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Class, 1)C, 19? 
 Book ,W .8 
 
ACCOUNT 
 
 OF THS 
 
 STATE OF FRANCE, 
 
 %C. &;C. %C. 
 
ACCOUNT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 STATE OF FRANCE, 
 
 AND ITS 
 
 GOVERNMENT, 
 
 DURING 
 
 THE LAST THREE YEARS j 
 
 PARTICULARLY 
 
 AS IT HAS RELATION TO THE BELGIC 
 PROVINCES, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 TREATMENT OF THE ENGLISH, 
 
 By ISRAEL WORSLEY, 
 
 DETAINED AS A HOSTAGE- 
 
 PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON 
 ST, PAUL'S CHURCHYARD.. 
 
 — ■ ■ ■ ' .* 
 
 1S0G, 
 
£ti 
 
 JOYCE GOLD, PklNTEfi, SHOE-LAttfi, 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ACCOUNT of the author— Englishmen ar- 
 rested — Reasons assigned for their arrest — 
 Ambiguity of the decree — Different ways of 
 executing it^-Account of the author conti- 
 nued 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Author's arrival in the department of Je- 
 mappes, and subsequent treatment — 
 Daughter of Jean de Brie — Author's con- 
 finement in the prison of Mons 5 and march 
 to Verdun — General Rey — Amiable 
 characters of General Wirion and Major 
 Courcelles — Account of Verdun, and 
 
 treatment of the English th ere .... 15 
 
 b 
 
U CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The author's return to Mons, and exertions 
 to maintain his family — Base conduct of 
 
 Mr. C r.— C d's escape, and the 
 
 consequent treatment of his countrymen 
 — Permission obtained to remove to 
 Amiens, and departure for Holland — 
 Arrest on the frontiers, and escape from 
 his guards — Arrival in Holland . „ 27 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Imminent risk of being arrested again — 
 Kindness of the Dutch people — Journey 
 through Holland, and arrival at Embden 
 — ^Reflections on emigration — Sources of 
 the information contained in the follow- 
 ing pages 46 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Men of low birth raised to eminence — Buo- 
 naparte's animosity to the English — 
 Proofs he gave of it— Sufferings of the 
 English in consequence — Of Dr. M.— 
 Of Mr. S. — Account of the depots — • 
 Number of the prisoners — Government 
 allowance to them**,. **»* *»*, »**»»-« 56 
 
CONTENTS. Ill 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Ancient Walloons — Diiferent changes of 
 the government of their country-— Re- 
 sources — Mines — Quarries — Houses — 
 Churches and convents — Produce of the 
 land — Climate- — English merchandise in 
 high estimation — Coals 66 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Revolt of the people at the instigation of 
 the priests — Conduct of. Joseph II — Dis- 
 mantling of the towns, and sale of con- 
 vents — Entire dismantling of the towns 
 by Napoleon — Rattle of Jemappes 76 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Account of the people — Sale of church pro- 
 perty—Satisfaction of the people upon 
 it — State of the country under the em- 
 peror—The towns large and rich — The 
 country poor — Farmers' labourers 85 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Changes brought on by the French revolu- 
 tion — The characters that figured in it — 
 Sufferings of the public creditors -Mi- 
 
IV CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 serable state of the army — Patriotism of 
 the soldiers — Renovation and successes 
 under Buonaparte— A stop put to revo- 
 lutionary measures 95 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Landed property passed into other hands — 
 Destruction of the woods and other trees 
 — Pillage of the public property — Far- 
 mers become proprietors of land, and 
 enrich themselves — Registry of estates 
 and duties on thejn — Towns impoverish- 
 ed — Appearance of the country changed 
 — Beggars — Charity given after confes- 
 sion — Increased price of provisions 103 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Taxes: — On wine, spirits, and beer; — on 
 property, cards, stamps, mortgages;-— 
 on land, windows, and doors; — on ma- 
 nufactured and printed goods ; — on post- 
 ing — Liberty of speech — Account of 
 Buonaparte's privy council — His irrita- 
 bility — Liberty of the press — Newspa- 
 pers — Sudden disappearance of some men 
 in Paris .*. 114 
 
CONTENTS. ▼ 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PAt^E 
 
 Particular account of the conscription — Re- 
 gistry of births and deaths 125 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 General impression in France respecting 
 Buonaparte — His vis/fc to the depart- 
 ments, particularly t* that of Jemappes 
 — His inconsistency with respect to ma- 
 nufactures — Accounts of manufactures 134 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 English manufactured goods in great esteem 
 — Smuggling — Custom-house officers — 
 Treaty of commerce 146 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Legion of honour — Subordination of the 
 army — Account of the leapers — Buona- 
 parte's tactics — Garrison towns — Bar- 
 racks — Quartering in private houses— 
 Punisnments— Galley prisoners — Guil- 
 lotine .,...,„.. 154 
 
Tl CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 State of religion in the low countries — The 
 Protestant — Paiticular account of those 
 in the department of Jemappes — Regu- 
 lation of the Catholic church — Tythes — 
 Hierarchy of Fraice — Appearance of 
 the clergy — Revival of ancient splendour 
 — Altars in the streets 166 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Faith of the Catholics — The Pope's visit to 
 Paris — Processions — St. George and the 
 Dragon — Advantage arising from con- 
 fession—Bishops — Bishop of To u may 187 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Atheism or deism of France — Blind belief 
 of the world at large — Tendency of all 
 parties to the belief in a God — Buona* 
 parte's prudence in re-establishing the 
 ancient worship — Family altars — Wor- 
 ship of images — Bible — Prayers in La- 
 tin—Convents — Charitable institution 195 
 
CONTENTS. Vii 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 State of education— Schools, primary and 
 secondary — Lyceums — Buonaparte's 
 school at Fontainbleau — The Pritanee 
 -—Objects of Study — Old colleges — Uni- 
 versity of Louvain 217 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Amusements of the low countries — Archery 
 — The game of the ball — Dancing — 
 Village festivals — Observance of Sunday 
 — Intoxication — Religious feasts - 226 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 French economy — Vegetable stews and 
 soups — National prejudices — National 
 character of the English — Feeding of 
 Cattle— Economy of fuel ... . 236 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Management in farm-houses — Large gar- 
 dens — Apoplexies and sudden deaths rare 
 —Wolves, foxes — Beer, wines, brandy 
 —Weights and measures — Money .... 245 
 
Till CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Account of the Gendarmerie — Their beha- 
 viour to the English prisoners — Police — 
 Original intention and actual power of 
 that body — Their discipline - 256 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 Eehaufeursj or Warmers 264 
 
ACCOUNT 
 
 Of THE 
 
 STATE OF FRANCE, 
 &• fa. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Account of the Author — Englishmen arrested 
 — Reasons assigned for their Arrest — Am- 
 biguity of the Decree — Different Ways of 
 executing it — Account of the Author con- 
 tinued. 
 
 1 HE writer of the following pages 
 lias lately quitted France, where he 
 had established a school immediately 
 after the revolution. lie had found 
 it necessary, however, to return to 
 England, when the perpetual changes 
 of the French government, and the 
 severe measures of its rulers, threat- 
 
 B 
 
2 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 ened the whole republic with disso- 
 lution. The peace of Amiens fur- 
 nished an opportunity of resuming 
 his interesting employment, in which 
 he had been flattered by the prospect 
 of the most brilliant success, and to 
 which he was again called by the 
 wishes of his former friends and sup- 
 porters. Scarcely, however, had he 
 resumed his station, when the de- 
 cree of Buonaparte respecting the ar- 
 rest of the English was promulgated, 
 and he, with others, became prisoners 
 of the state. As the government 
 had held out every encouragement to 
 houses of education, and in many 
 cases, where the respectability of the 
 teachers justified it, had given out of 
 the national domains, premises suit- 
 able to their purpose, free of rent, it 
 was presumed that an establishment 
 like his would have been rather the 
 object of their care than of their cen- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 3 
 
 sure, and the officer of police scru- 
 pled not to declare, immediately upon 
 his apprehension, that he could by no 
 means consider him as intended by 
 government to be included among the 
 arrested English. The decree was 
 executed by the military, which ex- 
 cited the jealousy of the civil power, 
 and, in other cases, as well as in 
 this, the rising influence of the army 
 created much disorder and many em- 
 barrassments in executing the orders 
 of government. But as a more com- 
 plete idea of these embarrassments 
 will be formed by an enumeration of 
 them, and as the reader will become 
 better acquainted with the treatment 
 of the English in general, from the 
 manner in which individuals were 
 used, it may be advisable to state 
 particularly the scenes through which 
 the author of the ensuing work was 
 rpade to pass from this beginning of 
 B 2 
 
4 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 his sorrows to the moment when he 
 made his escape. 
 
 The arrest of the English began di- 
 rectly after the capture of the French 
 merchant ships by order of the Eng- 
 lish ministry, and without any decla- 
 ration of war. The only reprisal which 
 the grand consul had in his power to 
 make, was the seizure of the persons 
 of the British subjects who were then 
 on the French territory. Without 
 stopping to inquire into the legiti- 
 macy or expediency of the measure, 
 it may be observed, that no law of 
 nations will justify it, no precedent 
 of a civilized nation will warrant it, 
 nor has it found any advocates even 
 amongst the subjects of the emperor. 
 They stigmatize without scruple his 
 conduct as unwise, and condemn it 
 as inhuman. He was undoubtedly 
 urged to it by a spirit of revenge 
 against a power which had acted, as. 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 5 
 
 he thought, unfairly by his subjects, 
 and reeked that revenge upon a set 
 of men who, he presumed, were 
 dear to their country, and perhaps 
 thought, that should the misunder- 
 standing be of a short duration, he 
 could exchange one unlawful sei- 
 zure for another. Such appears to 
 have been the first pretence for 
 their arrest ; afterwards another and 
 very different reason was assigned 
 for this measure. When the descent 
 upon England was seriously intended, 
 and it was supposed that the fury of 
 the English would overcome every 
 other principle, and that all their 
 prisoners would be sacrificed to their 
 indignation, Buonaparte was said to 
 retain the hostages as a security for 
 the lives of his own people, and to 
 have determined upon making the 
 former suffer whatever evils might 
 fall to the lot of the latter. In 
 
O ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 this apprehension, the English in 
 France were, for a considerable time, 
 rendered extremely unhappy; for dear 
 as their own lives were to themselves 
 and families, they could not but hope 
 that every Frenchman who landed in 
 their country might find a grave there, 
 rather than be the means of introduc- 
 ing the confusion and misery that had 
 already followed every where in their 
 train. 
 
 The order for arresting the English, 
 when issued, was not at all understood. 
 It must have been expressed in an am- 
 biguous way, or it could not have been 
 executed so variously by the different 
 constituted authorities. In some places,, 
 all the English indiscriminately were 
 arrested ; in some, all that had entered 
 the country since the peace of Amiens ; 
 and in others, only those who were 
 without a fixed habitation, or osten- 
 sible means of support by their for- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. . 7 
 
 tune or industry. In some towns 
 the men only were arrested; in 
 others, entire families were obliged 
 to go away to the depot. The au- 
 thor was at this time at Dunkirk, 
 where he had gone in order to es- 
 tablish his seminary of learning, a 
 second time, since the peace of Ami- 
 ens; but no sooner had he become 
 the prisoner of the military power, 
 than the police officer interfered, and 
 insisted upon his being set at liberty, 
 because he had resided so long at Dun- 
 kirk before, and was so well known 
 both personally and by the useful es- 
 tablishment which he had formed. Af- 
 ter this the alarm of the English 
 increased every day, and new fears 
 were added to those of the day be- 
 fore. At first a written engagement 
 was given by every individual, that 
 he would not go beyond the walls 
 of the town without the express per- 
 
8 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 mission of the commandant ; but after- 
 wards they began to send them away to 
 Valenciennes. 
 
 The author, upon this, was strongly 
 advised by his friends to quit the coast, 
 before measures more severe were en- 
 forced, and to retire into the interior, 
 where the importance of his school 
 to the place in which he should live 
 might secure every exertion of the 
 magistrates for his protection; for it 
 was presumed, that the orders for the 
 port-towns would be more severe than 
 those of the towns within land. He 
 chose, therefore, Ardres, a small for- 
 titled town, at nearly an equal distance 
 from Dunkirk, Calais, Boulogne, and 
 St. Omar's, peculiarly well situated for 
 a school, on a fine healthy spot, and 
 where provisions were very cheap. 
 
 He hired a large building, a ci -decant 
 abbaye, for the small sum of twelve 
 pounds per annum. In the middle of 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 9 
 
 June, 1803, he removed thither, and 
 had the pleasure to see his numbers 
 increase, notwithstanding the unfa- 
 vourableness of the times and the im- 
 mense losses sustained in the neigh- 
 bouring ports by all the principal mer- 
 chants. Five weeks after, however, he 
 received an order from the gendarmes 
 to quit the place, and repair to Valen- 
 ciennes. This injunction was not ac- 
 companied by an arrest, nor was the 
 day mentioned when he was to set out 
 on his journey. 
 
 His boarders went home , and while 
 preparations were making for his de- 
 parture, a friend happening to be at 
 Calais, met with a letter, which the 
 grand juge (chief justice) had just 
 addressed to the sub-prefet : in this 
 he reprobated, in strong terms, the 
 measures that had been taken in that 
 town, and at Boulogne, against the 
 English settlers j and declared autho- 
 
10 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 ritatively, that it never was the inten- 
 tion of the government to unsettle, 
 or give any disturbance to, those who 
 conducted manufactories, or had form- 
 ed useful establishments in the country. 
 The author was judged to be among 
 the latter of these, and himself received 
 the sanction of the magistrates to re- 
 main where he was, with the assur- 
 ance, that he had now nothing to 
 fear. 
 
 His boarders came back ; some new 
 ones were added ; and once more the 
 wheel was set to work : bat it was not 
 to go long ; for at the end of three 
 weeks, an absolute order came down, 
 that he should leave Ardres in twenty- 
 four hours for Valenciennes. This de- 
 cree being more positive than the other, 
 and addressed to him by name, the 
 gendarmes insisted on the execution 
 of it. 
 
 Mrs. Worsley w r as but imperfectly 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 11 
 
 recovered from a long and alarming 
 illness, and actually in danger of an- 
 other ; herself ignorant of the language, 
 with no servant that could speak it, 
 and her children too young to render 
 her any assistance ; to which it must 
 be added, that she was of a nervous 
 habit, and her family fast increasing. 
 With his affairs in this state, the author 
 was to march away without any pre- 
 paration, and to leave his school as 
 it was ; nor did the magistrates dare to 
 soften, even by a short respite, the ri- 
 gour of the sentence. 
 
 He took proper documents from the 
 mayor and the physician, and went off 
 the same evening for Arras, where the 
 prefet resided, the only person whose 
 authority could then render him any 
 service. He asked the delay of a fort- 
 night, that he might put his affairs 
 into a proper train, and conduct his 
 
12 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 family in some comfort to the place 
 of their destined imprisonment. The 
 prefet granted it without any hesita- 
 tion, and expressed his surprise that 
 the mayor had suffered him to come so 
 far, in order to obtain what the eternal 
 laws of humanity enjoined, " which," 
 he observed, "had always existed, and 
 would always exist, whatever the go- 
 vernors of any country might ordain. " 
 He regretted the necessity he was un- 
 der of refusing to authorize his stay 
 in the department, for he had received 
 from the consul a positive injunction 
 not to suffer an Englishman to remain 
 there. 
 
 The author returned to Ardres, sent 
 home his boarders a second time, and 
 directed the public sale of his effects. 
 A week after a letter came from the 
 gendarmerie, purporting that he was 
 not to be sent away. But after so 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 13 
 
 many disappointments, he did not 
 choose to expose himself to additional 
 evils; having already experienced, that 
 as confidence could not be placed in 
 the stability of his establishment, pa- 
 rents were not willing to put their 
 children under his care. A number 
 of persons were then waiting to see 
 the issue of this embarrassed affair; 
 and he was well assured, by respect- 
 able friends, who interested themselves 
 greatly in his success, because they con- 
 ceived the welfare of the town allied to 
 it, that a considerable number of young 
 persons waited only the assurance of 
 his security, in order to enter his house. 
 lie had the pleasure of knowing that 
 he bad obtained the confidence of the 
 neighbourhood, and only wanted stabi- 
 lity to insure success. He took the 
 advantage, however, of this occurrence 
 in his favour to procure a passport for 
 
14 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 the department of Jemappes, in which 
 a friend resided, from whose influence 
 he hoped to derive some valuable 
 assistance in providing for a numerous 
 family. 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 15 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Author's Arrival in the Department of Jemap- 
 pcS) and subsequent Treatment — Daughter of 
 Jean de Brie — Author's Confinement in the 
 Vrison of Mons, and March to Verdun — Ge- 
 neral Rey — Amiable Characters of General 
 Wirion and Major Courcelles — Account of 
 Verdun^ and Treatment of the English there. 
 
 ABOUT the end of September, the 
 author with his family arrived at 
 Moris, which is situated between Va- 
 lenciennes and Brussels. It is a large 
 well-built town, and was formerly rich. 
 Here he remained three months, un- 
 disturbed, the number of his children 
 was increased, and their mother be* 
 ginning to recover her strength, when, 
 without the smallest previous intima- 
 tion, or any reason being assigned for 
 it, he was arrested, and detained in the 
 custody of a gendarme. 
 
16 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 In a few days some friends were ad-< 
 mitted as sureties for his appearance, 
 and he got rid of his soldier, who had 
 guarded him by night and by day, 
 and whom he was required to feed and 
 pay handsomely for his time. A 
 month elapsed without any news from 
 the Minister. At the end of Decem- 
 ber an order came down, that he should 
 be conveyed away to Verdun, which 
 had then become the receptacle of 
 those Englishmen who had the means 
 of supporting themselves without the 
 assistance of the government. 
 
 During the last months he had be- 
 come acquainted with an excellent 
 woman, a young widow of two and 
 twenty, the daughter of the well known 
 Jean de Brie, whose life was almost 
 miraculously saved, when the other 
 deputies to the congress of Radstadt 
 were murdered by the Austrian troops. 
 The news of his arrest became the 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 17 
 
 common subject of conversation. This 
 lady first heard of it at the theatre in 
 the evening, and endued with too much 
 sensibility to witness a common cala- 
 mity unmoved, one so uncommon and 
 so unmerited as this, excited her indig- 
 nation and her pity to so high a degree, 
 that she was taken seriously ill in her 
 box, and did not for some time over- 
 come the shock. She was one of the 
 richest and most esteemed persons in 
 the town, and without delay set every 
 engine to work for his release. The 
 kindness of this good woman, the 
 constant sisterly attention she paid his 
 wife while he was in captivity, and 
 after his return, and the delicate man- 
 ner in which she made several useful 
 presents to the family, will ever remain 
 deeply engraven on their memories. 
 
 The author had been conducted to 
 the prison of the town, where he re- 
 mained closely confined for three days. 
 c 
 
18 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 He had a miserable bed without fur- 
 niture to lie upon, in a room about 
 six feet square, the window of which 
 still bore marks of the violence of 
 mischievous boys ; and for this indul- 
 gence he paid sufficiently dear. 
 
 On the last day of the year, when 
 the ground was drenched by succes- 
 sive rains, the roads wretchedly bad, 
 and the days at the shortest, he was 
 marched away, accompanied by a gen- 
 darme, to the province of the ancient 
 Champaigne. The most trying scene 
 in which he was called to share was in 
 the prison of Mons. Not allowed to 
 quit it for a moment, to make up a 
 little package for his journey, and bid 
 his family adieu, he was visited by a 
 part of it the evening before his de- 
 parture, in the painful uncertainty of 
 not seeing them again as long as the 
 war should last, or of their being obliged 
 to make a long, expensive, and embar- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 1$ 
 
 rassing journey after him to Verdun, 
 without his assistance and support. 
 On this occasion, for the first time 
 in his life, he found himself com- 
 pletely unmanned ; but the recol- 
 lection of the virtue and force of for* 
 titude soon restored him to himself. 
 His friends also spoke with a confi- 
 dence, on which he feared to rely, 
 of his speedy return. 
 
 " The vine-covered hills and gay 
 regions of France" appeared to him 
 sad and joyless. In five days, by sharp 
 marches, and at the expense of not 
 only the moisture of his joints, but 
 also of the skin of his feet, and, he 
 may also add, of the hair of his head, 
 which afterwards fell thick around 
 him, he arrived at his destined post. 
 During this time friends had been busy 
 to obtain his release. The prefet of 
 the department of Jemappes had sup- 
 ported, with all his influence, an ad- 
 c 2 
 
20 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 dress he had sent up to the minister, 
 in which he was represented as a manu- 
 facturer of considerable utility to the 
 town of Mons, having introduced a 
 new species of industry, employed a 
 considerable number of hands, and be- 
 come essentially serviceable to the poor. 
 This was backed by a gentleman who 
 held a distinguished rank in the office 
 of the minister of the interior, who had 
 been educated in the family of Jean de 
 Brie, and who followed up the business 
 so well, that in a week after the arrest, 
 an order was issued from the bureau of 
 the formidable Berthier for his dis- 
 charge. But he was not so soon to 
 be in the bosom of his family, 
 
 The execution of the order of arrest, 
 and the subsequent measures, seem to 
 have been much more prompt than the 
 minister himself had expected ; for the 
 counter-order was dispatched to Mons, 
 addressed to the general of division, 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 21 
 
 on the presumption that the author was 
 still there. This man, of mean birth and 
 brutal character, forms a perfect con- 
 trast to the worthy female character 
 of whom we have just spoken with 
 delight. The general behaviour of the 
 one to all who came near him dis- 
 played the gall of bitterness that was 
 incorporated in his frame ; none could 
 seek relief from the other, or even know 
 her, without acknowledging that the 
 milk of human kindness seemed to give 
 vigour to all her actions. General Rey 
 had not delayed a moment to distress 
 an innocent family, nor would he 
 moderate that distress in the smallest 
 degree, though wholly in his power, 
 and strongly urged to do so by many 
 respectable persons. And having done 
 thus much, he was equally unsolicitous 
 to remedy the mistake which pro- 
 longed the evil, although he could not 
 have failed to have perceived it. The 
 
22 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 consequence was, that three months 
 had elapsed at his return to Mons, and 
 then he obtained his release only by the 
 exertions of the gentleman in the office 
 of the minister, who, upon applica- 
 tion, found out the error, and had it 
 rectified. During this period he felt 
 strongly what " the sickness of the 
 heart is which arises from hope de- 
 ferred," not imagining the cause of the 
 delay, and fearing that he had been 
 deceived. 
 
 The author ought not to omit in 
 this place the encomiums due to the 
 characters of general Wirion and major 
 Courcelles; the one at the head of the 
 gendarmerie stationed at Verdun, and 
 the other commandant of the town. 
 They never failed to give to the un- 
 fortunate English under their care 
 every indulgence of which a jealous 
 and harsh government would allow. 
 
 When he complained to the major 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 23 
 
 of the unnecessarily severe treat- 
 ment he had met with at Mons, he re- 
 plied, with great mildness and feeling, 
 u I beg you to think nothing of it. 
 The first orders we received about the 
 English were so worded, that they 
 were capable of the most cruel inter- 
 pretation, and our prisoners expected 
 the closest imprisonment, and every 
 species of ill usage ; and wept with joy 
 when they found we were men, and 
 ready to treat them with humanity, 
 and even with indulgence. We think 
 them sufficiently unfortunate in being 
 prisoners, and wish always to be re- 
 garded astheir friends." 
 
 All the English were at large within 
 the town from the first hour of their ar- 
 rival, after having signed a paper which 
 purported that they would not attempt 
 to go without its gates. At Verdun they 
 procured apartments and provisions 
 suitable to their means, and went once 
 
24 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 once a day, between nine and twelve, 
 to tlie^townjhouse, to sign the muster- 
 roll. Those who conducted themselves 
 prudently obtained, under the slightest 
 pretences, a carte desortir, with which 
 they might go out of the town after 
 twelve, and remain in the country till 
 seven in the evening, when an inquiiy 
 was made whether they who had been 
 out were returned. 
 
