information, having 
 something like common views upon the same 
 subject. It may be long ere this general 
 diffusion of political information takes place 
 
460 paui/s letters 
 
 in France* It will, however, follow, if time 
 is allowed for it, by years of peace, and of 
 that good order which promotes quiet and 
 general discussion of political rights. A free- 
 holder, who suffered free-quarters from pan- 
 dours and cossacks twice in one year, has 
 scarce tranquillity of mind sufficient to attend 
 to theoretical privileges and maxims of state. 
 But if called upon repeatedly to exercise his 
 right of suffrage, he will gradually begin to 
 comprehend the meaning of it, and to interest 
 himself in the conduct of the representative 
 to whom he gives his voice. Thus, as free- 
 men make a free constitution, so a free con- 
 stitution, if not innovated upon, and render- 
 ed ineffectual, will in time create a general 
 and wholesome freedom of spirit amongst 
 those who have to exercise the privileges 
 which it bestows. Did such a general feel- 
 ing now exist in France, we should not have 
 to apprehend the desperate results which 
 may attend the struggle of two parties only 
 intent upon their own factious interests— a 
 nobility and clergy, on the one hand, eager 
 to resume privileges inconsistent with gene- 
 ral freedom, and on the other, a factious 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 461 
 
 oligarchy of considerable talent and little 
 principle, prepared to run the race of the 
 Brissotins in 1/92, and to encounter all the 
 risques with which it was proved to be at- 
 tended. 
 
 To the dangers of this collision of steel 
 and flint, is to be added that which arises 
 from the quantity of tinder and touch-wood, 
 which lies scattered around to catch and 
 foster every spark of fire ; — an army dis- 
 honoured and discontented, bands of royal- 
 ists, half-organized soldiers, half- voluntary 
 partisans, thousands whom Buonaparte had 
 employed in his extended system of espion- 
 age and commercial regulation ; hundreds, 
 also, of a higher class, selected generally for 
 talent, activity, and lack of principle, who 
 have now lost their various posts, as Mauris, 
 Prefets, Sous- prefets, Gommis, and so forth 
 -—all of whom would find their interest in a 
 civil war. And what will restrain the fac- 
 tious from pushing the crisis to this extremi- 
 ty ? Only a jealous fear of the allies, whose 
 occupation of the fortresses in the north of 
 France will, in that case, prove her best se- 
 curity ; or perhaps the slender chance, that 
 
462 Paul's letters 
 
 the members of the representation may be 
 wise enough to sacrifice their mutual feuds 
 to the general weal, and remember that they 
 are summoned to wage their contest with the 
 arms of courtesy, and not to push political 
 debate into revolutionary frenzy. I leave 
 them, therefore, with a sincere wish that 
 they may not forget, in the vehemence of 
 their internal dissensions, the duty which 
 they owe to a distracted public, which they 
 may at pleasure involve in a civil war by their 
 mutual violence, or save from that dreadful 
 crisis by their temper and moderation. 
 
 You must not expect from me any general 
 view of French mnners, or habits of society ; 
 and it is the less necessary, as you will find 
 ample means of forming your judgment in 
 the very spirited and acute work of Mr John 
 Scott, published during the preceding year. 
 I am inclined to think, that while he has 
 touched the French vices and follies with 
 enough of severity, he may not in some in- 
 stances have done full justice to the gallant, 
 amiable, and lively disposition, by which, in 
 spite of an execrable education, and worse go- 
 vernment, that people are still widely distin- 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 463 
 
 guished from other nations on the continent. 
 But the ingenious author had prescience 
 enough to discover the latent danger of the 
 royal government of 1814, when it was dis- 
 guised and disowned by the members of that 
 government themselves ; nor has he in these 
 affairs omitted an opportunity to plead the 
 cause of freedom, religion, and morality, 
 against that of tyranny, infidelity, and licen- 
 tiousness. I ought also to mention the tra- 
 vels in France in the years 1814-15, the joint 
 production of two young gentlemen, whose 
 taste for literature is hereditary ; and I am 
 informed, that another ingenious friend, (Mr 
 S n of Edinburgh) whose extreme assi- 
 duity in collecting information cannot fail 
 to render his journal interesting, intends to 
 give it to the public. To such works I may 
 safely refer you for an ample description of 
 Paris, its environs, public places, and state 
 of manners. 
 