 Verdun is an ill-built town, the 
 houses small and low, and all the 
 streets, except one, very narrow. In 
 this are many good houses, and it has 
 been distinguished by the name of 
 Bond-street. The people are in general 
 poor, or rather were so when the Eng- 
 lish first became their guests. No doubt 
 they are now enriched, for French- 
 men know how to make a great advan- 
 tage of a small profit. Their extreme 
 frugality and spare diet enable them 
 to make a saving where one of our 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 25 
 
 people would hardly procure the ne- 
 cessaries of life. They appeared to be 
 honest, and did not discover any parti- 
 cular disposition to impose upon the 
 English, who for the most part were 
 unacquainted with the language, and 
 the value of the articles they had occa- 
 sion to buy. This may not be, and 
 probably has not been, true of them 
 all ; there are many Jews in the place, 
 and no doubt some Christians with 
 avaricious dispositions. 
 
 The situation of the town is de- 
 lightful. In the winter the overflow- 
 ing of the Meuse, which passes di- 
 rectly through the town, occasions the 
 greater part of an extensive valley to 
 be covered with water ; but in the 
 summer, when the river is confined 
 within its banks, and its winding 
 course is seen from the neighbouring 
 hills blushing with the fruit of the 
 vine, it is a highly interesting spot 
 
2<5 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 The army of " Great Brunswick's 
 Duke" here partook of a short and 
 treacherous banquet ; for arriving, on 
 their expeditious march to Paris, 
 amongst the vineyards when the grapes 
 were not fully ripe, they filled them- 
 selves with such greediness, and with 
 so little regard to the persons whose 
 property they were devouring, that 
 they were speedily seized with a dy- 
 sentery, and fell like leaves in autumn. 
 
STATE OF FRANCE, 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Author's Return to Mons\ and Exertions 
 to maintain his Family— Base Conduct of 
 Mr. C r. — C d's Escape 3 and the con- 
 sequent Treatment of his Countrymen— Per- 
 mission obtained to remove to Amiens, and 
 Departure for Holland— Arrest on the Fron- 
 tiers, and Escape from his Guai^ds — Arri- 
 val in Holland. 
 
 AT his return to Mons, the author 
 thought it expedient to justify the 
 pretences of his kind advocates with 
 the minister, by becoming really and 
 bona fide a manufacturer. 
 
 Nothing was to be done in the 
 way of education. The little learning 
 required by these descendants of the 
 ancient Walloons, who have at no 
 time been ambitious to be wise, was 
 in the hands of their priests, from 
 whom alone it could become esti- 
 
28 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 mable. He had found a few scho- 
 lars to learn the English language ; 
 these had been of the natives of 
 France, who held almost all the 
 posts of honour and profit in the 
 department. He had been wholly 
 deceived in the reliance he had 
 placed on his friend, through the 
 means of whom he had chosen his 
 residence at Moiis. He began there- 
 fore, independently of any other pro- 
 fession, a manufactory of straw hats, 
 which were then coming into use 
 in France. The English ladies who 
 had visited the country during the 
 short interval of peace, had com- 
 municated a taste for the straw- 
 work to the Belles of France. When 
 he required permission to travel to 
 other departments, and even to the 
 frontiers of the empire, he obtained 
 it with ease of the prefet. But 
 once again his peace was disturbed, 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. £9 
 
 and a worse calamity than the o- 
 thers was likely to befal him from 
 a source to which he had looked 
 for pleasure and friendship. 
 
 While at Verdun he became ac- 
 quainted with a man of the name 
 of C r. He had been an at- 
 torney in England, and is known, 
 it is presumed, at Salisbury, Belle- 
 ricay, and Reading. This man was 
 in a state of mind truly distressing; 
 he was indeed almost distracted. 
 His rolling eyes and wandering air 
 discovered to all who saw him some- 
 thing wrong in his intellect; and 
 yet at times he was a pleasant en- 
 tertaining companion. We naturally 
 attach ourselves to the partners of 
 our affliction, and cannot help feel- 
 ing a more than common sympa- 
 thy, when the evil lies heavier on 
 them than it does on ourselves. 
 
SO ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 The author became useful to him 
 by necessity. 
 
 This gentleman could not speak 
 French ; he was consuming away 
 by his own sadness, and had no 
 friend in whose society he could 
 find relief. By the advice, and in- 
 deed at the suggestion of the secre- 
 tary of General Wirion, the author 
 
 petitioned the minister that C — r 
 
 might accompany him to Mans. 
 In this application they were assisted 
 by the general and the physician, 
 who were distressed to see a man 
 dying of ennui under their superin- 
 tendance : a disease which appears 
 to them the more terrible, as it is 
 not frequently seen in their land. 
 Humanity seems to have crept some- 
 times into the councils of the French 
 directors. Though their general mea- 
 sures, which originated with Buona- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 31 
 
 parte, were cruel, many instances oc- 
 curred of individuals being indulged 
 who were afflicted either in mind 
 or in body. Mr. C — — r came to 
 Mons, and with him a woman sup- 
 posed to be his wife, with a child 
 at the breast. 
 
 A very short time discovered that 
 this lady had been mistress to a 
 younger branch of an eminent Jew- 
 ish family in London, and had served 
 
 as travelling companion to Mr. C r, 
 
 who, to enjoy more completely the 
 luxury of youth and beauty, had 
 left a family unprovided for in his 
 native country. This discovery, to- 
 gether with some keen and well- 
 supported battles, between Mr. C — — r 
 and the lady, which made it necessary 
 even for the police to interfere, deter- 
 mined the author upon giving up wholly 
 his acquaintance. It is a little remark- 
 able, that though a prisoner of war him- 
 
32 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 self, (for so he was still considered), 
 this man was placed under his respon- 
 sibility. It was therefore necessary 
 that he should declare to the munici- 
 pality that he would be no longer an- 
 swerable in any respect for the beha- 
 viour of Mr. C r. 
 
 This was, nevertheless, managed in 
 such a w r ay that no inconvenience 
 might arise to him in consequence 
 of it. He was, however, much ir- 
 ritated against the author for break- 
 ing off the acquaintance, and nou- 
 rished a revenge, which he had no 
 opportunity of manifesting, till the 
 indiscreet letter of an English gen- 
 tleman, addressed to the minister af- 
 ter a breach of his word of honour 
 given under circumstances of pecu- 
 liar indulgence, occasioned a govern- 
 ment order, that all those English- 
 men wlio enjoyed any privilege as 
 to the place of their residence, in 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 33 
 
 consequence of illness or infirmity, 
 should be sent back again to Ver- 
 dun. Mr. C was suddenly or- 
 dered to return, and no reason as- 
 signed for it. The escape of the 
 above-mentioned gentleman was not 
 publicly known, and he supposed 
 that the author had written to the 
 minister about him, and occasioned 
 the order for his new arrest : he 
 therefore denounced him to the ge- 
 neral as having proposed to assist 
 him in his escape into Germany 
 for the sum of fifty pounds, to 
 which proposal he had honourably 
 refused to accede. The charge was 
 without the slightest foundation, but 
 now he was regarded as a guilty 
 man, and must inevitably have suf- 
 fered the heavy vengeance of the 
 minister, if an officer of engineers, 
 an excellent and amiable man, who 
 was a friend on all occasions, and 
 
 D 
 
l)4i ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 he may almost say at his command, 
 had not overheard a private conver- 
 sation which contradicted pointedly 
 what had been laid to his charge. 
 This he reported to the general and 
 the prefet, and prevailed upon them 
 to destroy the letters which had ac- 
 tually been written and would an 
 hour later have been sent off to 
 Paris. The unprincipled C — was sent 
 away the next morning, and the au- 
 thor allowed to pursue his little en- 
 gagements at Mons. But he could 
 never wholly regain the good opi- 
 nion of the rulers, nor convince 
 them of his innocence. His situa- 
 tion was a revolutionary one, in 
 which an intimation was equal to a 
 charge; and a man, from whatever 
 cause, who is viewed with an eye 
 of malevolence, may lose his liberty 
 or his head at the suggestion of a 
 rogue. It 15 enough that he be of 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 35 
 
 the suspected party, for him not 
 to deserve or obtain a hearing, and 
 not to be believed though he be 
 heard. 
 
 About this time he had applied 
 to the minister for permission to re- 
 move to Paris. He had seen that 
 nothing could be done to any 
 good purpose at Mons, either as a 
 teacher or a manufacturer, while Pa- 
 ris would have furnished sufficient 
 resources for either. The answer 
 returned was, that the request could 
 not be complied with at that mo- 
 ment. He then asked leave to set- 
 tle at Amiens ; and having obtained 
 it, he made a journey to that city, 
 in order to make the necessary ar- 
 rangements for the removal of the 
 family. 
 
 Here he found an army of twenty 
 thousand men; and no house nor even 
 apartments that were unoccupied* He 
 d 2 
 
36 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 was therefore obliged to remain at 
 Mons a little longer, and took as 
 lie supposed every precaution for 
 his safety, by informing the magis- 
 trates, under whose care he was 
 placed, of the circumstance. As 
 they were satisfied, he had no rea- 
 son to suppose he had done wrong, 
 or had neglected to do all that 
 was right : but the general soon 
 convinced him of his mistake, by 
 ordering him again under arrest, 
 and forbidding him to go / 0ttt of 
 the town under pain of immediate 
 and close imprisonment. 
 
 Previously to this he had changed 
 his design of going to Amiens for that 
 of returning to England, having dis- 
 covered that an escape might be prac- 
 ticable, and had become necessary to 
 the support of his family. He resolved 
 to make use of the pretence of the one 
 in order to bring the other to bear the 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 37 
 
 more conveniently. But he was shack- 
 led with the parole which he had given, 
 and in consequence of which he had en- 
 joyed a certain degree of liberty. The 
 last arrest, and the prohibition to quit 
 the town, came at a seasonable moment 
 to release him from every engagement. 
 
 Having sent off his family in an open 
 chaise under the care of a person who 
 knew the country well, and who avoid- 
 ed the places in which danger might 
 be feared, he finished as nearly as he 
 could what remained of his affairs, and 
 trusted the secret of his real designs to 
 only one person. Quitting the town 
 towards the close of day, he travelled 
 without interruption tillhe arrived with- 
 in two leagues of the Dutch republic. 
 
 He knew no fear but that of tailing 
 into the hands of the gendarmes, who 
 probably would have demanded his 
 passport, and if so, would certainly 
 have conducted him back. Speaking 
 
38 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 French perfectly well, lie was not a sus- 
 pected person, and could pass among 
 that people as a native of France. He 
 went in to sleep at a public house on 
 the road side, where he could not sup- 
 pose any evil would befal him, propo- 
 sing to walk the remaining short dis- 
 tance at an early hour the next morn- 
 ing. While supping, he was alarmed 
 with the intelligence that a gendarme 
 lived at the next door, and usually 
 came in to drink his pint where he then 
 was, and that he was actually engaged 
 with a comrade who was to sleep there 
 that night, and might perhaps come in 
 late. 
 
 He requested to have a chamber to 
 himself, went early to bed, and start- 
 ed again as soon as it was light. Every 
 thing promised kindly, and only one 
 more house was to be passed, when, to 
 his great surprise and vexation, he was 
 stopped by an officer of the customs. 
 
STATE OF FItAXCE. 39 
 
 who asked who he was, and whether 
 he was bearer of a passport. A more 
 particular examination ensued, he was 
 betrayed by his papers, and ordered to 
 be secured. 
 
 The officers searched him with the 
 strictest care, examined even Ins hat, 
 and the stuffing of his handkerchief, 
 took off his boots, and emptied his poc- 
 kets. Unfortunately they found the 
 little wreck of his property, and the 
 produce of the sale of his effects, which 
 being in louis, they declared to be for- 
 feited, by virtue of a law, which pro- 
 hibits the exportation of the coin of the 
 realm. He was conducted before a 
 justice of peace, who ordered him to 
 be conducted back to Mons, by the 
 gendarmerie, and who refused to re- 
 store a single louis, to defray his ex- 
 penses on the road, although it was 
 well known that he had but little sil- 
 
40 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 ver, and what was acknowledged not 
 to be sufficient for necessary purposes. 
 He was guarded by two men, the 
 one armed with a cutlass, the other 
 with a loaded musket, to -the place 
 where he had slept the night before. 
 There a disagreement arose between 
 them and the gendarme; and, though 
 much against their inclinations, they 
 were under the necessity of remaining 
 with him all night. They went there- 
 fore to a public house together, where 
 they partook of an indifferent supper. 
 In the course of conversation, he had 
 gained the good opinion of his guards, 
 who supposed that his family was still 
 at Mons, and that he intended to pe- 
 tition the government for the restora- 
 tion of his money; for he had pleaded 
 before the justice, upon the authority 
 of the grand juge, that being a pri- 
 soner of the state, they had no right 
 
STATE^OF FRANCE. 41 
 
 to take from him any thing about his 
 person by any law of the realm what- 
 ever; and the justice had, in conse- 
 quence of that, refused to confirm the 
 act of its condemnation, referring the 
 question to a higher authority. 
 
 One of his guards was extremely fa- 
 tigued and sleepy, the other loved his 
 pipe, and enjoyed it best in the open 
 air. A moment favourable to decamp- 
 ment very unexpectedly presented it- 
 self, he made his escape out of a back 
 door, ran across the garden, and aided 
 by the obscurity of the night, was soon 
 out of the reach of discovery. 
 
 Once quit of his company, he wished 
 not to rejoin it, and ran, or walked, 
 leaped, tumbled, and sweated for three 
 hours without resting, till he began 
 to fear that by the perpetual windings 
 he had made in a country partly cul- 
 tivated and partly barren, he might 
 luive gone back into France, instead 
 
42 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 of having got into Holland. He was 
 the more confirmed in this apprehen- 
 sion by not being able to discover some 
 striking objects which he had noticed 
 the day before. With his clothes soak- 
 ed in the moisture of his body he stop- 
 ped under a shed near a small house. 
 He sat down there and lost himself for 
 a few minutes in sleep. When he 
 awoke every nerve was in motion, and 
 he felt an extreme coldness succeed to 
 the heat. He got up, and endeavoured 
 by exert ions to regain his warmth, and 
 in about an hour knocked at the door 
 of the cottage, and told the country- 
 man he had lost his way. This man 
 could speak nothing but the jargon of 
 the country, which is a compound of 
 Dutch, Flemish, and bad French; he 
 got up, however, dressed himself, and 
 conducted the author to a farmer, 
 whose language was perfectly intelli- 
 gible. 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 43 
 
 Upon inquiry where he was, great 
 indeed was his surprise and disappoint- 
 ment to learn, that he was within two 
 fields of the spot from which he had 
 started, and within sight of the gen- 
 darme's house. He told the farmer, 
 that if he would conduct him into 
 Holland he would pay him for his trou- 
 hie, and added, , that he must not, on 
 any consideration, meet with the offi- 
 cers of the customs. The farmer un- 
 derstood by this that he was a smug- 
 gler, and assured him he had nothing 
 to fear. He got some breakfast with 
 this good man, warmed himself well 
 by his fire, put on a blue smock-frock, 
 and away they posted across the heath, 
 his heart palpitating, and his eyes turn- 
 ing from side to side at every step. 
 
 This heath country, which liespartly 
 in France and partly in Holland, is much 
 frequented by smugglers, who convey 
 large quantities of English merchan- 
 
44 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 dize into France upon their backs ; and 
 in order to catch these men, the offi- 
 cers are stationed pretty thick, some* 
 times in one place, and sometimes in 
 another. They conceal themselves in 
 the holes, and often have dogs to give 
 the alarm of any thing in motion. As 
 the officers had seen the author the 
 day before at their office, it would have 
 been destruction to all his hopes to 
 have met any one of them. But they 
 arrived safe on the frontier in a cou- 
 ple of long and anxious hours. It was 
 distinguishable by a rivulet over which 
 they were to leap. The reader will be- 
 lieve that this was not too wide, nor 
 that ever a leap furnished an adven- 
 turer more real satisfaction ; for the 
 Frenchmen had said the day before, 
 that they dared not touch any one on 
 Dutch ground, without an express au- 
 thority from the mayor of the com- 
 mune. Here the author parted with 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 45 
 
 his guide,, after having returned him 
 his frock, and paid him the price of 
 his service, and made away for Lo- 
 mond, the first village in Holland. 
 
46 ACCOUNT OF TH£ 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Imminent Risk of being arrested again. Kind* 
 ness of the Dutch People. Journey through 
 Holland, and Arrival at Embden*>-Rejlec* 
 tions on Emigration — Sources of the Infor- 
 mation contained in tlie following pages. 
 
 1 HE author stopped longer at Lomond 
 than he intended, because the person to 
 whom he was recommended by his 
 guide was not at home, and it was ne- 
 cessary he should procure information 
 of the route he ought to pursue. He 
 went on by his advice to another person. 
 When he entered the house, the Dutch- 
 man looked at him with a curiosity 
 that he did not like, because it seemed 
 to betoken no good. After inquiring 
 his way to Breda, the Dutchman said, 
 " There was an Englishman stopped 
 two days ago at Holvenne, from whom 
 they took a good deal of money, and 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 47 
 
 he has got away again : I thought it 
 might be you." — " Oh, no!" replied 
 the author, " I am a Frenchman." — 
 " Well," said the Dutchman, " I men- 
 tioned it with a view to serve you, if 
 you were the person, for the gendarmes 
 are now in the village, and have asked 
 leave of the mayor to search through 
 it, and they have traced him over the 
 sands by the print of his boots. 
 
 The authors agitation may easily be 
 conceived when he thought himself 
 likely once more to fall into the hands 
 of his enemies, and of the risk he had 
 actually run, for he had passed a few 
 minutes before in front of the house 
 where they then were, and one of them 
 was the man to whom he had been 
 presented the evening before. He 
 thought truth would serve him better 
 than falsehood : he declared that he 
 was the man, and begged for his 
 friendly assistance. 
 
48 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 The Dutchman used every assurance 
 to restore tranquility to his mind, con- 
 veyed him away into a private place 
 where he could not be discovered, 
 and sent him victuals and drink. 
 While in this retreat, the mayor came 
 Math a long pipe in his mouth to greet 
 him, to congratulate him on his escape, 
 and feelingly to lament the loss of his 
 money. He told him the gendarmes 
 were gone, and assured him, upon 
 his word, that if they returned and 
 found him, he would not allow 7 them 
 to make him their prisoner. He added, 
 that the author had great merit in 
 their eyes, because he had been too 
 deep for the Frenchmen, and that he 
 might command every assistance they 
 could give. He spent the evening 
 with these excellent people, and the 
 next morning the father of his good 
 cl friend in need" set off with him for 
 Bois le Due. He refused to take any 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 49 
 
 money for the entertainment he had 
 received at his house, and put him into 
 the bark; which conveyed him the 
 same day to Rotterdam. 
 
 Here he found his family, who had 
 not doubted that some evil had befal- 
 len him, because he had delayed his 
 coming. Packets were at this time 
 sailing every week for London, and 
 one was going off the next day. The 
 greater part of the French troops had 
 quitted the country, and the guards 
 were every where Dutch. But the 
 French commissioners at Rotterdam 
 were very scrupulous about the pas- 
 sengers that went off in the packets; 
 and it would have been to expose him- 
 self to great danger to attempt em- 
 barking from thence. The commis- 
 sioners might indeed have been bought 
 over, as they frequently were, making, 
 by this mean, their post a lucrative one ; 
 but their countrymen at the custom 
 
 E 
 
50 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 house had previously secured the cash, 
 and the packets were very extravagant 
 in their charges. 
 
 Without losing any time, therefore, 
 the family set off for Amsterdam, 
 where the author found many respect- 
 able sympathising friends belonging to 
 the church in which he had officiated 
 fourteen years before. They not only 
 felt for his misfortunes, and partook 
 in his joy, but offered him pecuniary 
 assistance, and procured him a Prussian 
 passport With this they went for- 
 ward through Groningen to Delfzil r 
 the only place where any interruption 
 was apprehended. The Prussian pass- 
 port being exhibited, every obstacle 
 vanished ; and after three hours' sailing 
 they arrived safe at Embden, which the 
 sagacity of Frederick the Great has 
 rendered a safe retreat for the subjects 
 of every government. Here the author 
 enjoyed a tranquility of mind to which 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 51 
 
 he had been for almost three years a 
 stranger. He felt himself nearly at 
 home, and in effect was so, after a pas- 
 sage of four days, two of which were 
 passed on the river Ems. They landed 
 at Gravesend, himself, his wife, four 
 children, and a servant, after a voyage 
 undertaken perhaps with some degree 
 of rashness, conducted with danger and 
 in fear, and finished exactly with the 
 contents of their purse. 
 
 From the slow methods of travelling 
 across Holland, and unavoidable de- 
 lays, a month was taken up in their 
 passage from the gates of Mons to the 
 alien office in Gravesend. To the 
 friends he left behind in his native 
 country, he owes a large tribute of 
 thanks, who -prevented his experienc- 
 ing similar distresses to those which 
 he saw many of his countrymen endure 
 at Valenciennes and Verdun. For un- 
 der such an uninterrupted instability 
 e 2 
 
52 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 of affairs, and such frequent changes, 
 it must be supposed that he not only 
 could not provide, by his industry, 
 what was necessary for his family , but 
 that he must spend at a rapid rate. 
 
 Such is the history of his wrongs, 
 sustained from a government in which 
 there once seemed reason to place a 
 confidence, but whicli has been actu- 
 ated by a principle of which even the 
 despotic Sultan might be ashamed. Let 
 his countrymen take warning by the 
 foregoing lesson, and recollect, that al- 
 though they must consent to some pri- 
 vations in order to support the govern- 
 ment that protects them, these are less 
 grievous than the risks to which emi- 
 gration gives birth, and that they can- 
 not calculate upon the consequences 
 of unsettling a family that have the 
 means of support by their industry. 
 
 The circumstances in which the au- 
 thor was by necessity placed, obliged 
 
STATE OF FRANCE* 53 
 
 him to .travel a good deal about the 
 country. He usually went on foot or 
 in the public diligences, and sought 
 every occasion on the road of obtain- 
 ing a knowledge of the real feelings 
 and sentiments of the people. Hence 
 originated the account of the manners 
 and customs of the inhabitants, which 
 is contained in the following pages. 
 It will be found, in some places, to 
 enter into the minutiae of family life. 
 It is from these, and perhaps from 
 these alone, that a just idea of the 
 true situation and actual happiness of 
 a people is to be gathered. 
 
 We learn little of the state of a 
 nation from the higher circles of a me- 
 tropolis, and none at all of it from the 
 pomp and splendour of a court. The 
 farmer's table, and the creditable trades- 
 man's fireside, in a country town, pre- 
 sent a more faithful picture of the 
 resources and condition of the mass of 
 
54* ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 the people. It is these we shall have 
 occasion to visit, and from them we shall 
 hear the unreserved and unvarnished 
 tale of their attachment to their go- 
 vernment, or disapprobation of its 
 measures ; of their regard to their 
 church, or indifference to its ceremo- 
 nies ; of their esteem for its priests, or 
 their contempt of their office ; of the 
 advancement or decrease of their do- 
 mestic happiness, and of the progress 
 of those arts and sciences which are 
 essential to the comfort of the middling 
 and lower orders of society, 
 
 The English have had but little op- 
 portunity of knowing the actual state 
 of France since the Revolution. They 
 have been excluded the country, or 
 shut up in prisons, or within the walls 
 of fortified towns, where, associating 
 chiefly among themselves, they have 
 heard little more than bitter complaints 
 and seen scarcely any thing but una- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 55 
 
 vailing tears. The scenes of distress in 
 which they have partaken, have been 
 what the sympathizing mind may well 
 imagine; but so numerous, and so vari- 
 ous, that it is impossible to be very 
 particular in recording them. From 
 what has been related respecting the 
 author, may be drawn a general view 
 of the sufferings of others. 
 
56 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Men of lozo Birth raised to Eminence — Buona- 
 parte's Animosity to the English — Proofs he 
 gave of it — Sufferings of the English in con- 
 sequence -Of Dr. M. — Of Mr. S. — Account 
 of the Depots — Number of the Prisoners — 
 Government Allowance to therm 
 
 mOST of the public authorities in 
 France have been raised to their high 
 stations by the convulsions of the re- 
 volution. And as we find to be the 
 case in the convulsions of the natural 
 world, those objects are often found 
 upon elevated spots, which were form- 
 ed to move in a lower sphere. Raised 
 above the atmosphere in which: they 
 were destined to breathe, their power 
 of action is suppressed, and they be- 
 come useless or dangerous. This 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 57 
 
 observation may not be untrue of 
 the present order of rich men in 
 France, but applies more immedi- 
 ately to the military authorities now 
 existing there. They look for further 
 advancement to the supreme head, who 
 is regulated in the promotion of his 
 officers by nothing but his own incli- 
 nation. They are therefore induced 
 to put his decrees into execution in 
 whatever way they apprehend will be 
 the most acceptable to the emperor. 
 Some of them thought they could not 
 be too prompt or too severe In the 
 execution of that against the English, 
 because, on many occasions, Buonaparte 
 showed so marked an animosity to the 
 English name. On his visits to some of 
 the towns, at the breaking out of the 
 war, he asked, with an evident anxiety, 
 " how many Englishmen were in the 
 place?" and when informed of their 
 number replied, "there were so many 
 
58 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 too many. " He refused to enter one 
 town till the English that were in 
 it were sent away, and immediately 
 displaced the mayor of another, who 
 could ndt inform him how many of 
 our countrymen it contained. 
 
 In the department of the Pas de Ca- 
 lais he laid a positive injunction on the 
 prefet, not to suffer a single Englishman 
 to remain there.The event of such rigour 
 was, that occupations and institutions 
 were overset, and men who for twen- 
 ty and even forty years had maintain- 
 ed a respectable and useful character 
 in the country, were arrested, taken to 
 prison, obliged to sell their effects, 
 without any preparation for a sale, 
 and themselves conveyed from brigade 
 to brigade, lodged in the public pri- 
 sons, as they went along, and sub- 
 jected to imposition, and sometimes 
 to pillage. 
 
 Amongst others who suffered this 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 59 
 
 cruel treatment at Calais was a physi- 
 cian who had introduced the vaccine 
 inoculation into France. He was then 
 a prey to a lingering disease, under 
 which he had long laboured; but nei- 
 ther the services he had rendered to 
 the country, nor his own personal cha- 
 racter, which stood the highest possi- 
 ble in the public esteem, nor the mi- 
 serable state he was in, prevented his 
 being also moved away. In this state 
 of infirmity he was put into a coach, 
 but could not 2*0 bevond the Basse- 
 ville, where humanity, or perhaps ne- 
 cessity, stopped his march, and he 
 remained under the inspection of a 
 soldier. The indignation of a people 
 who have been generally signalized by 
 their civility to strangers, was roused 
 at this treatment, and a representation 
 being made to the grand juge (chief 
 justice), to whom all cases are referred 
 that require an explanation either of 
 
60 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 the decrees of the emperor or laws of 
 the state, he wrote the very pointed 
 letter to the sub-prefet, of which we 
 have already had occasion to take no- 
 tice. Dr. M was accordingly set 
 
 at liberty. 
 
 A relaxation in the persecution of 
 the English was the effect of this de- 
 cision; but it was of no avail to those 
 who had already suffered the loss of 
 their all, and had been placed in the 
 depot. For when once made prisoners, 
 there were but few instances occurred 
 of their being released. It is easy to 
 execute an equivocal order, but not so 
 easy for a proud mind to confess it has 
 been wrong, or to undo what it has 
 done to effect the misery of mankind. 
 Nor does it appear that this decision 
 was of any effectual lasting service. 
 The persecution was renewed at differ- 
 ent periods, and in different places, 
 from no known motive, but the dis- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 6l 
 
 position of the commanding officer, or 
 the express order of the minister, or 
 perhaps the capricious will of the chief 
 vaguely expressed and indifferently un- 
 derstood. 
 
 While some few were screened by 
 the favor of a general or commander, 
 others fell the sacrifice of private re- 
 venge. A striking instance of this 
 
 occurred at St. Omers : Mr. S was 
 
 educated in France; he had resided 
 there from the ao*e of fourteen to that 
 of thirty. He had purchased very large- 
 ly of the national estates and in the 
 funds, and the greater part of his pro- 
 perty was in the country. He was 
 then engaged in beautifying his noble 
 mansion near that city. Amongst o- 
 thers, he had purchased a large estate 
 belonging to a nobleman who had emi- 
 grated, but whose name had been erased 
 from the list, and who had himself been 
 allowed to return. He was the inti- 
 
62 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 mate friend of the sub-prefet, and this 
 gentleman interested himself greatly 
 to persuade Mr. S. to restore the noble- 
 man's estate at a small advance upon 
 the price he had paid for it. This Mr. 
 S. was not willing to do, and the sub- 
 prefet, in revenge, ordered a gendarme 
 to arrest him and conduct him to Va- 
 lenciennes; nor was it till after many 
 months that he obtained permission to 
 return to the enjoyment of his property. 
 It was long before the arrestations 
 were at an end. Eight months after 
 the first order, some of those who had 
 lived a considerable time at Dieppe, 
 arrived at Verdun. To what has been 
 already said of their treatment in 
 the depots we need only add, that 
 those who attempted to escape, but 
 did not succeed, were more closely 
 confined in the small fortress of Bitche, 
 or in some narrow insulated prison 
 within the sight of their countrymen. 
 
STATE OF FRANCE., 65 
 
 in order to strike a terror into the rest. 
 At the beginning of the war, Fontain- 
 bleau and Valenciennes were chosen to 
 receive the hostages. At the former 
 were placed those who were arrested 
 at Paris and on its western side, and at 
 the latter those avIio were taken in the 
 northern departments indiscriminately. 
 The prisoners at Fontainbleau were af- 
 terwards removed to Verdun, with 
 those who were the most respectable 
 at Valenciennes ; and the poor sailors, 
 and other unfortunate persons who 
 could not maintain themselves, to the 
 citadel in Valenciennes. It has been 
 said, that since the breaking out of the 
 war with Austria all of them have been 
 removed back to Valenciennes, it be- 
 ing thought that Verdun was too much 
 in the road of the king of Prussia, or 
 the other powers of the north. The 
 sailors in the citadel of Valenciennes 
 had the liberty of going out into the 
 
64 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 town every day to work, and a con- 
 siderable number of them were always 
 to be seen on the market place after 
 their roll-call, in waiting for persons 
 that would hire them; A few respect- 
 able families were allowed to remain 
 the whole time at Valenciennes ; a- 
 mongst the number was Lord Barring- 
 ton, who has distinguished himself by 
 his humanity ; for he has been lavish 
 even to profusion in his charities to 
 the poor, and has done incalculable 
 good to the distressed. For a consi- 
 derable time he distributed money 
 daily to a number of pensioners ; and 
 we believe it may be said, that no one 
 in want ever applied to him in vain. 
 In the summer of this year, 1805, 
 there were about seven hundred at Ver- 
 dun, nearly as many at Valenciennes, 
 a thousand at Givet, and about that 
 number at another place. The go- 
 vernment allowance was a pound and 
 
STATE OF FRAXCE. 65 
 
 a half of ammunition bread per day, 
 which is a compound of wheat and rye, 
 the common bread of the country, 
 sweet and nourishing, when well made: 
 but as contractors too often flourish at 
 the expense of the miserable wretches 
 they are to feed in that country as well 
 as in this, the intention of government 
 is not always fulfilled, and they some- 
 times eat what is fit only for the cat- 
 tle. They have also an allowance of 
 three pounds of beef per week, which 
 is sometimes fat and good, but it not 
 unfrequently resembles the worst meat 
 that is brought to Smithfield market, 
 and which is sometimes purchased for 
 similar purposes. 
 
66 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 'Ancient Walloons— Different Changes of the 
 Government of their Country — Resources — 
 Mines — Quarries — Houses — Churches and 
 Convents— Produce of the Land — Glimate— 
 English Merchandize in high Estimation — ■ 
 Coals. 
 
 1 HE descendants of the ancient Wal- 
 loons, the inhabitants of Haiuault, now 
 the department of iemmappes and its 
 vicinity, partake of the character and 
 dispositions of the French and the Fle- 
 mish people. Not so light and fickle as 
 the one, though equally attached to 
 dancing, and other amusements ; nor 
 so cold and formal as the other, yet pur- 
 suing, in many of their manners and 
 diversions, the same habits of life. 
 They are the offspring of one of the 
 detachments of the Saxon people, who 
 quitting their country at an early pe- 
 riod in search of adventures, estab- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 67 
 
 lished themselves in many different 
 parts of Europe. Their language has 
 been in a great measure lost for some 
 centuries. From their vicinity to 
 France, and by becoming a province 
 of that Monarchy, they fell into the 
 use of the French language, which has, 
 since been universally spoken among 
 them. Some of the country people 
 still retain a mixture of their ancient 
 dialect, and talk a language that is 
 not intelligible to everv Frenchman ; 
 besides which, they have a twang in 
 their manner of speaking, by which 
 they are known to belong to the neigh- 
 bourhood of Mons. At all periods of 
 their history they have been a discon- 
 tented and rebellious race. Unable 
 of themselves to maintain an indepen- 
 dency, yet seldom satisfied for any 
 length of time with one master, they 
 have been ready and solicitous to enlist 
 under another chief. Situated in the 
 f 2 
 
68 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 neighbourhood of so many powers, 
 and possessing considerable resources 
 within themselves, others have been 
 tempted to invade them and make 
 their country the theatre of war. 
 
 Here are coal-mines in abundance; 
 and, as is usually the case, iron ore in 
 their vicinity ; stone quarries of differ- 
 ent kinds, but all of them useful; and 
 marble of an inferior quality. They 
 have also an excellent lime-stone, be- 
 sides chalk and good brick earth. 
 With these advantages for building, it 
 may be supposed that their towns are 
 well built, and that their houses are 
 strong and durable. They really are 
 so; and the appearance of the towns in 
 this department, and of the Nether- 
 lands in general, is truly pleasing to 
 the eye. The houses are high, and 
 covered chiefly with slate; the rooms 
 are lofty, and the ceilings are finished 
 with a peculiar degree of elegance. 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 69 
 
 The work is strong, and a large quan- 
 tity of materials is put into the build- 
 ings ; but after all, they have nothing 
 in them of what we call comfort ; no- 
 thins: of that finish that serves for a 
 sweetener to the substantial good things 
 with which the Creator has furnished 
 us, but which must itself come from 
 human ingenuity and industry. It is 
 a striking part of the French at large, 
 that they cannot express in their lan- 
 guage the idea of comforts of life. 
 Perhaps as the thing is unknown to 
 them, they do not require the name. 
 There is elegance in the houses of the 
 great, there is magnificence ; but un- 
 der the roofs of the other classes of 
 men, there are not the neatness and 
 satisfaction even of an English cottage. 
 We have a thousand little accommo- 
 dations in our dwellings, which are 
 united onlv in our island, and which 
 
70 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 give a high relish to the greater bles- 
 sings of life. 
 
 The churches in Flanders are large 
 and handsome, many of them of ele- 
 gant workmanship. The quantity of 
 iron, lead, timber, and hewn stones 
 which they contained, presented a 
 temptation that could not be resisted 
 in the time of republican anarchy ; and, 
 in consequence, a very considerable 
 number even of the parish churches 
 were pulled to pieces, or wholly thrown 
 down for the sake of these materials. 
 The convents and churches were a 
 richer prey to the levellers in Flanders 
 than in France, where they either 
 have not had materials for building in 
 such abundance, or the enthusiasm of 
 the people has not led them to erect 
 so many stupendous edifices to the 
 name of their saints. One cannot now 
 pass through this country without feel- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. l\ 
 
 ing a painful impression at the sight 
 of the ruins of ancient monuments so 
 lately the pride of the people : for, 
 however we may condemn the super- 
 stition that raised them, we must be- 
 hold with a high satisfaction such mag- 
 nificent works ; and the pious mind 
 may reflect with pleasure, that man 
 has raised them to the honour of that 
 God from whom he has received all. 
 
 The land of Jemmappes is in as high 
 a state of cultivation as the nature of 
 the country will allow. Their farmers, 
 though not equal to the Flemish far- 
 mers in wealth and consequence, are not 
 behind them in agricultural science 
 and industry. Their ground is co- 
 vered with fine crops of corn, and 
 they grow a large quantity of flax and 
 hemp and other seeds, for the extract- 
 ing of oils. 
 
 The climate resembles that of Eng- 
 
72 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 land. It has been said that the perpe- 
 tual variations to which we are sub- 
 ject, are owing to our insular situa- 
 tion, and to our being exposed to the 
 winds that come over the sea to us in 
 every direction. It appears, however, 
 that the continent in the same lati- 
 tude is subject to similar varieties. 
 A residence of two entire years, and 
 the testimony of the inhabitants as to 
 prior seasons, have fully convinced the 
 writer that they experience the same 
 fluctuation of weather as we do, and 
 that sometimes the four seasons seem 
 to visit them within the space of 
 twenty-four hours. The winters are 
 of the same severity as they are here, 
 and the summers seem to have been 
 of late equally unwilling to begin. 
 This year (1805) particularly, which 
 has been distinguished through the 
 summer months by a singularly unpro- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 73 
 
 mising appearance, has produced with 
 them, as with us, the most abundant 
 crops, and the finest samples of corn. 
 
 The people of the towns have a com- 
 mercial spirit, and have always car- 
 ried on a considerable trade with Eng- 
 land, which is greatly to the advan- 
 tage of this country, as no part of their 
 industry, except a small quantity of 
 lace, and a little linen cloth, are pur- 
 chased of them for our use. They are 
 passionately fond of English manufac- 
 tures. Indeed no good articles can 
 be bought in their shops, that did not 
 originate in the British isles. Nor 
 can we wonder at their partiality for 
 English merchandize, since the woollen 
 and cotton goods in general that are 
 procured from other markets, are mi- 
 serably wrought, and dear to the 
 wearer even at any price. This coun- 
 try has been so frequently the theatre 
 of war, and they have so few manu- 
 
74 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 factories among them, that it might 
 be presumed they have been always 
 poor and miserable. But this is far 
 from the case. Those very wars which 
 have been the scourge of their land, 
 have occasioned the spending of large 
 sums of money amongst them, and 
 the disposal of their superabundant 
 produce upon the spot where it has 
 been grown, or whence it has been 
 dug from their mines. 
 
 The coal trade has of late years fur- 
 nished them immense resources, as the 
 greater part of the low countries of 
 Holland, and some parts of France, 
 are supplied by their merchants. And 
 the coals become dearer as the wood is 
 less abundant, and proportionally high 
 in price. During the time of peace, 
 the whole coast of France, and of Hol- 
 land, had been supplied with coal by 
 the Newcastle traders, and doubt- 
 less they would again, if peace were 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 75 
 
 re-established, because the Newcastle 
 coals are much superior to theirs. But 
 now the department of Jemmappes fur- 
 nishes the greater part. They have 
 the convenience of a canal which runs 
 from Jemmappes through Conde and 
 Valenciennes into Flanders, audit there 
 branches out to the principal towns on 
 the coast ; and they have also a com- 
 munication with the Pthine, by which 
 they convey their coals into Holland. 
 That republic is also served in part 
 with this article from the late bishop- 
 rick of Liege, which lies upon the river 
 Meuse. 
 
76' ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Revolt of the People at the Instigation of the 
 Priests— Conduct of Joseph II — Dismant- 
 ling of the Towns') and Sale of Convents — 
 Entire dismantling of the Tozons by Napo- 
 leon — Battle of Jcmmappes. 
 
 I HE Flemings were for a longtime 
 subjects of the court of Vienna ; but 
 Spain, at that time a warlike nation, 
 subjected them to her dominion, and 
 retained them as her vassals during a 
 long series of years. At length they 
 yielded to the Austrian power, who 
 found in them a valuable acquisition, 
 on account of their contiguity to her 
 territories. It does not appear that 
 Austria ruled them with much severity. 
 Their states continued always to as- 
 semble at Mons, the seat of the former 
 government j and no taxes could be 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 77 
 
 laid, nor armies levied, without the 
 consent of the states. 
 
 The internal government of the 
 country was in their own hands, and 
 they were visited at intervals by their 
 emperor, who was generally esteemed 
 amongst them as a friend. In every 
 state, however, turbulent minds spring- 
 up. It is, perhaps, the most unthank- 
 ful office in the world to govern men : 
 for as their minds are so variously coin- 
 posed and their interests so opposite, it 
 is not possible for a sovereign to give uni- 
 versal satisfaction. A spirit of patri- 
 otism, as it was falsely called, fo- 
 mented by the priests, discovered it- 
 self. A general agitation took place ; 
 the priests were seen at the head of 
 the soldiers exciting them to rebellion, 
 and nothing but a signal punishment 
 could effectually suppress it. On this 
 occasion Joseph II determined to di- 
 minish the power of the priests, and 
 
78 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 by degrees effectually to get rid of those 
 locusts of the land. Their possessions 
 in this country were immense, their 
 houses rich; their churches abounded 
 in gold and in grandeur; they were not 
 satisfied with all this, but would have 
 taken from the throne the little it re- 
 quired for its support. He put it out 
 of their power to raise a serious re- 
 bellion against him in future, by dis- 
 mantling their fortifications, destroying 
 the outworks of their garrisoned towns, 
 filling up the ditches, and selling the 
 land. At the same time one third of the 
 convents w r ere abolished, their property 
 sold for the benefit of the state, and 
 the monks and nuns allowed to go 
 into the other religious houses. In 
 the town of Mons, ten out of thirty 
 were put down, and it seemed as if a 
 measure of this kind had become ne- 
 cessary. For whether it was, that 
 the people had become less partial to 
 
STATE OF FRANXE. 79 
 
 the monkish habit, and recluse man- 
 ner of life, or whether the monks and 
 sisters were more unwilling to let 
 others partake the good fruits of their 
 forefathers' superstition, certain it is, 
 that many of these societies had be- 
 come very small in point of number, 
 and that large ranges of building, with 
 considerable incomes, were enjoyed by 
 twenty, ten, and even by four or 
 five persons. Not a doubt is enter- 
 tained in the low countries that it was 
 the intention of Joseph to have com- 
 pleted the work he had begun, and to 
 have abolished the whole mass of con- 
 vents and abbeys together in a short 
 time, if the victorious republicans /had 
 not taken the work out of his hands, 
 by sweeping away them and thousands 
 more at once. 
 
 The dismantling of the towns was an 
 essential service rendered to the people, 
 however the states might be clisho- 
 
80 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 noured by the event. For being no 
 longer able to oppose a victorious army, 
 they opened their gates on its arrival, 
 and by that means avoided the dread- 
 ful consequences of long and distres- 
 sing sieges. When, therefore, the cele- 
 brated battle of Jemmappes was fought 
 within sight of the walls of Mons, and 
 the Austrian troops were forced to re- 
 treat towards the Rhine, the mayor 
 stood ready with the keys of the town 
 in his hand to present to the conquer- 
 or, who did not permit any pillage 
 or attack upon private property. At 
 that time their minds, like the public 
 mind at large, were elate with the pieas- 
 ing'hope of liberty.' They volunteered 
 themselves the associates of the French 
 republic, requested to be incorporated 
 into it ; and getting rid at once of their 
 emperor, their priests, and the burdens 
 upon their state, they became proud 
 of that boasted equality of which they 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 81 
 
 had pleased themselves with the ex- 
 pectation. 
 
 A farther and a more complete dis- 
 mantling of these towns, and many 
 others which are new in the interior, 
 has taken place within a few months, 
 by the order of the emperor Napoleon. 
 Having.no longer any occasion for them, 
 as garrison towns, the commandants, 
 and stationary officers of engineers, 
 are set aside, the barracks and other 
 buildings that remained in the hands 
 of the government have been sold, 
 and every appearance of fortifica- 
 tion taken away, except the old walls 
 that surround the towns. These, with 
 the best of the barracks, have been pur- 
 chased by the towns themselves; the 
 former to be preserved for an orna- 
 ment, and the latter to be repaired for 
 the reception of soldiers, who may be 
 quartered there, that individuals may 
 
 G 
 
$2 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 not be liable to the embarrassment of 
 receiving them into their houses. 
 
 Our readers will no doubt have ima- 
 gined that the celebrated battle of 
 Jemappes was fought upon a distin- 
 guished eminence ; and if they recol- 
 lect the description given of that bat- 
 tle, will suppose that the French troops 
 had to ascend a lofty mountain, on 
 whose declivity were placed the Aus- 
 trian redoubts strongly entrenched one 
 above another, so as to have been al- 
 most impregnable. Such certainly was 
 the idea conveyed by the French ac- 
 counts of that engagement. The fact 
 is, the Austrians were encamped on 
 a gentle rise, up which the plough 
 passes with the greatest ease, and 
 where there is now scarcely any ap- 
 pearance of fortifications having ever 
 been raised. The redoubts of the Aus- 
 trians were breast-works thrown up 
 at the moment and defended by their 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 83 
 
 cannon. And certainly those who 
 will seek " reputation at the cannon's 
 mouth," must do it at an immense risk. 
 To do all justice to the French repub- 
 lican soldiers, it must be confessed that 
 the attack was well conducted, and 
 gained them an immortal reputation ; 
 but when their account of a battle is 
 to be translated into English, or is 
 read by our countrymen in their 
 own language, a due consideration 
 ought to be paid to the genius of the 
 two languages, and the two people, 
 which is so materially different ; a re- 
 gard also must be had to the meaning 
 of the correspondent terms, which fre- 
 quently differ. A mountain in French, is 
 often a little hill in English, as a man 
 in France would be charmed with $ 
 thing with which anEnglishman would 
 scarcely be satisfied ; and an act of civi- 
 lity which would make an English lady 
 blush, cannot be dispensed with in a 
 g 2 
 
84 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 French society. It is in consequence of 
 the custom of translating literally from 
 their gazettes, that we gain sometimes 
 an idea of what they say, or of what 
 they do, vastly greater than even they 
 themselves have ever entertained ; and 
 hence they have been often charged 
 with gasconading and with flattery, 
 neither of which, in fact, were intended. 
 Though the French appear to us given 
 to bombast, and devoted to compliment, 
 yet it may be doubted whether they 
 have really more of the one or the other 
 than the inhabitants of our island, be- 
 cause custom has taught them, though 
 it has not us, the meaning of the words 
 they employ ; and we well know that 
 all governments view in an equally fa- 
 vourable light, and describe in the 
 most pointed language, the advantages 
 which they gain over their enemies, and 
 are equally unsolicitous about adhering* 
 too closely to the truth. 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. $5 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 Account of the People — Sale of Church Property 
 — Satisfaction of the People upon it — State 
 of the Country under the Emperor — The 
 Towns large and rich — The Country poor — 
 Farmers' Labourers. 
 