 I should willingly have endeavoured to 
 form my own views of the state of French 
 society, as well as of their politics ; but the 
 time has been altogether unfavourable, as 
 the persons of fashion in Paris have either 
 
464 Paul's letters 
 
 retired to the country, or live in strict seclu- 
 sion from foreigners, upon principles which 
 it is impossible not to respect. The stran- 
 gers, therefore, who now occupy this capital, 
 form a class altogether distinct from the na- 
 tive inhabitants, and seek for society among 
 each other. It was very different, I am told, 
 upon the former entry of the allied troops, 
 which for some time the Parisians regarded 
 more as a pacification than a conquest. The 
 Russian and Prussian officers were then eager- 
 ly sought after, and caressed by the French 
 nobility; and the allied monarchs, on entering 
 the Parisian theatres, were received with the 
 same honours as in their own. But this is 
 all over. The last cast was too absolute 
 for victory or ruin, and the dye has turned 
 up against France. One class of French- 
 men lament the event of the war as a na- 
 tional misfortune; and even those who have 
 the advantage of it, feel that, in its cause, 
 progress, and conclusion, it will be record- 
 ed as a national disgrace. u You own your- 
 self," said I to a lively French friend, a 
 great anti-imperialist, as he writhed his face 
 
 and shrugged when he passed a foreign offi* 
 10 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 465 
 
 ficer, " you own yourself, that they only 
 treated your countrymen as they have me- 
 rited. " — " Very true — and the man that is 
 hanged has no more than his deserts — but I 
 don't like to look at the hangman." 
 
 Amid this dereliction, you must not sup- 
 pose that we sojourners in Paris sufYer soli- 
 tude for want of good society. The extend- 
 ed hospitality of the Duke of Wellington, 
 and of Lord and Lady Castlereagh, has af- 
 forded rallying points to the numerous Eng- 
 lish strangers, who have an opportunity of 
 meeting, in their parties, with almost all the 
 owners of those distinguished names, which 
 for three years past have rilled the trumpet 
 of fame. Our minister, whose name will be 
 read with distinction in this proud page of 
 our annals, and to whose determined steadi- 
 ness in council much of the success of 1814 
 is unquestionably due, occupies the palace 
 of Pauline Borghese, now that of the British 
 embassy. The Duke of Wellington lives in 
 a large hotel at the corner of the Rue des 
 Champs Elysees, furnished most elaborate- 
 ly by some wealthy courtier of Napoleon. 
 2 o 
 
466 paul's letters 
 
 Among its chief ornaments, is a very fine 
 picture of the ex-emperor, and a most ex- 
 cellent bust of the same personage. It is a 
 thing to remember, that I have seen in that 
 hotel, so ornamented, the greatest and the 
 bravest whom Europe can send forth from 
 Petersburgh to Cadiz, assembled upon the 
 invitation of the British General, and yield- 
 ing to him, by general assent, the palm of 
 military pre-eminence. In mentioning those 
 whose attentions rendered the residence of 
 the British at Paris pleasant and interesting, 
 I ought not to forget Lord Cathcart, whose 
 situation as ambassador to the Russian court 
 gave him opportunities of gratifying the cu- 
 riosity of his countrymen, by presenting 
 them to the emperor, who has of late played 
 such a distinguished part in European his- 
 tory, and by making them known to such 
 men as Barclay deTolli, Piatow, CzernichefF, 
 and other heroes of Kalouga and Beresina, 
 where the spear of the mighty was first bro- 
 ken. Besides the notice of these public cha- 
 racters, my stay in Paris was made happy by 
 the society of many friends, both in the civil 
 
 5 
 
TO HIS KINSFOLK. 46*7 
 
 and military departments. You know my in- 
 herent partiality for the latter class, when they 
 add gentle manners and good information to 
 the character of their profession ; and I can 
 assure you, that as there never was a period 
 when our soldiers were more respected for 
 discipline and bravery, so the character of 
 the British officers for gallantry and huma- 
 nity, for general information, and for the 
 breeding of gentlemen, never stood higher 
 than at the capture of Paris. In such society, 
 whatever secret discontents might in reality 
 exist, Paris was to us like a frozen lake, over 
 whose secret and fathomless gulphs we could 
 glide without danger or apprehension ; and 
 I shall always number the weeks I have 
 spent here among the happiest of my life. 
 
 In a short time, it is imagined, the greater 
 part of the foreign troops will be withdrawn 
 towards their own countries, or the fortress- 
 es they are to occupy in guarantee. It will 
 then be seen whether the good intentions 
 of the king, and the general desire of the 
 country for peace, will be sufficient to main- 
 tain the public tranquil lit}'' of France amid 
 
468 Paul's letters, &c, 
 
 the collision of so many angry passions ; and 
 there will, at the worst, remain this consola- 
 tion, that if this restless people should draw 
 the sword upon each other, effectual precau- 
 tions have been taken by the allies to pre- 
 vent them from again disturbing the peace 
 of Europe. 
 
 With the hope of speedily rejoining the 
 beloved circle round the fire-side, and acting, 
 in virtue of my travelled experience, the re- 
 feree in all political disputes, I am ever your 
 affectionate friend, 
 
 Paul* 
 
 THE END, 
 
 Edinburgh : 
 printed by James BaMantyne & Co. 
 

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