 1 HE mass of every people is poor. 
 They have little to lose, and are apt to 
 aspire after the wealth of those they en- 
 vy. The people of Flanders and of 
 France were particularly poor. They 
 had not the same incitements to industry, 
 which exist in a free country ; and were- 
 almost wholly destitute of that large 
 and respectable body of men, that are 
 at once the honour and happiness of 
 our nation, men of moderate fortunes. 
 Although the number of their nobles 
 was large, yet it was small, in com- 
 parison of the body of the people. 
 These men, and the religious societies 
 
86 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 united, held almost the whole of the 
 landed property. The flight of the privi- 
 leged orders from the country, and the 
 dissolution of the houses apparently de- 
 dicated to penitence, but actually de- 
 voted to lust, presented them with a 
 scramble, in which each hoped to 
 come in for a share. There are few 
 who will hesitate to acknowledge, that 
 by the rule of right, the wealth of the 
 monasteries was a fair game for the 
 people. It had been extorted by re- 
 ligious fears ; by the most powerful of 
 all, the fear of future punishments, from 
 their trembling d} T ing fathers, who had 
 given for the salvation of their souls, 
 what ought to have supplied the wants 
 of their children ; and had paid to be 
 delivered themselves from purgatory, 
 that which should have saved their 
 descendants from a prison. Therefore, 
 when it was sold back to the people, 
 and at a very moderate price, it re- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 87 
 
 turned into the hands of those, who 
 alone had a right to hold it ; and 
 became the source of life and happiness 
 to thousands of industrious families, 
 instead of feeding the pampered bodies 
 of those, who were not only useless to 
 society, but who had become its fear 
 and its curse* 
 
 It may safely be asserted, that the 
 people at large saw, with satisfaction, 
 the dissolution of the religious houses; 
 not only the unthinking and dissolute 
 part of them, but also the serious and 
 thoughtful, and even those who at- 
 tached themselves the most strongly 
 to the catholic religion. They had 
 already been persuaded that priestcraft: 
 and mummery did not belong to Chris- 
 tianity, and that idle devotion was not 
 the duty of the followers of Jesus : 
 they loved their church, and its cere- 
 monies ; and education had made them 
 desire to see their great Matron' and 
 
88 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 Intercessor not in a stable with her 
 infant in a manger, but in the no- 
 blest buildings their country could 
 boast of, bedecked with the silks of 
 Persia, the gold of Peru, and all the 
 richest spoils of the east. They es- 
 teemed religion the more when accom- 
 panied by wealth, pomp, and cere- 
 mony ; but they had entirely aban- 
 doned the belief, that the pretensions 
 of monastic piety had any thing to do 
 with it; they saw therefore, with a 
 secret joy, the despoiling of the mo- 
 nasteries, but had not discernment 
 enough to spy out, in its full extent, 
 the meaning of liberty, fraternity, and 
 equality. Experience has taught them, 
 that the change from the useless and 
 dangerous parts of the old system, to 
 the heavy burdens and miseries of the 
 new, has not proved favourable. Un- 
 der the emperor they paid so few taxes, 
 that the weight of them was hardly 
 
STATE OF TRANCE. 89 
 
 felt. While commerce flourished, and 
 they had the means of buying the pro- 
 duce of other countries, and selling 
 some of their own, the creditors of 
 the state received their payments regu- 
 larly, and many of them lived in com- 
 fort upon the fruits of the labour of 
 their younger years. 
 
 The roads were always kept in the 
 best order ; the quartering of soldiers 
 was well regulated, and easy ; and no 
 personal service forced from them. 
 The troops were handsomely paid by the 
 emperor, and they spent their money 
 freely in the towns where they were 
 stationed. The monasteries, though 
 the seats of indolence, were some of 
 them the nurseries of charity : they 
 gave, at stated periods, bread, soup, 
 and money to the poor; so that a 
 family in distress could not want a 
 homely, but nourishing repast ; and 
 the indigent were always found in the 
 
90 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 neighbourhood of the convents. The 
 income of the nobility was usually 
 spent in the large towns ; and they 
 had their appointed periods also of 
 distributing their alms: and, moreover, 
 there were many rich endowments for 
 the support of orphans and foundlings, 
 the sick and the old, which were 
 conducted with care, and furnished a 
 large relief to the miseries of human 
 life. 
 
 On the continent there are but few 
 small towns: most of them are large; 
 the inhabitants who were not obliged 
 to reside in the country, flying to 
 them for protection, from the effects 
 of wars and civil disturbances among 
 them. Here they were secured by the 
 fortifications and the garrison, and 
 were but little afraid of an enemy 
 without their walls ; and as the num- 
 ber of these towns was limited, they 
 were not at liberty to follow individual 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 91 
 
 fancy, in erecting new places of abode, 
 where they might be in safety. 
 
 Such were the towns which con- 
 tained a small part of the population 
 of the land. In the country, a very 
 different scene presented itself to what 
 we witness in the corresponding parts 
 of our kingdom. Where mines or 
 quarries furnished an independent la- 
 bour to the poor, they had sufficient 
 means of support, although the price of 
 their labour was not enough to raise 
 them above the station in which they 
 were born. 
 
 In the agricultural departments, the 
 labourer was necessarily poor; and so 
 was the farmer. One-third part of the 
 land belonged to the religious estab- 
 lishments, houses, and churches ; and 
 the principal part of the other two- 
 thirds, to the nobles and the sovereign ; 
 the latter of whom never sold his 
 estates, the former very seldom : there- 
 
9Q ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 fore a man, even of large wealth, could 
 not easily become a landholder. The 
 farmers could not be rich, because 
 they were the tools of their masters, 
 and often obliged to remove to a sterile 
 spot, after having improved, by their 
 skill and industry, the land upon which 
 they lived. The wages of the la- 
 bourer were low, and, without occa- 
 sional supplies from the monasteries 
 or mansions by which they were em- 
 ployed, would not have supplied the 
 wants of nature. 
 
 The villages were ill built, and con- 
 tained only the farmers, with their 
 labourers, who surrounded the palace 
 of their lord, as dependent upon it. 
 It is not customary to see houses scat- 
 tered up and down, as in England ; 
 and the eye is never relieved in wan- 
 dering over the ground, by the sight 
 of the gentlemen's beautiful seats, that 
 give so great a richness to the English 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. J)3 
 
 landscape. The fruits of the feudal 
 system are still seen in all their force* 
 On a certain tract of land, only one 
 was chief; and as he feared the incur- 
 sions of the neighbouring petty tyrants., 
 he built his retreat like a fortress, sur- 
 rounded it with a ditch, and called it 
 his castle. The manor houses are 
 still known by the name of chateaux> 
 though most of them have lost the 
 appearance of attack and defence, by 
 which they were formerly distin- 
 guished ; and as the vassals depended 
 upon their lord, and were protected 
 by him, their habitations were placed 
 in the neighbourhood of his, trees 
 were planted in considerable quan- 
 tities to protect them from the wea- 
 ther; and the country round, as 
 far as his property extended, is one 
 open plain, without house, hedge, or 
 tree. The roads are cut through this 
 
94 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 country in a direct course as by a ma- 
 thematical line, and offer to the tra- 
 veller the same uninteresting view for 
 many miles together. 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 95 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Changes brought on by the French Revolution-^ 
 The Characters that figured in it — Sufferings 
 of the public Creditors — Miserable State of 
 the Army — Patriotism of the Soldiers — Re~ 
 novation and Successes under Buonaparte— 
 —A Stop put to Revolutionary Measures* 
 
 IF we examine the situation of the 
 people now, we shall find it presents a 
 very different appearance; and after so 
 many, and such decisive changes, it 
 would be a wonder if some parts of 
 the picture were not improved. The 
 boasted liberty which the French pre- 
 tended to bring in their hands, like 
 many other of the gaudy pageants of 
 life, changed its complexion when 
 brought nearer the sight. The con- 
 vulsions of the departments extended 
 to the conquered country ; every man 
 
<)6 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 feared and distrusted his neighbour; 
 a few of the dregs of the people, who 
 had looked with a greedy eye on the 
 opulence of the rich, willingly received 
 the fraternal embrace of the sans cu- 
 lottes, were raised to posts of honour, 
 and in their drunken revels, planned 
 out the division of the property of 
 their towns. 
 
 Fired with a zeal for liberty, they 
 condemned every thing to the service 
 of the state ; but, in their sober mo- 
 ments, when the execution of their 
 decisions took place, the loaded sieve 
 did not travel up to Paris, without 
 being well shaken on the road, and its 
 best contents spilt out in the depart- 
 ments. Many of their citizens are 
 now clothed in purple and fine linen, 
 who, at the. period of the revolution, 
 were despised for their insignificance, 
 or hated for their crimes. The pillage 
 of the houses often furnished the means 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 97 
 
 of the purchase of the lands ; and the 
 receiver of the public money, who 
 before wouldnot have known where to 
 look for his own, became the owner 
 of a village, or the possessor of half a 
 town ; and for many years, during the 
 repeated changes of governors, little 
 was known of the finances of the de- 
 partments. The debts of the old go- 
 vernors were transferred by treaty to 
 the new, who engaged faithfully to dis- 
 charge them : but, alas ! their servants 
 so ill supplied their urgent necessities, 
 that it was long before any proposal 
 was made to reimburse the public cre- 
 ditor, and then a small composition 
 was offered, which many, though poor, 
 Avould not consent to receive. The 
 distress which arose among these men 
 is not to be expressed; where they 
 had little or no means of support, they 
 were actually starving in their houses* 
 The impudence of the beggar was not 
 
 H 
 
98 • ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 calculated for their use ; their former 
 respectability forbade it, or could they 
 have summoned it to their aid, objects 
 were now wanting to whom they might 
 apply. Hearts that aredepraved and 
 base, are rarely allied to bowels of 
 compassion ; but such hearts had many 
 of the new made rich. The monas- 
 teries could no longer open their doors, 
 to deliver out their weekly bread ; the 
 greater part of the revenues of the 
 hospitals, and houses of charity, were 
 taken by the commissioners of the 
 nation for its use ; and the people were 
 in that dreadful state of confusion, 
 that they knew not where to look for 
 the morrow's supply. 
 
 When therefore we hear the accounts 
 of the military, respecting the state of 
 the army during this dreadful time, it 
 is past human calculation to make out 
 what held it together, or how it was 
 possible for the miserable soldiers to 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 99 
 
 remain faithful to their commanders. 
 In many places, they were actually and 
 truly sans culottes, and sans every thing 
 else ; frequently obliged to march with- 
 out shoes to their feet ; their clothes 
 made of wretched materials, were soon 
 worn off their backs ; with victuals 
 barely enough to support nature, and 
 which could give no bodily force. The 
 pay of officers as well as men was in ar- 
 rears, not for days and weeks only, but 
 for months and quarters ; nevertheless, 
 they remained steady in their ranks, and, 
 with the eagerness of tygers, foraged, 
 not in the barns of the living for the 
 food of their body, but in the old 
 churches and caverns of the dead, to 
 collect saltpetre, that they might drive 
 away the enemies of their country. 
 
 Such was the state of things when 
 Buonaparte was placed at the head of 
 the army. He addressed his soldiers 
 H 2 
 
10& ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 in some such words as these : — <€ I am 
 sent by Providence to your rescue ; I 
 see you now destitute of every thing, 
 but that which is of itself capable of 
 furnishing you with all. Your clothes 
 are worn out; your skins are torn; 
 your bodies half famished ; your pay 
 in arrears ; but your spirits are not 
 broken. Behold before you the rich, 
 the luxuriant plains of Lombardy ; I 
 will show you the passage into them. 
 Follow me 5 and you shall want for 
 nothing ! You shall be well clothed 
 and fed ; and in three months I guaran- 
 tee to you all the pay that is due from 
 your ungrateful country ! 1: They fol- 
 lowed him, and he kept his word. 
 
 From that time the face of things 
 began to change ; and France re- as- 
 sumed its consequence in the political 
 world. Without entering deeply into 
 the history of the French revolutions^ 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 101 
 
 we may add, that once more it seemed 
 likely to go back into anarchy and con- 
 fusion, when the same great character 
 unexpectedly returned from Egypt, 
 seized the reins of government, and 
 brought about that order of things 
 which has since appeared in France, 
 Public affairs then began to assume a 
 tone ; the constituted authorities were 
 made accountable to a higher power, 
 and under the inspection of an eye that 
 could soon discover their irregularities. 
 The property that had been sold, 
 could not be taken again; to have 
 interfered with it, would have been 
 to call in question the right of go- 
 vernors to execute their own laws* 
 and an act of injustice towards those 
 who had risked their property upon the 
 faith of the government. But a stop was 
 immediately put to the hasty proceed- 
 ings of revolutionary principles; and, 
 
102 ACCOUNT OT THE 
 
 by degrees, a system of government 
 was established, in which men can 
 define the extent of their confidence, 
 and use their industry as the means 
 of their support. 
 
STATE OF FRANCE, 103 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Landed Property passed into other Hands — De- 
 struction of the Woods and other Trees — Pil- 
 lage of the public Property — Farmers become 
 Proprietors of Land, and enrich themselves 
 *— Registry of Estates and Duties on them 
 — Towns impoverished — Appearance of the 
 Country changed — Beggars — Charity given 
 after Confession — Increased Price of Pro- 
 visions. 
 
 I HE landed property of the country 
 had completely changed hands. It has 
 already been observed, that one third 
 of the terra jirmao? France belonged 
 to the church. The whole of this had 
 been confiscated ; and what had not 
 been brought to the hammer was kept 
 in the hands of commissioners for the 
 service of government. They seem to 
 have been particularly careful to pre- 
 
104 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 serve the immense forests with which 
 France abounds ; few of these had 
 been sold, but their timbers had been 
 felled in a most unmerciful manner, 
 without distinction of- age, to be sent 
 away to the ports and dock-yards. So 
 strong was the frenzy for the fabrica- 
 tion of a flotilla, that should carry ven- 
 geance to the shores of England, that 
 not the woods only were robbed of their 
 pride, but even towns and villages were 
 despoiled of their beautiful vistas and fa- 
 vourite walks, and the ramparts of their 
 shades, at once an ornament and a 
 convenience to the inhabitants. But 
 how frail is man, and how little fixed 
 to his principles ! When the vapour of 
 enthusiasm was passed, self-interest suc- 
 ceeded in its place, and the greater 
 part of these unreasonable sacrifices 
 answered no other end than that of 
 building private houses, or filling the 
 stack-yards and fire-places of the com- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 105 
 
 missioners. Many of the farmers had 
 become in a short space of time pur- 
 chasers of their own lands ; and the 
 younger sons of families, who had but 
 little to depend on, and especially those 
 who had been bred to the law, procure 
 ed landed property, and retired to re- 
 side upon it. 
 
 The old system of things had given 
 support to an uncommon number of 
 lawyers, advocates, and notaries; these 
 were the homines d'affaires of the no- 
 bility and clergy, and found the means 
 of enriching themselves in the per- 
 plexity of the law and the abundance 
 of its statutes : but the new constitu- 
 tion, founded on the simplest princi- 
 ples, contained few laws, and gave 
 them but little employment; and the 
 constituent assembly, fearing that too 
 large a body of counsellors would sow 
 confusion, rather than maintain peace, 
 amongst the people, limited their num- 
 
106 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 ber, and allowed only a few to exer- 
 cise their functions in a town. 
 
 The man who by his labour can 
 furnish to society the necessaries of 
 life, will, in every troublesome and 
 calamitous time, have an advantage of 
 accumulating wealth which others do 
 not enjoy. It is not therefore wonder- 
 ful that the farmers increased their for- 
 tunes rapidly, and added every year 
 to their estates. The more stability 
 the government acquired the more 
 valuable the estates became ; and what 
 had cost them in the outset a handful 
 of money, amounted, in a few years, to 
 an immense revenue. These had been, 
 in the perpetual fluctuation of public 
 affairs, which occasioned a cof respond- 
 ing fluctuation of private property, 
 divided and subdivided in a thousand 
 forms, and it is now become a difficult 
 matter to ascertain to whom some of 
 them originally belonged. This change 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 107 
 
 of hands may be ascertained by a cir- 
 cumstance worth mentioning : the 
 sale of every estate, whether it be of 
 land or house, is registered in the 
 Bureau of the department, and a duty 
 of five per cent, paid upon every such 
 transfer to the whole amount of the 
 purchase. Many cases are known of 
 the property of which we are speak- 
 ing having already paid forty per cent, 
 duty; and if the receipts of a govern- 
 ment did not revert to the people who 
 pay them, by the natural revolution 
 of the wheel, the whole would thus, in 
 a certain term of years, be lost in the 
 great gulf. 
 
 We have already seen, that the 
 wealth of the country was originally 
 collected in the towns, while itself was 
 always poor : the contrary of this is 
 now become the fact ; the towns are 
 comparatively poor, while the country 
 retains the fruits of its industry, and 
 
108 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 begins to assume a more gay and am 
 mating appearance. Those towns 
 which were not manufacturing, or those 
 whose manufactures have declined in 
 consequence of the war, of the former 
 of which Mons may be given as an ex- 
 ample, and Valenciennes of the latter, 
 have had their resources greatly di- 
 minished, and in a measure dried up : 
 they are filled with beggars and with 
 misery, and may well sigh for the re- 
 turn of those days that they will never 
 see again. 
 
 The impudence of the beggars is 
 much greater than is common in other 
 countries ; they not only din the ears of 
 the passengers in the streets with, "cha- 
 rity for the love of God," and promise 
 them a prayer to the Virgin for their 
 health at the price of a sous, but they 
 make a common practice of ringing 
 or knocking at the doors as they stand 
 in succession, and repeat their calls till 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 109 
 
 the tenants go out and send them away. 
 Many of these are young women, and 
 girls and boys in the full vigour of 
 their health. The doors and the neigh- 
 bourhood of the churches are perpetu- 
 ally pestered by this rabble of ragged, 
 dirty, lousy, aud drunken objects, 
 that cannot excite our pity, because 
 they are really criminal ones ; but they 
 are accompanied also by the crippled, 
 the blind, and the diseased. In the 
 purlieus of God's house they present 
 their addresses with the strongest pre- 
 tensions; for charity is really thought, 
 among that people, to cover a mul- 
 titude of sins, and the absolution of 
 the priest is then esteemed the most 
 efficacious when it is followed by deeds 
 of benevolence. After absolution they 
 usually give to the poor ; and when a 
 body is carried into the church to 
 receive the holy aspersion and the 
 benediction of the priest, money is 
 
110 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 given at the door, or at their own 
 houses. 
 
 There are not only fewer houses of 
 charity and periodical benefactions 
 since the revolution, but the entire 
 stagnation of commerce, which every 
 town, even the most interior, feels to 
 a certain degree, renders it difficult for 
 the poor to get work ; add to this, 
 that provisions of every kind are risen 
 to a very great price within the last 
 three years ; since the year 1 802 
 they are nearly doubled. Many cir- 
 cumstances may have contributed to 
 this. 
 
 The taxes have been more than 
 tripled since the entrance of the French 
 into the country ; their wealth has 
 been drawn away to the metropolis 
 of France, and a considerable part of 
 it lost for ever. The commerce which 
 used to be considerable with Holland 
 and England, has been annihilated by 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. Ill 
 
 the severe ordinances of Napoleon. 
 The manufactured goods which they 
 would buy from other countries are 
 forbidden to enter theirs, and the pro- 
 duce of their land and of its bowels 
 confined within the limits of their own 
 territory. The circulating medium is 
 small ; no paper money of any descrip- 
 tion is found in the departments ; the 
 farmers are become independent, and 
 are able to give, in some degree, the 
 law to the markets ; and a middle set 
 of men have lately sprung up in the 
 country, who, by making the produce 
 of the land an article of trade, feed the 
 markets, or hold back the grain, as 
 circumstances may be favourable or 
 otherwise. Besides which, their manu- 
 factures have never yet assumed any 
 vigour ; they are conducted on a small 
 scale, with capitals often inadequate 
 to their demand. The minute division 
 of labour, which may be estimated the 
 
112 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 very soul of manufactures, and which 
 enables the English to outdo every 
 other nation, is not yet generally 
 adopted there. There is nothing but 
 vegetables that can be deemed cheap 
 in France ; for, though other things 
 are a little lower than in England, 
 yet the resources of the industrious 
 part of the nation are so scanty, and 
 their pay so small, that they are in 
 fact much dearer to the buyer than 
 the same articles are, under similar cir- 
 cumstances, in England. To this 
 should be added, that manufactured 
 goods are either much worse or much 
 dearer than here : so that, although 
 the tradesman has a smaller amount of 
 taxes to pay in France, there is little 
 doubt that he has a better chance of 
 improving his fortune in England, 
 under all the burdens of government,, 
 than he would have in France, with 
 the same prudence to direct his affairs. 
 
STATE OF FRANCE, 113 
 
 The difficulty which the middling and 
 lower classes of men experience of 
 living is very great, and their com- 
 plaints are loud and unceasing. 
 
114 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Taxes : — on Wines , Spirits, and Beer ; — on 
 Property, Cards, Stamps, Mortgages ; — on 
 Land, Windozos, and Doors ; — on manufac- 
 tured and prHnted Goods ; — on Posting— 
 Liberty of Speech-*- Ac count of Buona- 
 parte's Privy Council — His Irritability — 
 ■ — Liberty of the Press — Newspapers — Sud- 
 den Disappearance of some Men in Paris. 
 
 HOWEVER Buonaparte may detest 
 England as a rival, lie has seen that the 
 ingenuity of Mr. P. is well worthy of 
 imitation, in the grand art of extract- 
 ing money from the pockets of the 
 people, and is actually following him, in 
 some of those steps, which are the most 
 grievous and oppressive to the subject. 
 Wines, spirits, and beer, are subject to 
 heavy duties. Property is taxed, though 
 not in exactlv the same way : licenses 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 115 
 
 forthe sale of almost every thing must 
 be taken out, and a special license for 
 the sale of tobacco and gunpowder. 
 Of late, in order to derive a large 
 revenue from the diversions of the sub- 
 jects, the apparatus for the printing of 
 cards has been taken into the keeping 
 of the public officers, that none may be 
 sold without being first duly stamped. 
 Two-pence half-penny was the price of 
 a pack of cards six months ago, but now 
 they are not to be bought for less than 
 half a crown. This seizure of the appa- 
 ratus for card -making was made by the 
 receiver of the stamp duties, without 
 any public law having passed, or notice 
 having been given to the people. 
 
 The revenues arising from stamps 
 are immense ; every thing of a public 
 nature, even the processes at law, 
 which are to appear in the court, and 
 from which counsellors are to plead ; 
 and all addresses to the public au- 
 
116 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 thorities must be on stamps ; as must 
 also every page of the ledger of a man 
 of business, if he mean to ^employ it 
 as a document to prove his debts. 
 Every mortgage is registered at the 
 stamp-office, and a large duty paid 
 upon it. This is a regulation which 
 furnishes great advantages to the coun- 
 try at large ; for a man cannot de- 
 ceive another by taking a second mort- 
 gage on his* estate while the first is 
 unpaid, as it can always be known by 
 applying to the office what mortgage 
 lies at that time upon it. In every 
 ■department is a stamp-office and re- 
 gistry of the sales and mortgages of 
 estates, where ordinary stamps are 
 distributed and extra ones may be pro- 
 cured ; foT an unstamped deed may be 
 rendered legal by being stamped after- 
 wards, and a triple duty paid. 
 
 They have taxes on land, on win- 
 dows, and on doors, a tax on persons, 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. iff 
 
 or annual poll tax, together with one 
 on the furniture of their houses. Be- 
 sides these, many manufactured and 
 printed goods pay a duty; and the 
 post-horse work and turnpikes bring 
 in a large revenue. The post-houses 
 are stationed at regular distances on 
 every public road ; no other than these 
 are allowed to let post-horses, and, 
 for the exclusive privilege, they pay a 
 handsome acknowledgment to the go- 
 vernment. 
 
 We have said> that the people's com- 
 plaints are loud ; nor let it be ima- 
 gined, that they are afraid of finding 
 fault with the government, or sus- 
 picious that their neighbours should 
 denounce them as hostile to the state. 
 There is not a greater liberty of speech 
 in England, either in private company, 
 or in public houses, than there is in 
 France, relative to the proceedings 
 of their rulers! Without speaking of 
 
MS ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 friendly parties, in which conversation 
 must every where be free, political 
 subjects are freely discussed in taverns 
 and clubs ; and no one seems afraid 
 to declare his disapprobation of public 
 measures. If any thing personal tran- 
 spire in that country, as well as in this, 
 a man would run the risk of being 
 called to order, and in perhaps a 
 similar way ; for it amounts to about 
 the same thing, whether a habeas cor- 
 pus act has no existence, or whether 
 it can be set aside on every pretended 
 emergency. 
 
 There is an essential difference, in 
 the opinion to be formed of the ar- 
 rangements made and adopted by the 
 two governments. Our constitution 
 holds the king to be free from guilt; 
 and charges all the imperfections of 
 government upon his ministers, as 
 upon the counsellors and agents of the 
 king ; there, the ministers are the in- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 119 
 
 strum ents of their chief, and do only 
 as he directs. The manner in which 
 the important decisions of Buonaparte 
 are formed, is as follows : — When he 
 has some expedition to send out, some 
 new tax to impose, or some general 
 measure to adopt, he calls his council, 
 which is known to be composed of the 
 greatest characters in France. He has 
 found out the means of attaching men 
 of all parties to his interest : he does not 
 ask whether they are protestants, or 
 catholics ; whether they were the par- 
 tizans of the late king, or of avowed 
 republican, principles : whether they 
 had sided with the Brissotines, with 
 the party of Robespierre, or with the 
 tactions that afterwards ruled the re- 
 public. All party distinctions have 
 been evidently se;t out of the question; 
 and his only object has been, to unite 
 men the most celebrated for their in- 
 formation, their depth of thought, or 
 
120 ACCOUNT OF THU 
 
 their experience in the affairs of states 
 and of empires. 
 
 If the past lives of the privy coun- 
 sellors of Napoleon were examined, 
 and contrasted, it would be found that 
 they form the most motley crew that 
 ever assembled to discuss a political 
 question. But that is of no conse- 
 quence ; they are men of considerable 
 sagacity, and he wants them only for 
 advice. These he calls together, tells 
 them he has such an object in view, 
 requests to know their opinions of its 
 success, and the best means of exe- 
 cuting it ; and desires them to give 
 him their sentiments on a certain day. 
 On that day he meets them again, hears 
 what each of them has to say, suffers 
 the question to be fully discussed be- 
 fore him, and retires to decide upon 
 his measures. That done, his secretary 
 is set to work ; and no one knows his 
 determination, till the affair has actu- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 121 
 
 ally taken place. He is therefore the 
 prime mover in all the affairs of the 
 French empire; and to him alone ac- 
 crues the credit of their success, 05 
 the dishonour of their failure. 
 
 The subordinate affairs of state must 
 necessarily be regulated by inferior in- 
 struments ; but all the main springs 
 are directed by himself. It will not 
 appear surprising, that a man who 
 bears perpetually so much upon his 
 mind should be irritable and passion- 
 ate. If he were not quick, it would 
 be impossible for him to get through 
 his work ; and great characters have 
 always some blemish that serves to 
 take off the brilliancy of their splendid 
 talents. Buonaparte discovers extreme 
 irritability, if opposed in any favourite 
 scheme ; or if his orders be not exe- 
 cuted with great rapidity. ^ He not 
 unfrequently uses the coup de pied for 
 his argumentum ad hominem> upon 
 
122 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 those who attend about his person ; 
 and even, it has been said, upon his 
 confidential secretary ; so that they 
 who are near him, are in a continual 
 trepidation when any thing has ruf- 
 fled his temper. At other times, as is 
 usual with such characters, he is per- 
 fectly familiar and pleasant, and be- 
 comes their companion. 
 
 The liberty of the press in France is 
 not equal to the liberty of speech ; its 
 consequences are more fatally extensive, 
 and may with greater ease be prevent- 
 ed. It has been long forbidden to cir- 
 culate English newspapers in France ; 
 and it may be presumed, that the ex- 
 tracts taken from them by the Moni- 
 teur and other papers are so mutilated as 
 not to bear a similarity to the originals. 
 No newspaper can be published in th6 
 country without the MS. being first ex- 
 amined by the prefet or some other per- 
 son whom he appoints ; and no book- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE, 123 
 
 seller dare expose to sale any books of 
 a licentious nature, or dangerous politi- 
 cal tendency, under the dread of a do- 
 miciliary visit, and consequent a.rres- 
 tation and imprisonment 
 
 There have been some instances at 
 Paris of the sudden disappearance of 
 men, who have not been heard of after, 
 and who, it is supposed, have been 
 concealed by order of iiuonaparte. 
 Tins was the case a few months 
 ago of a person of respectable fa- 
 mily, and large commercial concerns, 
 who, on his return home oiie evening to 
 Paris, disappeared, and .vas never seen 
 again. About the sanle time a gentle- 
 man, who was onav it to the metropolis 
 from one of the departments, had sent 
 his linen to the washerwoman's, but 
 having occasion for some of it, called 
 upon her, and by chance saw the mark 
 of a friend's shirt which was in the 
 house. He asked whence she had 
 
124 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 fetched it, and was thunder-struck 
 at the answer, " from the prison of 
 — ! — ." He endeavoured to get a sight 
 of his friend, but was refused; audit was 
 not till after many weeks that he suc- 
 ceeded i n convincing the minister th at h is 
 friend had been arrested through mis- 
 take in the place of another, and was 
 perfectly innocent of the political faux- 
 pas of which he was believed to have 
 been guilty. This gentleman had been 
 some months in prison, and might 
 have died there but for the fortunate 
 discovery of his friend. 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 125 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Particular Account of the Conscription— Regis- 
 try of Births and Deaths, 
 
 THERE is yet a source of grief of 
 which the conquered countries com- 
 plain most bitterly* It is the cruel and 
 heart-rending law of the conscription ; 
 which requires the inhabitants to part 
 with their sons when arrived at the age 
 of manhood, to fight the battles of a 
 power they hate, and to die for a man 
 whose government they abominate. 
 Under their old emperor, soldiers were 
 raised by recruiting, and the widowed 
 mother might solace herself in the ad- 
 vancing years of her son, who was to 
 be the prop and father of her family ; 
 but now she looks with terror to the 
 age of twenty-one, as to the arrival of 
 a tempest that will sweep away all her 
 
1£6 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 hopes. The execution of the con- 
 script laws is very rigid, the demand 
 for men having been so great that sup- 
 plies cannot be met with without dif- 
 ficulty, and at great expense, and go- 
 vernment is not easily pleased in the 
 replacement of a strong well made 
 young man. 
 
 Every child that is born in France 
 must be carried to the town house 
 within twenty -four hours after its birth, 
 to be registered, and in order that the 
 officer may ascertain its sex by inspec- 
 tion. For a trifling fee he will take 
 his register to the parent's house, if 
 the child be ill,, or he desired to do 
 so. Every death must likewise be re- 
 gistered at the town-house; or, if it 
 happen in a village, at the office of the 
 mayor of that village. And as the 
 state acknowledges no distinction in 
 its subjects when born, so also it 
 knows none after their death, but ap- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 1£7 
 
 points a common burial place without 
 the town, where all have an equal right 
 to inter, and may use their different 
 rites and ceremonies as they please. 
 
 Besides the registers of births and 
 deaths, there is a correct statement of 
 the population made out every year by 
 the police officer, and no one can come 
 into a city or township without its be- 
 ing known to the police, who wait 
 upon him to inquire whence lie comes, 
 and whether he is the bearer of a regu- 
 lar passport. In this way the exact 
 population of the country is ascertain- 
 ed, and the number in every town is 
 known. Xo register is admitted but 
 that which is taken from the public 
 books ; and, as a full right of citizen- 
 ship exists, the state asks no question 
 about the baptism or non-baptism of its 
 children, nor whether they are catho- 
 lics, protestants, or Jews, bat ascer- 
 tains and preserves with equal care the 
 
128 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 accounts of their births and deaths. 
 The convenience of this regulation, as 
 it relates to succession, is evident, t>ut 
 that is not the principal object the 
 government has in view in inscribing 
 so carefully the ages of the subjects. 
 The important point gained is, to be 
 able to ascertain when their young men 
 were born, and when their turn is 
 come to reader their country a per- 
 sonal service. It is not possible for any 
 to escape ; for if they are absent from 
 home, on whatever pretence, or in 
 whatever country, at the time of their 
 coming of age, they must appear to 
 take their chance with the rest, or their 
 parents will be subject to very heavy 
 penalties. 
 
 The minister of war makes his 
 annual report, to the minister of the 
 interior, of the number of young- 
 men wanted for the ensuing year. 
 The minister divides this number 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 1£9 
 
 according to the population of the 
 departments ; the prefets divide it 
 again by the population of the district; 
 and the districts divide it between the 
 towns and communes, in the same pro- 
 portion. All the young men of the 
 age of twenty-one are required to be 
 present at the drawing. If they have 
 any natural defect, be it ever so small, 
 they are not called upon; but, as 
 every one must bear his proportion 
 in the defence of his country, the pa- 
 rents of those who do not draw lots pay 
 three times the amount of their taxes 
 for that year, as a recompense for the 
 personal services of their children. If 
 they are poor, and pay no taxes, they 
 are exempted altogether, on the ground 
 of incapacity. 
 
 Among the young men are often 
 some who have an inclination ; to be 
 soldiers. They draw the first, and, if 
 the lot does not fall on them, they 
 
 K 
 
130 JlCCOUNT of the 
 
 take other men's chances for a sum of 
 money agreed upon, and may happen 
 to draw three or four billets before they 
 take hold of the fatal one. What ren- 
 ders it peculiarly difficult to replace a 
 man, is, tlflat none can be received as 
 substitutes but those of the same year, 
 and perfectly free from defect. The 
 prefet and the gendarmes are present 
 to regulate the drawing, and it is in 
 their power to let any escape whom 
 they are inclined to favour. At the 
 drawing at Amiens, for the year twelve, 
 four young men of respectable families^ 
 who were students at Paris in music 
 and drawing, came down to take their 
 chance with the rest. A respectable 
 physician, at whose house the writer 
 was on a visit, made out attestations of 
 imbecility and disease, and, the gend- 
 armes being previously gained over, 
 they were rejected when they presented 
 themselves to draw the lot; being told, 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 131 
 
 that men like them, with natural in- 
 firmities, were not fit persons to be re- 
 ceived into the army. 
 
 Those who are fortunate enough to 
 escape in the drawing, are not liable to 
 be called upon any more, except the 
 new conscripts desert before they ar- 
 rive at the army, in which case others 
 must supply their places. If there hap- 
 pen an extraordinary demand, more 
 than can be supplied out of the con- 
 scription of the year, a demand is made 
 in advance upon the succeeding year, 
 that is, upon the youth of twenty, and 
 some of them are taken before they 
 would be liable to serve in the regular 
 course of the law. The time of service 
 is limited to six y#ars; but a military 
 power, in the time of war, does not 
 scruple to detain them eight or ten 
 years, or even more. The number of 
 troops required, the dread of losing 
 their lives in a foreign land) and the 
 k2 
 
132 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 extreme difficulty of finding substi- 
 tutes, make the price of them very 
 high. Of late years it has mount- 
 ed up to a hundred pounds, but the 
 more common price is about forty or 
 fifty. Let it, however, be remember- 
 ed, that these are large sums in com- 
 parison of the same in our country. 
 In this way were our ancestors served 
 by the Romans in the time of their 
 greatness, and this will be the liberty 
 their descendants will enjoy, if ever 
 they become associated to the military 
 state of France ; our sons will be called 
 away to fight its battles abroad, and 
 our industry will supply the luxury of 
 its capital. 
 
 Under these views of the actual si- 
 tuation of the ancient province of Hain- 
 ault, and of the Low Countries, is 
 it surprising, that the people should 
 sigh for the return of their emperor, 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 133 
 
 or that they opened their ears with rap- 
 ture when a continental alliance was 
 first talked of? They regarded our 
 premier as the best friend to the in- 
 terests of their country, because in him. 
 they hoped to find the deliverer, of 
 Europe. 
 
134 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 General Impression in France respecting Buo- 
 naparte . — His Visit to the Departments, 
 particularly to that of Jemappes — His In- 
 consistency with respect to Manufactures—* 
 Accounts of Manufactures. 
 
 AFTER the many revolutions which 
 the French have experienced, and the 
 perpetual scenes of confusion and 
 bloodshed in which they have been in- 
 volved for many years in succession, 
 with a complete overthrow of public 
 order and public credit, they certainly 
 regarded Buonaparte as the saviour of 
 their country. They acknowledge in 
 him great qualities, and an extensive 
 acquaintance with the affairs of their 
 country; and above all, that prudent 
 and firm conduct which has imposed 
 silence upon the factions that had di- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 133 
 
 vided them before. And though the 
 majority are less satisfied with him in 
 the character of emperor, than they were 
 when he bore the name of consul, they 
 had rather the present state of affairs 
 should continue as it is; than to be ex- 
 posed to fresh changes and new revolu- 
 tions. The close and scrupulous at- 
 tention which he has personally paid 
 to public affairs, has reconciled them, 
 in a great degree, to him in the capa- 
 city of a sovereign. He has manifest- 
 ed this in the excursions that he has 
 made at different times into the depart- 
 ments, not for the sake of gratifying 
 an idle curiosity, or to display an useless 
 pomp, but to see and to know his new 
 subjects. 
 
 Notwithstanding the more important 
 business of state, which has relation to 
 foreign courts, appears to be managed 
 by the emperor himself, yet is lie so 
 attentive to the concerns of the de~ 
 
136 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 partments as to enter into all their mi- 
 nutiae. Take, as an example, what oc- 
 curred at Mons, on his visit in 1803. 
 He received the different bodies of men 
 in their turn, and conversed particu- 
 larly with each of them ; and it seemed, 
 by his manner of addressing them, 
 that he had no need of bcin«; informed 
 of any thing they had to say. He told 
 the bishop, who acknowledged that his 
 clergy were not very well satisfied, that 
 they had every reason to be so, for 
 that so much per annum was paid out. 
 of the public pursd to the bishopriek, •. 
 which was so much to each curate. 
 
 He discovered, what was, perhaps, the 
 grand object of his visits, in talking 
 with the director-general of the coal-i 
 pits, and afterwards with the receiver. 
 Coals pay a certain duty upon being 
 drawn up out of the ground. Buona- 
 parte inquired the number of pits at 
 work, and the quantity of coals they 
 
STATE OF PRANCE. 137 
 
 would produce per week. He calcu- 
 lated to himself in a moment the whole 
 produce of the pits, and asked the di- 
 rector whether the proprietors would 
 be willing to sell the mines to govern- 
 ment for a sum of money, which he 
 mentioned, and which exceeded what 
 they were estimated at. The director 
 replied, " No." — " I believe you," said 
 he, ic but I will give you the double of 
 that;" to which he replied, that he be- 
 lieved the proprietors would not be 
 willing to part with them. " No," said 
 Buonaparte, " but government ought to 
 derive from these pits a much larger 
 revenue than it actually does;" and 
 he intimated that they might ex- 
 pect a considerable increase of their 
 taxes. 
 
 He told the prefet that the depart- 
 ment must be taxed higher, and when 
 that officer complained of their being 
 poor, Buonaparte replied, Ci If you are 
 
133 ACCOUNT OF THJt 
 
 poor it is your own fault, for you have 
 every thing but industry to make you 
 rich;" and he added, that every de- 
 partment ought to be taxed according 
 to its ability. He seemed to have a 
 minute acquaintance with every sub- 
 ject that came before him : and rarely 
 did an officer present himself, who had 
 been with him in any of his campaigns, 
 bat he recognized him, and could tell 
 In what corps he had served,, and ia 
 what battle he had fought. 
 
 He has betrayed the greatest incon- 
 sistency with respect to the manufac- 
 tories. When he became consul he 
 issued out his edicts for the encourage- 
 ment of national industrv, wrote let- 
 ters to the prefets, recommending the 
 interests of manufactures to their at- 
 tention, ordered a number of convents > 
 in different parts of the country, to 
 be given free of rent, or at a rent so 
 tow as amounted barely to an acknovv- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 139 
 
 kdgment of their continuing the pro- 
 perty of the public, directed an annual 
 collection and public exhibition to be 
 made of the choicest articles they could 
 produce, ordained prizes for the most 
 expert mechanics and manufacturers, 
 visited them often, and seemed to take 
 a personal interest in what the workmen 
 were doing. Time has, however, given 
 us reason to believe, that all this mighty 
 parade was no more than a blind to the 
 eyes of the people, and a cover for his 
 real designs. Celebrated men in the 
 manufacturing line, who formerly were 
 consulted and courted by the consul, 
 are now scarcely spoken to by his mi- 
 nisters; and it is not long since Tally- 
 rand replied to a celebrated English me- 
 chanic, who had obtained the prize for 
 the spinning of cotton, " Don't let 
 me bear any more about your manufac- 
 tures ; I wish there were none of them 
 in the republic/' Great exertions were 
 
140 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 made by order of Buonaparte, for a 
 time, to encourage them ; but finding 
 that the people had not a true manu- 
 facturing spirit, and did not get for- 
 ward equal to his expectations, he be- 
 came weary of the pursuit, or, perhaps, 
 found his thoughts absorbed on sub- 
 jects of greater consequence. In fact, 
 having declared himself pretty plainly 
 the chief of a military government, he 
 naturally thinks the less of civil affairs. 
 The manufactories of France, in ge- 
 neral, are in a very low state ; and most 
 of the English, who, encouraged by 
 the flattering promises of the consul, 
 had established them in the republic, 
 have been grievously disappointed. 
 There are very few articles in which 
 they excel. .Their glass, and especially 
 the cut-glass, is wrought in a superior 
 style; the porcelain of Paris is no where 
 to be excelled ; some japan work has 
 been lately brought to a state of 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 141 
 
 high perfection; their fine woollen 
 cloths have always been renowned, and 
 their linens, of the best sorts particu- 
 larly, are esteemed all over the world : 
 but their iron and steel works are, in ge- 
 neral, very defective, and their polish 
 is bad. 
 
 The common woollen cloths and ho- 
 siery are ill executed, because they 
 are ill spun, and, of cotton articles, 
 though great exertions have been made 
 to improve them, they have hardly 
 anv that are fit to use. The English 
 cottons both for men and women's 
 wear, are as much esteemed in that 
 country as in this ; and if good ones 
 are to be bought there, they must have 
 come from England ; for although 
 large quantities are manufactured in 
 France, and many new fabricks have 
 been established since the peace of 
 Amiens, they have not produced any 
 yet that can compare with ours. Many 
 
142 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 causes contribute to this. The want 
 of capital induces them to buy the in- 
 ferior cottons ; they are not capable of 
 making a good thread of them, and, 
 therefore, if the workmen were good, 
 they could not make a good article. 
 But their spinning is also imperfect. 
 Englishmen have introduced the spin- 
 ning machines into France, but being 
 as yet little accustomed to their use, 
 the people do not derive a proper ad- 
 vantage from them. Besides this, 
 there is not a manufacturing spirit 
 among the people. Satisfied with small 
 possessions, and requiring but little to 
 live in independence, it never can en- 
 ter a Frenchman's head that a man who 
 has thousands will venture those thous- 
 ands in search of more. And, if he 
 has been persuaded to risk a few 
 hundreds in a manufacturing adven- 
 ture, he begins to think his money 
 lost if he do not receive his interest 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 143 
 
 in a few months, or, perhaps, in as 
 many weeks. Money is at an exorbi- 
 tant interest; one per cent, per month 
 is often paid, and little is lent under 
 eight or ten per cent, per annum. The 
 scarcity of the circulating medium is 
 so great in the departments, and even in 
 the great commercial towns, and the 
 old resources have so much disappeared, 
 that a sufficient encouragement cannot 
 be given to the mechanic to finish his 
 work. He must offer it at a low price 
 if he expect it to be sold, and con- 
 sequently must bestow less labour up- 
 on it, or work it up from inferior ma- 
 terials. 
 
 Improvements cannot be expected un- 
 der such disadvantages as these, and the 
 articles which they make must remain in 
 the same low state of advancement. 
 The articles manufactured in straw have 
 risen to a high degree of perfection in 
 
144 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 our country, and are deemed sufficient^ 
 ly elegant for the wear of the most 
 fashionable and most genteel of our 
 ladies ; and yet we are indebted to the 
 French for the invention, the best of 
 whose works would be despised by our 
 warehousemen. 
 
 Whether the trade originated among 
 the shepherds of Switzerland, or in the 
 villages of the bishopric of Liege, seems 
 to be a doubtful question ; in both these 
 places it has been known from time im- 
 memorial. Many thousands are con- 
 stantly employed at the work; it is done 
 in the same way as at Dunstable, and 
 the price of labour is extremely low, and 
 yet their best work is scarcely tolerable; 
 and the little that is good, which has 
 cost more time and pains to prepare, 
 will not fetch a price proportioned to its 
 worth. The article is in esteem, but 
 must be sold so low, that the poor 
 
STATE 6F FRANCE. 145 
 
 cottager is not paid for her extra care- 
 ful labour; therefore the* work must 
 be done quick, and consequently ill. 
 The same is true of most other articles 
 of general consumption. 
 
146 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 English manufactured Goods in great Esteem — 
 Smuggling — Custom-House Officers— Treaty 
 of Commerce. 
 
 A HE low countries, in general^ have 
 suffered great inconvenience from the 
 interruption of their commerce with 
 England. They have been always ac- 
 customed to English merchandise, par- 
 ticularly cottons of every description. 
 Nothing valuable has been exhibited in 
 their warehouses, nothing recommend- 
 ed by their tradesmen, but what has 
 been the fruit of English ingenuity. — 
 For some time past the laws have been 
 so strict against English manufactures, 
 thatit has been dangerous to have them in 
 the house. Domiciliary visits have been 
 made at different times by the soldiery, 
 and all articles, supposed to be English, 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 147 
 
 have been taken away and confiscated. 
 Now, as the English goods have al- 
 ways been the most in repute, they 
 have been imitated as nearly as possible 
 by the French artists, and much of 
 their work has been sold at the price 
 of English ; the consequence of which 
 has been, that large quantities of 
 their own manufactures have been 
 seized and condemned by the ignorant 
 satellites of an ill-informed government, 
 because they bore the resemblance of 
 foreign ; but these measures have not 
 been sufficient to prevent the smug- 
 gling of them into the interior. 
 
 A contraband trade has been kept up 
 along the banks of the Rhine, and the 
 frontiers of Holland, to a very consi- 
 derable extent. Buonaparte is well aware 
 that commerce and manufactures are as 
 the life and soul of the British nation ; 
 and he knows that his subjects are not 
 patriotic enough to refuse paying their 
 t % 
 
348 account or the 
 
 money away for a good article that 
 comes from an enemy's market ; but 
 he has sworn perdition to the English 
 trade. He satisfied himself for awhile 
 with issuing strong prohibitory laws, 
 and posting a thick cordon of custom- 
 house officers along his frontiers ; but, 
 finding these insufficient, he directed, a 
 few months ago, that the merchants 
 who were known to hold commercial 
 relations with England should be ar- 
 rested, and their papers examined. — 
 This gave rise to the discovery of 
 others; and many were made prisoners, 
 particularly those who lived on the 
 frontiers, and who were the chief instru- 
 ments in the unlawful trade. One of 
 these observed, not long since, " we 
 " could bear the occasional loss of pur 
 " property, but now it is come to the 
 " prise de corps, we must desist ;" which 
 many accordingly did. Notwithstand- 
 ing, however, all this, the smuggling 
 
STATE OF FRANCE, l4g 
 
 trade is carried on to a verv sjreat ex- 
 tent, and there is no actual want of any 
 article of British workmanship. This is 
 chiefly done by the villages that lie on 
 the borders of Holland, the laws of 
 which having been hitherto much less 
 rigid, have allowed the channel to re- 
 main open for a supply of English mer- 
 chandise. These villages are sometimes 
 visited by a detachment of French 
 troops, who, in violation of all law, and 
 under no other pretence than that they 
 know the inhabitants to be smugglers, 
 have entered their houses, seized upon 
 their property, and carried off to the 
 amount of ten or twelve waggon loads 
 at a time. Though the risk in this 
 trade is great, the gain is esteemed to 
 be sure ; for so high are these goods in 
 the estimation of the people, that they 
 will bear an advance of forty per cent. 
 before they are disposed of by the niter- 
 
150 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 chant for retail sale. Perhaps they are 
 now still higher. 
 
 An army of custom-house officers are 
 kept on the frontiers of the empire to 
 prevent the entry of contraband goods* 
 Custom-houses are built at small dis- 
 tances from one another, several being 
 under the direction of one chief, and 
 their officers are perpetually out on the 
 watch. They are all taken from the in- 
 terior of France, and are picked men, tall, 
 strong, and alert. Their manner of life 
 is hard: they seldom sleep in a bed ; most 
 of them indeed have none. They are out 
 by night as well as b}^ day on the wild 
 heath or other places where the smug- 
 glers are expected to pass, with dogs, 
 who are generally more watchful than 
 themselves. When a poor fellow is 
 taken with his load, he is condemned 
 to three months' imprisonment ; the se- 
 cond time to three years at thegallies ; 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 151 
 
 and the third to the gallies for life. The 
 half of the seizure becomes the proper- 
 ty of the officer, and only one sixth 
 goes into the public purse, the rest be- 
 ing appropriated for the general ex- 
 penses of the customs. 
 
 It is principally cotton goods, tobac- 
 co, and the produce of the West India 
 Isles, that are smuggled into France. 
 Sheets of tin are also much in request, 
 and at an enormous price ; for there is 
 not on the French territory a single 
 person who can fabricate them : 
 many attempts have been made, but 
 all have miscarried. In truth, al- 
 though the bringing: down the higher 
 orders has raised the merchant and the 
 manufacturer to the pinnacle of conse- 
 quence, yet, since that period, there 
 has not been sufficient stability and: 
 confidence in the public affairs, to 
 give birth to that degree of credit which 
 
152 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 is necessary to the success of an in- 
 dustrious nation. 
 
 This confidence seems to be gradually 
 returning : a proof of it is seen in the 
 national domains, which have risen in 
 value nearly to a par with the patrimo- 
 nial estates. It will not, however, be 
 possible for the greatest exertions of 
 patriotism, either in individuals or in 
 the state, to bring the manufactories 
 of France into competition with the 
 English for a considerable time. The 
 people at large are sensible of this, and 
 ardently desire a treaty of commerce, 
 by which an interchange of articles 
 might be allowed. Such an intercourse 
 would certainly conduce to the best in- 
 terests of both nations ; though, in 
 point of advantage, it would turn the 
 balance greatly in favour of this coun- 
 try, because the articles they want from 
 us are so much more numerous and ex- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 153 
 
 pensive than those we should have oc- 
 casion to buy from them. It has been 
 said that the emperor is sensible of 
 this, and will not, on any consideration, 
 agree to a treaty of commerce withEng-. 
 land. A dismal prospect for the lover 
 of peace, who knows the obstinacy of 
 his disposition, and the force of his 
 arms ; for the army of France was 
 perhaps never in so formidable a state 
 as it is at present, nor ever under the 
 direction of so skilful or so stubborn 
 a head. 
 
154 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Legion of Honour— Subordination of the Army 
 — Account of the Leapers — Buonaparte's 
 Tactics — Garrison Towns — Barracks — Quar- 
 tering in private Houses — Punishments — 
 Galley Prisoners — Guillotine. 
 
 THE establishment of the Legion of 
 Honour, by which the Emperor has 
 created a new species of nobility, has 
 been the means of spreading his parti- 
 zans and supporters over the whole 
 face of the republic. This institution 
 seemed originally to have been intend- 
 ed as a recompensef or the soldiers 
 who liad signalized themselves in the 
 revolutionary wars. At a very early 
 period, it was solemnly promised by the 
 National Assembly, that those who 
 survived the establishment of the li- 
 berty and tranquility of their country, 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 155 
 
 should have a part of the landed pro- 
 perty which had heen taken from the 
 emigrants against whom tliev were to 
 fight; and Buonaparte renewed this pro- 
 mise when he came into power. He 
 gave, therefore, the stars at first to 
 the officers and soldiers: to the former, 
 whose services had been signal, the 
 gold star ; and to those of Jess note, 
 the silver one : but as he judged that 
 others had deserved well of their coun- 
 try, who had not served in its armies, 
 he included a number in the legion who 
 were not soldiers ; and afterwards 
 thought fit to add all the prefets, bi- 
 shops, and presidents of the tribunals, 
 many mayors of towns, and others who 
 had distinguished themselves as his 
 friends. The legion is divided into 
 companies, and every company has a 
 portion of landed property made over 
 to it, with a steward and secretary, 
 whose business is to inspect their lands, 
 
156 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 and pay them their annual dues. The 
 private receives two hundred and fifty 
 livres per annum, the superiors a much 
 more handsome annuity ; and, at their 
 death, other persons are appointed by 
 the emperor to succeed in their room. 
 The star, or cross, as it is sometimes 
 called, resembles exactly the cross of 
 St. Louis, the badge of a distinguished 
 order under the French monarchy, and 
 is somewhat broader than a shilling, 
 with a small medallion of Napoleon 
 in the centre, and eight rays issuing 
 around it : it is tied with a red riband, 
 and fastened to the middle button-hole 
 of the coat. 
 
 The subordination of the French 
 army, and the good behaviour of its 
 men, are the subjects of commendation 
 in France. The police is so well regu- 
 lated, by the means of the gendarmerie, 
 that it is almost impossible for a cri- 
 minal of any class to escape cletec- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 157 
 
 tion. Deserters from their army, and 
 especially the young conscripts who 
 are forced against their will into the 
 service of government, are seldom 
 long before they are brought back to 
 the corps to which they had been join- 
 ed. In order to prevent desertion, they 
 are kept as much as possible at a dis- 
 tance from the department for which 
 they serve. The conscripts of the low 
 countries are sent to the southern de- 
 partments, and the young men of Pied- 
 mont are placed on the northern bound- 
 ary of the empire. 
 
 When a large army is collected on 
 one spot, soldiers from all directions 
 are to be found among them. The 
 military are well cloathed, and provid- 
 ed with arms ; their horse soldiers, 
 and particularly the Cuirassiers, who 
 have a breast-plate of brass, and a back 
 piece of the same, make a truly respec- 
 table and martial appearance. It cannot 
 
158 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 be doubted that the troops who accom- 
 pany the emperor in his tours are a 
 handsome body of men, and that their of- 
 ficer's, in particular, are dressed with a 
 distinguished elegance. It is not the cus- 
 tom with them to wear powder; they are 
 mostly cropped ; and their whiskers, 
 which are always allowed to grow as 
 long and as large as they will, give 
 them a formidable look. The ladies of 
 the Continent do not seem to object to 
 the manly appearance of the whiskers, 
 which were borrowed from the Ger- 
 mans, though perhaps our English 
 women might fancy something dirty 
 and savage in the hair curling- round 
 the upper lip, and coming almost into 
 the mouth. 
 
 The French have some battalions 
 of troops unlike any that we know : 
 they are called Leapers, and are trained 
 to the greatest agility and skill in cor- 
 poreal movements : they accompany a 
 
STATE OF FRATsTCE. 159 
 
 corresponding number of cavalry in- 
 to the field, whose horses are accus- 
 tomed to carry double, and not to start 
 when a man leaps up behind the rider. 
 Their evolutions are made with wonder- 
 ful rapidity ; they gallop away to the 
 place where they are required to act, 
 and immediately the Leapers jump 
 down, form themselves into a line of 
 battle behind the horses, and become 
 a separate army. When their orders 
 are executed, or they meet with a re- 
 pulse, they jump up again, each be- 
 hind his companion, and are carried 
 off in safety to another place. It may 
 well be conceived of what wonderful 
 service these battalions must be to a 
 General like Buonaparte, who is pre- 
 sent to command m his battles, and 
 who retains, in the midst of carnage 
 and confusion, the most perfect pre- 
 sence of mind, and has a perception of 
 every favourable occurrence in the clay 
 
160 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 of battle. A contempt of the old mili- 
 tary tactics, and a facility of improving 
 these occurrences, have hitherto given 
 him an advantage over the distinguish- 
 ed Generals of his day, who have been 
 governed by a system in which all the 
 accidents of war cannot be calculated. 
 
 Every garrison town is provided with 
 barracks, which are built large and 
 strong, where the soldiers, who are in 
 garrison, are always lodged. If their 
 numbers be greater than they will hold, 
 and they are not encamped, every 
 housekeeper is required to furnish to his 
 quota of men, a bed, a fire to cook 
 their victuals, and the utensils neces- 
 sary for that purpose. The army of 
 reserve, destined for the invasion of 
 England, was long stationed at Amiens, 
 and many housekeepers had two, four, 
 and sometimes six men quartered upon 
 them for the space of twelve months. 
 The battalions were exchanged every 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. l6l 
 
 three months for others that were on 
 the coast, and those on the coast were 
 kept upon the water, in turns, a month 
 at a time, in order to accustom them 
 to the sea. They often made short ex- 
 cursions from port to port for the same 
 purpose, and in these excursions they 
 sometimes allowed the English cutters, 
 or gun-boats, to come near enough to 
 them to make them their captives. 
 
 The discipline of the troops has been 
 always so good, that few, if any, com- 
 plaintshave been made by the inhabi- 
 tants of Amiens of the soldiers having 
 misbehaved in their families. It has 
 been said of them that they are quiet, 
 and give no unnecessary trouble. All 
 soldiers, on their march, are lodged in 
 the same way, as they pass from town 
 to town, on the inhabitants at large, 
 and not on the publicans alone; but 
 there are everv where receiving houses, 
 where they may be lodged for the 
 
 M 
 
162 
 
 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 trifling sum of sixpence per night per 
 man. Therefore, few private families 
 of respectability trouble themselves 
 with these visitors. The usual punish- 
 ment of a soldier, for misbehaviour, is 
 confinement in a dungeon : if his crime 
 has been heinous, he is flogged or sent 
 to the gallies. 
 
 The criminal laws of France are not 
 so severe by much as those of England. 
 Exposure on a scaffold on a public day, 
 and in the prison dress, is the punish- 
 ment of small offences and petty rob- 
 beries; and over the head of the culprit, 
 who is fastened by a rope to a pole, are 
 affixed his name, and the cause of his 
 punishment. For greater offences they 
 are burnt with a hot iron on the right 
 shoulder, or are condemned to the gal- 
 lies for a term of years or for life : and 
 if guilty of murder, or other very at- 
 trocious crime, they fall under the 
 guillotine. Those condemned to the 
 
STATE OF FRANCE^ H63 
 
 gallies are employed in different parts 
 of the Republic, in the public works, 
 such as digging canals, clearing ports, 
 or the like. Some hundreds have been 
 at work for two years back at Antwerp, 
 in repairing the port, and clearing the 
 river of mud and rubbish. They work 
 at the spade or barrow with iron balls 
 fastened by a chain to their legs, and; 
 are guarded by a bod)' of troops. The 
 immense canal, which is to join the 
 Northern to the Southern departments, 
 a favourite project of Niipoleon, and 
 which will bear his name, will be duff 
 out bv these miserable wretches. 
 
 Some of our readers may not be in- 
 formed of the expeditious mode of exe- 
 cution by the guillotine ; we shall there- 
 fore attempt a description of it. It is 
 fixed upon a scaffold, the axe suspend- 
 ed between two pillars, down which it 
 descends through a couple of grooves : 
 it is held up by a spring and a latch, 
 m 2 
 
164 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 from which another string falls down at 
 the side of one of the posts. The wretch 
 who has forfeited his life to his coun- 
 try's laws, ascends the scaffold by three 
 or four steps, at the top of which an 
 upright board presents itself; against 
 this his body is placed : the board is 
 let down flat on the fatal machine, two 
 straps are attached to it to fasten him 
 down if necessary, and the board isslipt 
 forward on a wheel, so as to bring his 
 neck exactly under the axe ; there it is 
 -received in a board hollowed out; and 
 another board, with a corresponding 
 hollow, is let down and fastened upon 
 it, like the pillories of England : this is 
 no sooner done, than the executioner 
 pulls the string that holds up the axe, 
 and, in the twinkling of an eye, the 
 head is severed from the body. The 
 whole operation hardly takes tip two 
 minutes. The head fails into a hole, 
 concealed by a leathern apron, and the 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. \6S 
 
 body is thrown down a trap-door un- 
 der the scaffold. The apparatus takes 
 to pieces. The usual place of execution 
 is the public market ; and the weight 
 of the axe, which is made with a slant- 
 ingedge,like our ivory cucumber slices, 
 is said to be forty pounds. In every 
 department is a civil and a criminal 
 tribunal, with a full power of life and 
 death, which are opened to hear trials, 
 more or less frequently, according to 
 the business they have in hand. From 
 these tribunals there is an appeal to the 
 Chief Justice at Paris. 
 
l6g .ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Statv of Religwn in the Low Countries — The 
 Protest ants --Particular Account of those in 
 theDepartment of J emmappes— Regulation of 
 the Catholic Church — Tythes — Hierarchy of 
 France — Appearance of the Clergy —Revival 
 of ancient Splendour — Altars in the Streets. 
 
 WE now come to the .interesting: 
 question of the state of religion among 
 the French. 
 
 Though the catholics of France have 
 been ever known to us by their spirit of 
 intolerance, yet perhaps they have not 
 really been more guilty -of that unnatu- 
 ral feeling, than other nations who have 
 been dupes to their priests. The hu- 
 man heart does not naturally foster ar- 
 bitrary principles. While harmony is 
 preserved amongst the powers of the 
 soul, and they act in their appointed or- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 16/ 
 
 der, love and benevolence will fill the 
 mind, and the genuine affections of hu- 
 manity will operate without restraint. 
 It is a mistaken notion of the great Go- 
 vernor of nature, in the displays of his 
 special favour, as taught by priests for 
 the purpose of their own aggrandize- 
 ment, that has given birth to the vio- 
 lence of party zeal, and the barbarous 
 measures of bigots. The more igno- 
 rant the people have been, the more vio- 
 lent has been this false zeal, and the 
 more murderous these destructive mea- 
 sures. These have existed among pa- 
 gans and Jews, Mahometans and Chris- 
 tians, and do not seem to be the off- 
 spring of any one system of religion, 
 more than of the rest ; for what religi- 
 ous community can say they are ex- 
 empt from them ? 
 
 The people of Flanders, and the an- 
 cient province of Hainault, have been 
 celebrated for ages back by their scru- 
 
168 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 pulous attachment to the catholfc 
 church, and have not allowed protest- 
 ants to appear publicly within their 
 borders, unless they were counte- 
 nanced by an imperial decree. Whilst 
 they were under the Spanish yoke pro- 
 testantism w r as not tolerated, and little 
 was known of the disposition of the 
 people towards it Afterwards, when 
 the court of Vienna became master of 
 the country, it began its reign by a 
 display of tolerant principles, and an 
 entire liberty of conscience. Some 
 protestant societies upon this sprang 
 up, and enjoyed the exercise of their 
 religion during a number of years, but 
 in process of time the decree concern- 
 ing liberty of conscience was repealed, 
 and the protestants ceased to assem- 
 ble for worship. It was supposed that 
 the revocation of this decree was ow- 
 ing to the misrepresentations of the 
 catholic clergy ; or ; as some have said, 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. l6*) 
 
 to the suggestions of a favourite mi- 
 nister. At the recovery of their liber- 
 ty by the French revolution, they re- 
 newed their public exercises of devo- 
 tion, and obtained the order of Buona- 
 parte after the concordat, for their mi- 
 nisters to be salaried by the state. 
 
 There are no protestants in the de- 
 partment of Jemmappes, except what 
 reside in the neighbourhood of the 
 coal-pits. Here they are pretty nu- 
 merous. Some observations respecting 
 them may be interesting, and from 
 these, inferences may be drawn respect- 
 ing the protestants in general. It ap- 
 pears that at the revocation of the 
 edict of Nantes, many of the French 
 protestants, driven by the necessity of 
 their circumstances, took refuge there, 
 where money was to be gained by work- 
 ing in the pits. There are three or four 
 villages in which they live, and during 
 the whole time of their not being ai- 
 
170 ACCOUNT, OF THE 
 
 Mowed public worship, they met at one 
 another's houses, for the exercises of 
 private devotion. About a twelve- 
 month ago, they petitioned the em- 
 peror to be incorporated into a church, 
 to have a place given for their worship, 
 and a minister paid by the state. 
 
 At the time of this application some 
 of them were in the habit of meeting 
 in a private house on the Sundays to 
 perform a religious service. This was 
 not quite consistent with the laws of 
 the realm, which give liberty of con- 
 science and worship to all, but allow of 
 no private meetings of which the ma- 
 gistrates are not informed, and the 
 purposes of which are not known. 
 The prefet was made acquainted with 
 their meeting, and that on a certain 
 day the sacrament was to be adminis- 
 tered to them by a clergyman, who 
 was settled at Valenciennes, and who 
 had long made them a visit at the be- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE* 171 
 
 ginning of every second month. This 
 magistrate was a man of an ill-favoured 
 nihul, and of a dull and surly disposi- 
 tion ; but as he had voted ia the na- 
 tional convention for the death of the 
 king, and other violent republican 
 measures, it might be supposed that 
 hie was not favourably inclined to re- 
 ligious tolerance. He had been dis- 
 appointed in his career of glory, by 
 rising no higher than a prefet, and 
 his mind had become black and 
 gloomy by family distresses and losses. 
 Prom these the transition to a blind 
 devotion and superstition is not diffi- 
 cult, and he had become the instru- 
 ment of some crafty priests, who had 
 found an asylum in his prefecture from 
 want, and who employed their influ- 
 ence over him to prevent the establish- 
 ment of a protestant church. Every 
 thing in the department may be said to 
 be dependant on the prefefs will. His 
 
172 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 representations are listened to in pre- 
 ference to the representations of pri- 
 vate individuals ; there is little chance 
 of succeeding when he opposes ; or 
 of substantiating a charge of partiality 
 or injustice against him, when he has 
 been guilty of a breach of duty, or an 
 act of oppression. 
 
 * Instigated by these priests, the pre- 
 fet ordered two gendarmes to present 
 themselves at the time of their meet- 
 ing, and take them all into custody- 
 They seized the minister and twelve 
 other persons, and conducted them to 
 tire prison of Mons. The next day the 
 minister had a conference with the pre- 
 fet, which was repeated twice after. 
 What passed in these conferences has 
 been kept a profound secret; but after 
 two days the minister was allowed to 
 return home, and, to his, shame be it 
 spoken, left his twelve unhappy hear- 
 ers, without protector or friencV in tlw 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 1%3 
 
 prison. Tliey remained there a fort- 
 night : one of them died during that 
 time, and within a week after the en- 
 largement of the eleven, all but one 
 died in a very extraordinary manner, 
 and not without suspicion of having had 
 a slow poison administered to them by 
 the direction of the catholic priests. 
 After this, the minister declined giving 
 any assistance in the establishment of 
 the church, and the business was con- 
 ducted by a notary who had frequently 
 addressed the people, and led their 
 .devotions in prayer. 
 
 Petitions to the emperor are usually 
 sent through the hands of the prefet, 
 who supports them if he thinks proper 
 with his recommendation ; but it was 
 much feared that the prefet of the de- 
 partment of Jemmappes would be trea- 
 cherous to these petitioning protest- 
 .ants. They sent an address enclosed 
 
174 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 in a letter to him, and at the same- 
 time another directed to a celebrated 
 protestant in Paris, who was to present 
 it to the emperor. The prefet did not 
 deceive them m their expectations ; he 
 suppressed that which was enclosed to 
 him, and was not a little mortified to 
 receive the imperial decree, a fortnight 
 after, for the establishment of a church 
 and the payment of a min ister ; a copy 
 of which was also sent to the people. 
 This mortification was increased when 
 he was required to be present shortly af- 
 ter, with otherpublic authorities, at the 
 opening of the church, where the same 
 gentleman performed whom he had 
 sent to prison. Thus the affair rested 
 in the month of August last : they 
 could not then procure a preacher, be- 
 cause none being permitted to hold 
 that office in the protestant church of 
 France, but those who are educated 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 175 
 
 at Geneva, the number of ministers 
 has not been equal to the demand, 
 and two or three societies are obliged 
 to unite under one pastor. 
 
 When a minister has been found and 
 accepted by the congregation, another 
 address will be presented to the em- 
 peror, stating his name, education, 
 and qualifications; and then an order 
 will be sent to the treasury, for the 
 salary to be paid to him. This salary 
 is 1200livres, or fifty pounds per an- 
 num. In all the principal towns where 
 protestants are numerous, societies have 
 been formed. The number necessary, 
 in order to ground a demand on the 
 state, is five thousand souls, which are 
 not required to reside in the same 
 place : if contiguous villages or towns 
 unite, they may have a preacher among 
 them, and a building is given from 
 the churches or chapels that were sup- 
 pressed at the revolution, A number 
 of these societies united compose a 
 
176 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 synod; and all the synods are under 
 the supreme direction of the general 
 consistory at Paris. In the south, they 
 are by far more numerous than the ca- 
 tholics, but in the northern depart- 
 ments they are only found scattered up 
 and down. 
 
 The regulation of the catholic church 
 is precisely the same. One curate is 
 allowed for five thousand souls, and 
 the same sum is paid him as a salary. 
 The curates are under the direction of 
 their bishop, and all are governed by a 
 principal assembly at the * capital. But 
 as the service of the catholic church is 
 much more complicated than that of 
 the protestant, and more servants of 
 the altar are required, the faithful are 
 
 * No step whatever can be taken by the 
 bishop, or even by the general council, without 
 the approbation of Buonaparte, not even a cu- 
 rate appointed ; so that although the pope is 
 called the supreme head of the church, the em- 
 yeror is supreme master. 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 177 
 
 obliged to furnish the assistants them- 
 selves, and these men have but too 
 often an indifferent provision. 
 
 There is at present a greater want of 
 catholic than of protestant clergy. So 
 many have emigrated, and so few have 
 been educated for the office during the 
 last fifteen years, that in the country the 
 duty of two or three churches is often 
 performed by one priest. Duringmany 
 years their stipends depended on the 
 precarious liberality of the people, and 
 at a period too when the devout had 
 lost their means of being' liberal, and 
 the new-made rich felt no dispositions 
 to cherish the priesthood : and since 
 the concordat the salaries have not 
 been regularly paid by the state ; but 
 have been generally in arrears, and 
 often not paid at all. It has been said 
 with confidence, that the emperor finds 
 the burden of the priests so heavy, and 
 his demands of a military nature so 
 
178 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 much more important, that he has it 
 in serious contemplation to re-establish 
 the tythes, and so get rid of it altoge- 
 ther. This seems the more probable, 
 as the weight would then lie on the 
 landholders, who, for the most part, 
 having purchased their estates low, and 
 enriched themselves very rapidly, may 
 be able to bear an additional tax like 
 this ; at least the people are ready to 
 say so, whatever they may think them- 
 selves. The church of Rome and its 
 priests would no doubt rejoice in such 
 an event, as it will procure them a 
 surer mean of obtaining their incomes; 
 and perhaps the protestant clergy, be- 
 ing subject to like wants, may not ob- 
 ject to receive their stipends from so 
 effectual and certain a source. But 
 there is more reason perhaps to expect 
 that the dependance of the church 
 upon the state will be wholly dis- 
 solved, and that it will have no means 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 179 
 
 of support, but what it can derive from 
 its own virtue, and the genuine influ- 
 ence it produces on the minds of men. 
 This does not seem an event by any 
 means improbable, though we cannot 
 state the period when it may be ex- 
 pected to take place, but perhaps an 
 opportunity for executing so impor- 
 tant a design may appear as the issue 
 of the grand contest in which the em- 
 peror of the French is now engaged. 
 So interesting an event as the entire 
 downfal of the hierarchy in France 
 never more to rise, is under the di- 
 rection of a Being infinitely wise. He 
 has often raised up men to execute his 
 purposes, who have seemed to be ac- 
 tuated by motives far different from 
 that of the glory of God. It is true 
 that the hierarchy has not now very 
 far to fall. 
 
 The influence of the priesthood over 
 the people is so greatly diminished, that 
 N ( 2 
 
180 ACCOtTSTT OF THE 
 
 it can no longer be considered in the 
 same formidable point of light. There 
 are but few of the faithful who now 
 conceive infallibility attached to their 
 doctrines, or any high degree of vene- 
 ration to be due to their persons. In- 
 deed from a sight of thepi, one would 
 suppose they were the very refuse and 
 sweepings of the colleges and convents, 
 so mean and shabby do they appear. 
 When the country curates came into 
 the towns, or were seen at their village 
 cures, the mind involuntarily darted 
 across the channel, and represented 
 to itself our dancing, fox-hunting, and 
 sporting, parsons, and asked whether 
 the occupations of these men were the 
 same. But in truth their situations 
 have not a greater resemblance than 
 their appearance. Taken from the 
 lowest orders, and brought up in col- 
 leges or convents where they were 
 much confined, and had no opportu- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 181 
 
 uity of knowing the world, and the 
 opinions of the better sort of people 
 being decidedly against both them 
 and their employment, they have had no 
 association, since the revolution, but 
 with the common people, and have not 
 the means of acquiring an appearance 
 more genteel, or manners more refined, 
 This was not the case with the for^ 
 mer clergy of France. They were 
 chiefly younger sons of good families, 
 who entered the church with the ex- 
 pectation of its riches and honours ; 
 whereas the present servants of the al- 
 tar have but poor prospects of worldly 
 gain, and a very small quantum in ac- 
 tual possession. Many of them go 
 through a whole service for twentv- 
 pence, and often are not paid at ail 
 And as they have but little of satins 
 and brocades, of gold and diamonds, 
 to dress out their altars and their 
 saints, the eyes of the multitude are no 
 
182 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 longer dazzled and blind to their rear 
 characters. Every exertion, indeed, is 
 made by the priests to recover the 
 splendour of their religious services. 
 A few silver saints have been cast, 
 and some new laced petticoats have 
 been put upon the virgin, the altars 
 have been decorated afresh, all the 
 relics and images of the saints have 
 been collected from the wreck of the 
 revolution, and the old processions in- 
 stituted anew, in those towns where 
 no protestants assemble to worship. 
 
 Agreeably to the old order of things, 
 not only every town is recommended 
 to the special care of a saint, but every 
 street has its patron, and every hole 
 its divinity. Uncommonly attached to 
 idleness and dancing, they eagerly em- 
 brace every pretence that their religion 
 offers to, gaiety. They fail not to com- 
 memorate the day sacred to the saint 
 who presides over their street, or their 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 183 
 
 alley, dress up an altar to his name, 
 and invite their friends to partake of 
 their merriment ; for we are not to sup- 
 pose that religion has any thing more 
 to do with these ceremonies, than as it 
 lends a name by which they may be 
 called. Sometimes indeed they will 
 chaunt a service in a contiguous cham- 
 ber: this, however, occupies but a small 
 portion of the day. Men are stationed 
 with bags, to collect money of pas- 
 sengers in the name of St. Peter or St. 
 Paul, and it is spent in the pot-house of 
 his purlieus, or upon a neighbouring 
 green. Little children are always mimics 
 of great ones. Here they imitate the re- 
 ligious ceremonies, and with the same 
 view. They spread a clean cloth (if 
 they can get one) upon a chair or ta- 
 ble in the street, set up a Bon Bleu, 
 deck it out with pictures, shells, or 
 broken china, and beg a liard for the 
 service of the altar. They are, like 
 
184 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 their teachers, importunate and trou- 
 blesome in their demands upon all who 
 pass by*. 
 
 * How numerous and costly soever their 
 saints and temples may be, there is a divinity, 
 whose rites are not the least essential to the 
 comfort of life, who is held in less reverence 
 by them, than by us. Like our northern 
 brethren, at a late period of their history, they 
 erect but few edifices to the honour of Cloacina. 
 In the villages^ and in public places otherwise 
 decent, her rites are performed without regard 
 either to their sanctity or their decency. Even 
 at Verdun, a large part of their houses are des- 
 titute of this so essential an appendage; and the 
 sacrifices of the coy goddess, are consigned to ob- 
 livion in the Meuse, or remain the dishonour of 
 their ramparts, and of every bye corner of the 
 town. English travellers with reason eomplain 
 of this great want of delicacy in the French and 
 Flemish people; for it is not possible to pass 
 through their streets without perceiving its dis- 
 agreeable effects. 
 
STATE OF FRANCE, 185 
 
 In the places where protestant, 
 churches are opened, altars in the streets 
 are not permitted, nor, indeed, public 
 processions and ceremonies of any kind, 
 lest any member of the society should 
 be scandalized by them. There the 
 catholic priest carries the host in his 
 pocket to the dying man, and the bu- 
 rial of the dead is performed without 
 pomp. The religious exercises of each 
 party are confined within the walls 
 of their respective churches. The ca- 
 tholics have themselves expressed their 
 approbation of this decision, not wish- 
 ing to see all the mummery and non- 
 sense renewed with which their streets 
 were formerly disgraced. In some cases 
 they have even assisted in the esta- 
 blishment of the protestant worship, 
 in order to restrain the power of their 
 own priests. " They are well," say 
 the) 7 , u in the churches, and when it 
 suits us we will visit them there ; but 
 
186 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 we do not wish them to stop the indus- 
 try of the people by their unexpected 
 and unseasonable interruptions." For, 
 when the procession passes in which the 
 host is carried, it is announced by the 
 tinkling of a little bell, and all are ex- 
 pected to come out of their'doors, or 
 to open their windows and kneel down, 
 on a chair, or the ground, while it is 
 going by, repeating a prayer that is ap- 
 pointed for the occasion. If it be met 
 by persons in the street, they bend 
 down on the pavement before it, a re- 
 ligious rite which is peculiarly ill-timed, 
 when a visit of ceremony is in question. 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 187 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Faith of the Catholics — The Pope's Visit to 
 Paris — Processions — *SY. George and the 
 Dragon — Advantage arising from Confes* 
 sion — Bishops — Bishop of Tournay. 
 
 IT is not possible to estimate the quan- 
 tity of the faith of the catholics of 
 France. Appearances seem rather to 
 persuade us that the services of the bet- 
 ter sort of the people, if performed at 
 all, are purely formal, and that no 
 great concussion is necessary to induce 
 them to change it for a more rational 
 system. It is certain that no kind of 
 veneration now attaches to the sove- 
 reign pontiff. Were we, indeed, to 
 form our opinion from the splendid 
 description of his late visit to Paris, 
 as given in the gazettes, and the high 
 degree of awe with which the people 
 
J88 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 are represented as having looked up to 
 him, we might suppose ourselves carried 
 back into the dark ages of Christianity. 
 But it is assuredly known, that the 
 great crowds who followed him, were 
 stimulated rather by curiosity than by 
 devotion, and when in the act of 
 receiving his apostolic benediction, they 
 doubted whether it was the effusion of 
 ignorance or of superstition, and often 
 expressed their contempt of it by loud 
 bursts of laughter. 
 
 In many of their public processions 
 there is a mixture that savours much 
 of paganism, or at least marks the 
 ignorance of earlier times, that joined 
 many things to religion, which evi- 
 dently had nothing of religion in them. 
 The priests of the present day, who 
 are not such fools as to be ignorant of 
 this, have endeavoured to exclude all 
 this extraneous matter; but the peo- 
 ple, w^ho are as fond of foolery as they 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 189 
 
 are of religion, and who would not 
 give much for the processions, if there 
 was not something comical and amus- 
 ing, as well as devout and fatiguing in 
 them, would not consent to have a 
 part without having the whole of their 
 old processions. An instance of this 
 may serve to exemplify the observa- 
 tion. In the first ages of Christianity, 
 or previously to its establishment, (for 
 the exact period is not known,) a 
 wild beast, of an hideous form, is said 
 to have inhabited a ditch in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Mons, and flying out up- 
 on all that passed, both man and beast, 
 tore them in pieces and devoured them. 
 A gentleman of Mons, known by the 
 name of George, of truly patriotic 
 feelings, ventured his life in obtain- 
 ing a sight of the beast. He made 
 up a figure as much resembling it 
 as he could, and trained a number 
 of dogs to attack and destroy it, 
 
19$ ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 When he thought them sufficiently in- 
 structed, he led them out of the town, 
 and set them upon the wild beast, 
 which he killed, and brought in triumph 
 to his house. There is now in the 
 public library the head of a monster, 
 said to have been the head of this 
 dragon, (so it is called,) which St. 
 George destroyed ; since we can not 
 wonder that this George became a saint, 
 and we are more willing to assign 
 him a nook in the temple of fame, 
 than we are to see St. Adam and St. 
 Eve there, with many others of small re- 
 nown, that are found in their calendar. 
 There are persons who believe most 
 seriously the fable of the head ; but, 
 unfortunately for their orthodoxy, 
 it is beyond all dispute the head of a 
 crocodile, and we have no authority 
 for believing that crocodiles have ever 
 existed in that part of the continent. 
 We leave it for antiquaries to deter- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 191 
 
 mine, whether this has any relation to 
 the history of the celebrated patron of 
 our country ; not knowing what story 
 our sign-posts refer to, nor where the 
 scene of his great atchieveinen ts lay. Be 
 that as it may, the scene of St. George 
 and the dragon has been represented 
 from time immemorial, in the public 
 procession on the feast day of the city. 
 A hideous figure, of a green colour, re- 
 presents the dragon, and, as one wonder 
 is often accompanied or followed by an- 
 other, the dogs are represented as per- 
 fectly unlike any that are now in be- 
 ing. The public are expected to pay 
 for the sight of a Guy Fox in Eng- 
 land, and at Mons the dragon and the 
 dogs lay the inhabitants under a pretty 
 heavy contribution. The priests were 
 desirous of reviving their annual pro- 
 cession, but did not care to unite all 
 this burlesque with the saints and re- 
 lics of their churches, which were car- 
 
192 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 ried together with the bones of the 
 holy matron, the patroness of their 
 city, on her golden car, in a solemn and 
 grand procession through the streets of 
 the town. But the magistrates and 
 people unanimously refused to have 
 the devotion without the fun, and the 
 clergy at last consented that they 
 should first laugh at the comical, and 
 then bow to the solemn part of the 
 train. 
 
 As there are few practices among 
 men of which some good may not be 
 said, it may be observed in this place, 
 that the practice of confession amongst 
 this people often affords an opportunity 
 for the discovery of irregularities and 
 thefts from the young and inexperi- 
 enced in the arts of confession. The 
 priests assume a power, which certain- 
 ly the law does not give them, of 
 shutting up their people in a dungeon, 
 which is under the church or the house 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 193 
 
 of the curate, when they choose to 
 punish them for any offence. This is. 
 done chiefly to the young; and the* 
 practice has been renewed since the 
 concordat. Things stolen are often 
 retrieved by the threat of ecclesiasti- 
 cal* censure, and of the Divine displea-r 
 sure. 
 
 The bishops, who are now the only- 
 superior clergy of the church of France,, 
 have endeavoured, by an affected show 
 of penitence and humility, to impress 
 the people with the same respect to 
 their persons which was possessed by 
 their predecessors in the apostolic of* 
 fice; but seemingly without any ef- 
 fect. The cathedral church at Tour- 
 nay formerly possessed a silver shrine, 
 containing the body of its founder, 
 which had performed many miracles, 
 and to which, of course, a high fene- 
 ration was attached. .When the pro- 
 perty of the church was sold, this was 
 
1#4 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 purchased by a gentleman who kept 
 it in his house, thinking he should one 
 day sell the silver with the bones in it, 
 much more advantageously than he 
 could the silver alone as bullion. It turned 
 out according to his expectation ; an of- 
 fer was made him for the precious relic, 
 and he accepted the price. A solemn 
 day was appointed for the installation 
 of the valuable piece of antiquity; the 
 bishop Avent bare footed, carrying a 
 heavy cross from the cathedral to the 
 gentleman's house, which was at a 
 good distance, and returned in the 
 same manner, accompanied by all his 
 priests, and as many images and relics 
 as he could procure* But it does not 
 appear that this humility produced any 
 other effect than that of exciting ridi- 
 cule and laughter. 
 
 The same bishop, having been fre- 
 quently invited to the houses of the 
 wealthy families of the place, sent 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 1<?5 
 
 thorn notes of invitation to cards and 
 supper, and took care to have it inti- 
 mated that the game would run high. 
 When his friends were assembled, with 
 their pockets well lined for the game, 
 he mounted on a table, and began to 
 descant on the poverty of the church, 
 on its inability to recover its splendour 
 and respectability, without the gener- 
 ous assistance of such as they, and so- 
 licited strongly, that the money which 
 was destined for play might be given 
 for the service of the church. One of 
 them immediately got up, and cried 
 out, " The bishop is preaching ! the 
 bishop is preaching ! Thomas put my 
 horses to !* He was followed by the 
 others, and the poor bishop was left at 
 his table alone, deprived of the last 
 hope of seeing his importance revive* 
 
 o 2 
 
196 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Atheism or Deism of France— -Blind Belief of 
 the World at large — Tendency of all Parties 
 to the Belief in a God— Buonaparte's Prudence 
 in re-estahliMngthe Ancient Worship — Family 
 Altars — Worship of linages — Bible— Prayers 
 in Latin— Con-cents— Charitable Institutions. 
 -\ 
 
 IT has been generally believed in this 
 country, that the French nation is a 
 nation of atheists. If bv the term 
 nation be meant the rulers and chiefs, 
 it may have long been, and perhaps 
 still is the case ; if the soldiery of it, 
 there can be little doubt ; if the gentle- 
 men and tradesmen, of any education 
 and rank, it may even be admitted to 
 be generally true ; for such appears to 
 be the actual fact at present. We 
 should be rather inclined, however, to 
 say, they are deists, than atheists : 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 197 
 
 for certainly the prevalence of atheism 
 is not extensive, and the terms are 
 usually confounded when men are talk- 
 ing of unbelievers : but it can hardly 
 be supposed that the mass of a people 
 will desert, without a very decisive 
 cause, the God they have been taught 
 to adore, or the religious rites to which 
 they have been blindly attached from 
 their infancy. 
 
 There is, perhaps, no large body of 
 men which does not hold, without a 
 fair examination, the religion they pro- 
 fess. The number is not great in any 
 country, of persons who have an op- 
 portunity and a capacity of examining 
 fairly the grounds of their faith ; and 
 it is still, smaller -of those who take the 
 pains of thinking about them ; there- 
 fore they turn out to be Pagans, Ma- 
 hometans, Christians, or Jews, ac- 
 cording as they happen to be born 0^1 
 the banks of the Ganges, within. sight 
 
19& Accovsr of fu.t 
 
 of the temple of Mecca, under the con- 
 clave of Rome, or in the less dignified 
 precincts of Duke's Place. How few 
 are the instances* comparatively speak- 
 ing, of those who desert their religious 
 standard, to enlist under the banners of 
 another chief! We speak not of the 
 petty divisions of contending christian 
 sects, whose question is confined to a 
 narrow compass* compared with the 
 grand divisions in the creeds of men. 
 Mahometans rarely become Jews, or 
 Jews Christians; nor do idolaters often 
 jtfin the standard of the cross. There 
 is but one marked decisive step that 
 men take in their investigations of re- 
 ligious truths : it is from all these 
 parties indifferently to join that of 
 deism. The existence of a God, whose 
 agency is every moment presented to 
 view, cannot escape from their minds ; 
 md though every idea uuited to this 
 may be abandoned* they sec him. and 
 
STATE OF FRANCE* 19$ 
 
 adore him in all his works, Hence 
 it has happened in every age of the 
 world, and in all societies of men, that 
 the enlightened and the wise have 
 united, notwithstanding the influence 
 and artifices of the priesthood, in the 
 simple belief of a God, unpolluted by 
 human devices. This was the case 
 With the ancient Greeks and Romans, 
 and has been, and still is so, amongst 
 Indians, Turks, and Christians ; a,nd it 
 has been the case also, in an eminent 
 degree, in France since the revolution, 
 England alone, of all the countries 
 of the earth, or to it, perhaps, may be 
 added some other protestant countries, 
 has had the happiness of seeing wisdom 
 and learning united in support of its 
 religion, and the most intelligent of its 
 inhabitants engaged in the belief and 
 in the defence of its faith. In most 
 other countries, and in France espe- 
 cially, the places of worship are fre- 
 
200 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 'quented chiefly by women and children, 
 and men of the lower classes. These 
 seldom ask the reason of the faith that 
 is in fhem ; or, when they do so, are sa- 
 tisfied with the declaration of the priest, 
 to whom they look for light, or are con- 
 tented with believing as they do, be- 
 cause their fathers have believed so 
 before them. 
 
 When the consul of France had pre- 
 pared the way for 'the re-appearance, of 
 religion, not being himself attached to 
 any particular creed, like a subtle le- 
 gislator, he presented to the people the 
 image they had been taught to con- 
 ceive the most lovely, and conciliated 
 their affection by healing the deepest 
 wounds of their heart. He knew that 
 the easiest way of arriving at the dig- 
 nity of an emperor, was gratifying 
 their powerful prejudices, and silencing 
 their religious fears. All the ancient 
 legislators have acted upon the same 
 
.State- of france. 201 
 
 principle, and their design has been to 
 consolidate their -own power. Ths 
 main object of ali religious establish- 
 ments has been but one, namely, to 
 controul the violent passions of men, 
 and lead them to virtue, by a principle 
 that can act on all ; but as human 
 laws cannot reach beyond the ex- 
 terior, they have required some auxi- 
 liary more penetrating than themselves, 
 something that can find its way to the 
 heart. Reason is not generally the so- 
 vereign guide of men ; sensible impres- 
 sions are the more common instigators 
 to action. The conduct of men is 
 usually prompted by sensible impres- 
 sions, and little can be judged of the 
 ground- work of their faith from the 
 actions themselves. There has been, 
 indeed, some variety in the moral cha- 
 racter of the systems of their lawgivers; 
 but this variety has often arisen from a 
 difference of climate, or the peculiar 
 
202 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 turn of mind by which the society has 
 been distinguished. 
 
 The avowed atheism or deism of 
 France, has been chiefly confined to 
 men of letters and education, and the 
 young men who, from the jeers of so- 
 ciety, have been led to suspect, and 
 then to abandon, the belief of Christia- 
 nity. There are, however, many 
 among them who attend the mass, 
 because they see and acknowledge a 
 decency and propriety in exercises of 
 devotion, and because they think that 
 any religion is better than none at all 
 
 It ought to be confessed that, 
 whencesoever the sources of their faith 
 have arisen, the majority of the lower 
 orders, and many of the middling ones, 
 are sincere believers in the doctrines of 
 the catholic church, and upright in 
 the discharge of the duties it requires. 
 In their attention to the externals of 
 religion, in which they conceive great 
 
STATE OF THtAXCE. 203 
 
 .merit to consist, they are much to he 
 .commended, and might often he imi- 
 tated, in England, we hear of the fa- 
 mily altar among those christian sect§ 
 •who are most attached to ceremonials. 
 In France rhe bb'mg exists in reality: 
 the Virgin Mother, with the infant Sa- 
 viour in her arms, offers to the view 
 the grand ohject of their faith ; and on 
 every day of particular note, candles 
 are lighted before her, that the institu- 
 tions of religion may not, through a 
 habit of negligence, be fon-xiten in 
 their families. What the eye perceives, 
 the heart will, in some measure, feeL 
 We know not how the effect is pro- 
 duced, but in this we behold the God 
 ©f nature converting, by a power un- 
 known to us, the material object into 
 -a mental impression. 
 
 It certainly is not true, as often 
 maintained by our divines, that the 
 poor ignorant catholics pay an adora- 
 
J204 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 tion to their images, and worship their 
 saints. The warm opposers of popery, 
 ■at the time of the reformation, even 
 ♦the enlightened and the learned, hold 
 out this idea strongly in their writings ; 
 . ;hut we believe, the catholics of the 
 present day regard their images only as 
 the representatives of their saints, and 
 their saints as the friends and compa- 
 nions, of their God, through whom they 
 •apprehend that their prayers will be 
 jmore likely to meet with acceptance, 
 than if presented by themselves to their 
 Maker. They also consider the saints 
 in the same light that, the ancients re- 
 garded the sylphs and genii, appointed 
 to be their guardians and protectors, to 
 convey the favours of the Most High to 
 •them, and their petitions to the throne 
 of his grace. 
 
 The main body of the catholics have 
 never seen the bible. It is the principle 
 -of their teachers, that they cannot un- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. £05 
 
 derstan'd its contents, and that ttie only 
 portion necessary for their information 
 is the historical part. They have, 
 therefore, a history of the bible, which 
 they put into the hands of all their 
 young people. In this are cbntained the 
 lives and characters of its heroes and its. 
 saints, with the comments of the fa- 
 thers upon them. These are all spi- 
 ritualized ; and eminent divines have 
 discovered no small degree of inge- 
 nuity in tracing parallels, and drawing, 
 inferences which suit the system which 
 they support. The people are instructed 
 in the doctrines of their religion from 
 the canons of the church and the de- 
 crees of its councils. Since then the 
 doctrines and the examples are derived 
 to them from other sources, they can 
 have no need of the original work, and 
 no bibles are seen among them. The 
 protestants do not appear to have any 
 particular want of bibles, or, if they 
 
20fi ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 have, it is their own fault, as they ai# 
 to be had,, by means of the booksellers, 
 from the presses of Switzerland and of 
 Holland. 
 
 The prayers of the church of Rome 
 are said by the priests in Latin. There 
 can be no doubt that the origin of this 
 practice is in the universality of the 
 language in the prior ages of the 
 church, and the desire that they have 
 had of preserving the strict unity of its 
 worship : but it is not the less true that 
 the people, who have never learnt 
 Latin* are not ignorant of the mean* 
 ing of the prayers, but know as well 
 What the priest is saying as if it were 
 delivered in their native tongue. It is 
 customary for them to have a prayer 
 book, with Latin on one side and 
 French or Flemish on the other ; and 
 they repeat in their own language, while 
 the priest repeats in Latin. It does 
 not seem to be of the first importance 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 207 
 
 with them to have the exact sentence 
 in their mouths which the priest is ut- 
 tering at the altar. This is not possible, 
 for the churches are often so large, and 
 many of the people at so great a distance 
 from the priest, that they cannot hear 
 him when his back is turned towards 
 them, and therefore go through the 
 prayers each for himself; and are in- 
 structed by the tingling of a bell, by 
 the change of the priest's position, and 
 by other signals, of the part at which 
 lie has arrived, and the posture they 
 are to assume. 
 
 Once on the Sunday, and sometime? 
 twice, a sermon is delivered in the "lan- 
 guage of the country ; but it is not 
 deemed so much a duty to attend the 
 instructions of the pulpit as to join in 
 the service at the altar. Had the chief 
 of the great nation declared decidedly 
 in favour of the protestant religion, and 
 exerted all his influence to establish it, 
 
208 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 there is little doubt that he might have 
 succeeded, by degrees, in persuading 
 the people to become protestants, be- 
 cause protestant preachers alone would 
 have been paid by the state; and a great 
 number who, through decency, go to 
 mass, would, from the same motive, 
 (a motive perhaps that is more preva- 
 lent in the world than we are aware of) 
 have gone to the protestant chureh> — 
 The v public authorities would have been 
 protestant, and the people would event- 
 ually have followed in their train. True 
 religion would have been furnished with 
 an opportunity of dispiaying.its native 
 excellence, and those who allow them- 
 selves to think, would have been per- 
 suaded to adopt it But it is not rea- 
 sonable to suppose that, without some 
 such powerful attraction, they should 
 quit the catholic church for another. 
 Except in the South of France, they 
 know nothing of what the reformed re- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 209 
 
 ligion is, and have always been taught 
 to entertain the most contemptible or 
 most absurd notions concerning it : 
 and even in the South, where societies 
 have been long formed, arid are nu- 
 merous and respectable, it does not ap- 
 pear that converts have been made from 
 the church of Rome. The number of 
 protestants remain nearly the same, with- 
 out any apparent accession or diminu- 
 tion. 
 
 The strides which the priests have 
 made for the recovery of their power, 
 have induced some persons to believe 
 that the convents will be soon permit- 
 ted to re-open. At present none of these 
 are allowed. Many of the priests and 
 nuns, whose qualifications to educate 
 youth have appeared satisfactory to the 
 prefets, have had convents given to 
 them free of rent, on the promise of 
 teaching a number of poor children 
 gratis. In some of these the women. 
 
210 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 have ventured to receive noviciates, 
 who have declared their intention of 
 taking the veil. The age at which the 
 first part of these ceremonies is per- 
 formed is fourteen : they remain in the 
 convent till arrived at their twentieth 
 year, before the oaths of celibacy and 
 dedication to God are pronounced, and 
 the veil solemnly put on. If they re- 
 pent of their project before that age, 
 they are not admitted ; if otherwise, 
 they are received into the sacred or- 
 ders. As far as conscience is concern- 
 ed, monks and nuns may still be made, 
 and, if they please, they may be faith- 
 ful to their vow r s ; but if afterwards the 
 temptations of life should induce them 
 tQ violate their religious engagements, 
 they are free so to do, and are amenable 
 to no tribunal. 
 
 The government does not seem to 
 concern itself about the women, many 
 of whom have taken the order within 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 211 
 
 the last few months ; but they are more 
 watchful over the men, whose influ- 
 ence, in their religious character, is 
 more to be feared, and will not allow 
 them at present to take any step of the 
 -kind. A society of these, who conduct 
 a manufactory in the neighbourhood of 
 Mons, being suspected of an intention 
 to recruit their numbers, lately received 
 from the magistrates an absolute in- 
 junction to obey the laws in this re- 
 spect, at the peril of being put under 
 arrest. At the dissolution of the con- 
 vents, pensions were appointed by the 
 convention to the monks and nuns, 
 but these have been generally ill paid, 
 or not paid at all. They were allowed 
 from two hundred to live hundred 
 livres ; but the deed that authorizes 
 them to demand it of the receiver-ge- 
 neral of the department, has been 
 no better than waste paper in their 
 pockets. 
 
212 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 It may not be amiss to mention, as 
 connected with the affairs of religion, 
 the charitable institutions that now ex- 
 ist in the country. These have been 
 organized anew since the reign of Buo- 
 naparte, and are now on a most respec- 
 table footing. The hospitals are large, 
 and well supported ; one for the civil 
 and another for the military depart- 
 ment in every principal town. In some 
 places these are united in an old abbey, 
 or other large range of buildings. The 
 orders of nuns also still exist, whose oc- 
 cupation was the benevolent office of 
 nursing the sick. The Beguines and 
 others have been allowed to remain in 
 their houses, being found so necessary 
 for the relief of the poor and afflicted ; 
 but their landed property has been 
 taken away ; and as the sisters die, the 
 societies will doubtless become extinct. 
 There are also some institutions revived 
 for the maintenance of the old and in- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 213 
 
 firin, as well as for the diseased in 
 mind. In every department is an or- 
 phan school for poor children, who are 
 so unfortunate as to lose their parents. 
 In that of Mons, there are never less 
 than five hundred, and often many 
 more, where they are brought up in 
 industry, taught to read and write, and 
 placed out as apprentices to the work- 
 ing trade which they prefer. 
 
 There are also foundling hospitals, 
 for the reception of the unhappy babes 
 Avho are the fruits of illicit love ; and 
 who, in places where these charities do 
 not exist, are too often made the 
 sacrifice of their mothers' fears 5 or in- 
 ability to nourish and maintain them. 
 Some have doubted, whether these in- 
 stitutions are not the instigators to 
 vice, rather than the cause of removing: 
 it ; and whether young women have 
 not abandoned themselves the more to 
 
214 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 licentiousness, because they know that 
 the fruits of their guilty commerce 
 will be provided for at the public 
 charge. But as the taking life away 
 must be a crime of an infinitely blacker 
 dye, than the giving it under any 
 circumstances whatever; and .as we 
 may presume that the parents of these 
 children think but little of the effect, 
 while they become the cause; and as 
 we know, that the forlorn and aban- 
 doned lover may usually be induced 
 to preserve the fruit of her 'womb, 
 when she can place it in a charity, 
 where every provision is made for it, 
 avc cannot scruple to admit the expe- 
 diency and the humanity of the insti- 
 tution. At Mons there are nearly a 
 thousand children in the foundling 
 hospital ; and thfe number of these 
 hospitals being considerable, they must 
 give a large accession of physical 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 215 
 
 strength to the republic. When a 
 child comes in this way into the 
 world, whose mother cannot, or will 
 not maintain it, it is wrapped up, and 
 laid in a basket at the door of a di- 
 rector, or other reputable tradesman, 
 and he sends it, with an account of its 
 having been found, to the hospital. 
 
 There is also in each town a public 
 workhouse, which is open to all who 
 cannot maintain themselves by their 
 labour, and where they always find 
 employment. All kinds of works are 
 carried on there, and a good dinner of 
 soup and bread provided. The poor 
 who live in the town, may go there 
 for their work and their loaf, and re- 
 turn in the evening to their houses 
 with the money they have gained. 
 Whole families are admitted, if they 
 desire it. All who can work, are em- 
 ployed ; and the little ones are put into 
 
£16 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 a room together, where they are 
 attended by the aged, who are past 
 labour. So that, in fact, there is no 
 necessity that any one should beg, or 
 starve, at present in France. 
 
.STATE OF FRANCE. 217 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 State of Education— Schools, primary and se- 
 condary — Lyceums — Buonaparte^ s School at 
 Fontainbleau — The Pritanee ^-Objects of Stu- 
 dy — Old Colleges — University of Louvain. 
 
 IT is an important question relative to 
 every people, what is the state of edu- 
 cation amongst them ? Before the re- 
 volution, the lower orders in France 
 received no education at all; for none 
 was wanting in the kind of training 
 that their priests thought it necessary 
 to give them, and the nobles were not 
 more desirous than they of enlight- 
 ening the minds of their vassals. The 
 low countries, however, abounded in 
 colleges and universities, which have 
 been celebrated for the learned men 
 whom they have produced. The stu- 
 dents were of the noble families, or 
 
SIS ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 young men designed for the learned 
 professions : their numbers, therefore, 
 could not have been very large. The 
 middling classes of life were greatly 
 confined in their ideas, and sought 
 after no information but what would 
 assist them in getting money. Dur- 
 ing the anarchy of republicanism, it 
 was a crime for a man to be wise ; and 
 many lost their heads for the same rea- 
 son that others did their warehouses, 
 because they were too well stored. 
 Every thing that looked like learning 
 was devoted to destruction ; and what 
 constitutes the pride and happiness of 
 society, knowledge, and wealth, were 
 alike marks every where set up to be 
 shot at : and, as a fool once set fire to 
 the grandest repository of human sci- 
 ence, and celebrated his name by de- 
 priving the world of its splendour; so 
 the fools of France will be ever famed 
 in the page of history, for having 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 21^ 
 
 extinguished every spark of science, 
 and destroyed every line of literature 
 that fell in their way. The people 
 then became immersed in ignorance, 
 though boasting of their " age of rea- 
 son," and abandoned to its low-born- 
 licentiousness which is its natural com- 
 panion. 
 
 One of the first things that the 
 legislature did, after emerging from 
 this short night of darkness, was tcf 
 organize the public schools and col- 
 leges ; to endow them ; to appoint the 
 most distinguished masters that could 
 be found, to direct them; and to animate 
 the youth by occasional visits and re- 
 wards of their industry, and their genius. 
 In this, Buonaparte has acted a most 
 conspicuous part, both by his decrees 
 and his personal attentions. The plans 
 of the public schools, and the names 
 they have borne, have been changed 
 several times ; and no person is allow- 
 
220 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 ed to exercise the art of teaching, 
 either in these, or in private semi- 
 naries, in any part of the republic, 
 without he be first authorized by the 
 magistrates, who require written testi- 
 monials of his talents and moral charac- 
 ter, signed by respectable merchants, 
 or men well known. The lowest of 
 these schools are called the primary 
 schools, and teach reading, writing, 
 and arithmetic ; above them are the 
 secondary, in which are taught the 
 classics and mathematics, &c. or what 
 the French and Scotch call, the hu- 
 manities. These schools are not paid 
 by the government, but generally have 
 a place furnished them for their classes 
 to meet in; and receive such other 
 encouragement as is likely to stimulate 
 their youth in the pursuit of their stu- 
 dies, and render them worthy a place in 
 the lyceums, into which they are not 
 admitted till they have distinguished 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 221 
 
 themselves in the lower houses of edu- 
 cation. These have public examina- 
 tions once a year, to which the magis- 
 trates and principal inhabitants of the 
 towns which contain them, are in- 
 vited ; and which are, in general, 
 usefully and well conducted. 
 
 The lyceums are regulated on a su- 
 perior scale. One of these is opened 
 in every military division : an extenr 
 sive range of buildings is appropriated 
 to their use ; and the professors, who 
 receive their salaries from the em- 
 peror, are men of the very first rate 
 abilities. At the head of all these, is 
 generally reckoned Fontainbleau. This 
 is the favourite school of Buonaparte ; 
 which he visits frequently in person, 
 and where he collects the young men 
 who are the most eminent for their 
 abilities, and the most distinguished 
 by the advancements they have made 
 in the other departments of the empire* 
 
222 . ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 Here is his grand military school, 
 ■where his young soldiers and generals 
 are formed, previously to their appear- 
 ing in his more public school, the 
 wars. 
 
 If the objects of education be law 
 or divinity, there are universities at 
 which the vouns: men finish their stu- 
 dies. There is also a celebrated school 
 at Paris, called the Pritan^e, where 
 the sciences are studied under every 
 possible advantage. The large col- 
 lection of antiques from different parts, 
 in painting, sculpture, &c. are ren- 
 dered essentially useful to the young 
 students. The education received in 
 the schools and colleges of old France 
 is esteemed much superior to that of 
 the conquered country ; for, in the 
 latter, it still remains in the hands of 
 the priests. Their method of teaching 
 the Latin, for we hear nothing of the 
 Greek in their schools, is much easier, 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 223 
 
 and less fatiguing to the youth, than 
 that of the English seminaries : more 
 is done by dictation and exercise, than 
 by committing to the memory. They 
 attend to the mythology of the an- 
 tients, geography, history, and rational 
 arithmetic (arithmetique raisonnee), 
 which includes the lower mathema- 
 tics; but their philosophy, and study 
 of the belles lettres, are cramped, by the 
 fear of speaking too plain. It will 
 perhaps be hardly credited, that an 
 esteemed professor in the college of 
 Mons, when asked not long ago by 
 one of his scholars, a question relative 
 to the antipodes, replied, " we never 
 talk of that, it is an heretical notion/ 5 
 Though they do not dare to confine sci- 
 ence within the narrow limits that their 
 ancestors had marked out, yet they 
 cannot give it ail the latitude it enjoys 
 in the colleges of our island. The 
 mysteries and fables of their religion 
 
224 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 still form a favourite part of their ex- 
 ercises ; and going to mass, saying 
 their catechism,and reading their church 
 history, occupy a large portion of their 
 valuable hours of study. This *is not 
 the case at the lyceum at Brussels, the ! 
 national college : no studies relative to 
 religion are allowed there, except on 
 the Sunday, and then only within the 
 walls of their chapel. In the lyceums, 
 chairs are established for teaching the 
 modern languages, and particularly the 
 eastern ; from which we may conclude, 
 that the heart's desire of Buonaparte 
 respecting Egypt, is not given up, but 
 will be renewed at the earliest period, 
 when an opportunity presents itself. 
 During the peace, the project was made 
 and decided upon by him, to appoint 
 an English professor in each lyceum ; 
 but now, the very sound of the word 
 sets his whole soul into such a ferment, 
 that it certainly will not be executed 
 
STATE OF FRANCE 225 
 
 till the war is over. All the old col- 
 leges in Flanders, which were sup- 
 pressed in the revolution, and have 
 lost their endowments, have remain- 
 ed in this state till the present 
 day. Latterly, an attempt lias been 
 made to revive the celebrated college 
 of Louvain, and they have now some 
 professors of great character and repu- 
 tation. The old buildings have long 
 been occupied as barracks for invalid 
 soldiers, and it is presumable thatthey 
 will not be turned out. The students 
 are lodged in the town, and their 
 numbers have been greatly augmented 
 during the last twelve months. 
 
226" ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Amusements of the Lore Countries— Archer y-r- 
 The Game of the Ball — Dancing — Village 
 Festivals — Observance of Sunday — Intoxica- 
 tio n — R eligious Feasts, 
 
 TlIE principal amusements of the Low 
 Countries are peculiar to themselves ; 
 archery is one of them, and the arrows 
 are directed perpendicular into the air. 
 When the arrow was the principal wea- 
 pon of annoyance to an enemy, in 
 order to encourage the use of it, and 
 to improve the men in the art of 
 using the bow, prizes were instituted 
 by the municipality of every town 
 and village, to be given on the day of 
 its feast, and the bowmen were in- 
 vited from the neighbouring places to 
 shoot at wooden birds, that were fixed 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 227 
 
 upon a pole from forty to sixty feet 
 in height, raised up in the market- 
 place. The smallest of the prizes was 
 given for the first bird that fell, and 
 the most valuable to the man that 
 brought down the last. They were 
 various, as the municipality chose to 
 select them : a silver coffee-pot or 
 drinking-mug, half a dozen silver 
 spoons, a set of china, a dozen of 
 pewter plates, or some other useful 
 article of house-keeeping, that will re- 
 main with them and their posterity as 
 a proof of their skill. This amuse- 
 ment still continues, and the prizes 
 are still given, though the art is be- 
 come of little value ; and since the in- 
 vention of gunpowder they have added 
 prizes for the best marksman with a 
 musket. 
 
 Prizes are also given to those who 
 discover the most muscular strength 
 and agility at the game of the ball. It is 
 Q 2 
 
228 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 a stnatl white one, which is struck with 
 thje open hand into the adversaries' 
 ground/ whose business it is not to 
 let it rest there, but drive it back 
 again. Parties are formed sit this 
 play frf village against village, and 
 town against town, and the most 
 expert party gains the prize. Both 
 the arrow-shooting and the game of 
 the ball are under the inspection of 
 the officers of the police, who attend 
 as umpires of the games. The same 
 exercises are observed at the village 
 festivals or wakes, and the crowds that 
 attend them are very considerable: 
 besides these are the little gaming 
 tables of rouge and noir , where the 
 usual stake is a halfpenny, or per- 
 haps a hard- The servants and cot^ 
 tagers join in a dance under a spread* 
 ing tree, if there happen to be one in 
 the centre of the village, while the 
 farmers with their friends from the- 
 
STATE OP FRANCE- 229 
 
 towns, keep the best musicians em* 
 ployed in the orchard of the public 
 house, where the juice of the grape is 
 freely banded about. From an early 
 hour after dinner their amusements 
 continue till evening on the green, 
 and then they retire into the houses, 
 M'here the mirth is kept up till morn- 
 ing. * 
 
 With dancing and with merriment 
 a Frenchman is not easily tired. These 
 diversions beinn on the Sunday, which 
 is always the day of the greatest note, 
 because it is the day of the greatest 
 leisure, and because their religion does 
 not forbid such a use of the day, and 
 it continues generally through the 
 Monday and Tuesday. There is usu- 
 ally a considerable number of villages 
 surrounding the great towns, and not 
 unfrequently the citizens reckon upon 
 thirty or forty of whose pleasures they 
 expect to partake. Every Sunday k a 
 
£30 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 dancing day in France through the sum- 
 mer months, and they are so fond of 
 this amusement that the Monday also 
 is dedicated to it by the giddy youth, 
 who do little else than sleep in the 
 morning and dance at night. Public 
 dancing places are built in the vicinity 
 of the towns, where a large area, 
 covered with a natural or artificial 
 awning, and provided with a move- 
 able floor, is surrounded sometimes 
 by a double row of boxes for the ac- 
 commodation of the distinct compa- 
 nies ; to these are added promenades 
 planted with shrubs, and shaded ; and 
 here all the inhabitants indifferently 
 resort to their pleasures. 
 
 It must be acknowledged that a 
 people who find their amusement in 
 exercises so healthy, so invigorating, 
 and so little mischievous as these are, 
 when not pursued to excess, are better 
 entitled to the character of rational 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 231 
 
 and humane, than others; who take a 
 delight in torturing and murdering by 
 inches the animals that God has pro- 
 vided for our defence and our nourish- 
 ment. Bull-baiting, bear-baiting, and 
 cock-fighting, are neither good for 
 the promotion of health, nor for the 
 improvement of the social feelings } 
 they are calculated rather to brutalize 
 the human race. Would it could be 
 said, that in none of the amusements 
 of the French there entered inhu- 
 manity and cruelty ! They have one 
 to the account of which these must be 
 charged : a cock, a hen, or a duck, is 
 hung up by the legs, so high that by 
 leaning thev can reach it. The lads, 
 and the lasses too, of the lowest orders, 
 we may well presume, (and to the 
 shame of the tender sex be it spoken), 
 are blindfolded, and starting from a 
 fixed distance with a sabre in their 
 hand, aim at the poor animal, andeii- 
 
232 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 deavour to cut off its head. The per- 
 son who succeeds becomes possessor of 
 the bird, and bears it off in triumph 
 to furnish a supper for his friends. 
 This is a pastime which belongs to the 
 province of Hainault, and ought not 
 to be charged to the account of the 
 French. Drunkenness was a vice lit- 
 tle known in France before the revo- 
 lution ; it was rare to see a man, either 
 in the higher or lower circles of life, 
 in a state of intoxication. In the in- 
 ferior circles the common amusement 
 was dancing, to qualify them for 
 which thev drank enough to make 
 them gay, but not enough to make 
 them stupid ; and the better sorts who 
 were free enough in circulating the 
 bottle, drank the wine with their meals, 
 and after the desert finished the repast 
 with a cup of coffee. This still con- 
 tinues to be their practice; and they 
 often express their surprise, haw crea- 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 233 
 
 tures formed for society, and capable 
 of enjoying its sweets, and especially 
 a people so capable of rational con- 
 versation as the English, can allow 
 themselves to lose all its relish, and 
 plunge themselves into broils and mis- 
 chief for a gratification so brutal. A 
 material change has taken place in the 
 lower orders, who have been taughc by 
 the Austrian prisoners and new sub- 
 jects to smoke tobacco and drink beer, 
 both of which are now consumed in 
 large quantities, particularly by the 
 soldiery, and a great deal of intoxica- 
 tion is the consequence. This may 
 also in part be attributed to the dissi- 
 pation that followed in the train of 
 liberty. 
 
 All religious feasts were originally 
 abolished in France, but by the con- 
 cordat the four principal ones were 
 revived by order of government, which 
 neither knows nor acknowledges any 
 
£54 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 other. The decades have been wholly 
 set aside, and the new calendar would 
 have given place to the old one at the 
 same time, but for the difficulty that 
 was apprehended from all public acte 
 and private contracts having borne for 
 so long a time the dates of the repub- 
 lican almanack. But the old calendar 
 will appear in all the acts of state from 
 the beginning of the present year 
 (1806). Since the renovation of re- 
 ligious days and religious ceremonies, 
 the fanatical and idle part of the peo- 
 ple have professed to believe, that the 
 holy Father was led by necessity to 
 consent that the rest of their feasts 
 should remain suppressed, and that it 
 is their duty to respect their saints by 
 idleness and diversion, rather than their 
 family by industry and labour. Many 
 more of the feasts therefore are observ- 
 ed by the priests and some of the peo- 
 ple, and especially in the Low Cour^ 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 235 
 
 tries. wSo much devotion, or shall we 
 rather say so much idleness and diver- 
 sion ? must needs have a very sensible 
 effect on the labouring and manufac- 
 turing part of the community. The 
 price of labour is always low, but it is 
 rendered so much less productive by 
 these perpetual interruptions, that it 
 would not be possible for the people to 
 subsist without a frugality that keeps 
 pace with their sloth. Had we not al- 
 ready seen the causes why manufac- 
 tures do not flourish in France, we 
 might find an adequate cause in this. 
 
$3§ ACCOUNT OW TrtJE 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 French Economy — Vegetable Stezcs and Soups 
 — National Prejudices — National Character 
 of the English — Feeding of Cattle — Econo* 
 my of Fuel. 
 
 NECESSITY is the mother of inven- 
 tion, and it has been so in a conspi- 
 cuous manner in the French kitchen, 
 where a small quantity of provision is 
 made to assume a respectable figure, and 
 the simple fruits of the earth are cook- 
 ed in a thousand forms. Independent 
 of the necessity arising from poverty, 
 their religion enjoins on them a fre- 
 quent abstinence from meat. Fish is 
 so scarce and dear in the time of war, 
 particularly in the interior, that it is 
 not possible for the generality of the 
 people to taste it, and they are not ac- 
 
STATE OF TRANCE. 237 
 
 quaintcd with the variety of ways 
 in which we make up oar flour 
 into puddings. If then their tables 
 are spread on a meagre day, it must 
 be with, vegetables, and vegetable 
 soups, whifch they prepare in a supe- 
 rior manner. Much as the English- 
 man may laugh at the soup-meagre 
 andsallads of the French, when his 
 table is before him, loaded with huge 
 pieces of beef, and fenced round with 
 smiling goblets of ale,, it were much 
 to be wished, for the happiness of our 
 middling and lower orders, that some 
 of the French economy could be intro- 
 duced into their families. 
 
 Vegetables are generally considered 
 by us as a relish for our meat rather 
 than as a source of nourishment to our 
 bodies ; but nothing is more certain, 
 than that vegetables, when properly 
 dressed, afford good and nourishing 
 juices, and of themselves arc able- to 
 
238 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 maintain the force of a strong man. 
 What but they, sometimes with a pro- 
 portion of grain, and sometimes with- 
 out, give strength to the horse, and 
 bulk and fatness to the ox? and what 
 but they give nourishment to the other 
 animals, who become themselves the 
 food of man ? When vegetables are 
 boiled in water till their best juices are 
 extracted, and in that state presented 
 upon our tables, it is not wonderful 
 that their grosser particles afford us lit- 
 tle or no nourishment; but when stew- 
 ed in their own moisture, with the 
 addition of a small quantity of butter, 
 they contain more nourishment than 
 the over-boiled meat upon which we 
 often feed. The different mixtures of 
 vegetables seasoned with herbs and 
 spices, furnish a variety of pleasant 
 food ; and, if well stewed and then 
 boiled into a soup by a skilful cook, 
 are not to be distinguished from soups 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 239 
 
 in which a quantity of meat has been 
 boiled ; especially if mixed with peas, 
 rice, French beans, vermicelli, or other 
 such things. This will be confessed 
 by all travellers on the continent, , on 
 whose minds the caricatures of Ho- 
 garth have not made too deep an im- 
 pression. 
 
 National prejudices are usually 
 strong, and those which distinguish 
 the Englishman are perhaps as pow- 
 erful as any that have ever existed, 
 notwithstanding the contiguity of his 
 residence to the continent, and the fre- 
 quent visits he makes to it It may 
 be said, " they are so with reason, for 
 the Englishman no where finds the 
 comfort and family happiness, which 
 he sees at home." And this is certainly 
 true* No nation has given so com- 
 plete a finish to life, (if so we may be 
 permitted to express the idea), as the 
 English have done; and this no doubt 
 
£40 ACCdvifT tiF fin, 
 
 is the cause of that strong national 
 character for which the English are 
 famed by foreigners;, and yrhith they 
 acknowledge to be the greatest hap- 
 piness of our nation. It is the 
 bond of union, it is the rallying point 
 of our countrymen. Wherever they 
 are found, they love to see English 
 goods, and English faces, and we may 
 add English characters too, and> 
 knowing well their worth, they think 
 them cheap at any price. By this 
 means English manufactures have be- 
 come known, and well known too, in 
 all parts of the world, and their value 
 is appreciated by the other nations. 
 Frenchmen have observed, " If we 
 could have amono 1 us so strong a na- 
 tional character as you have among 
 you, France would eclipse all the world 
 in a few years in power and in wealth ; 
 and would do it, not by conquests* 
 which knav he !os* koon rvfrcr Inev are 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 241 
 
 acquired, but, on the surer basis of 
 worth and respect." But the French- 
 man is as much too pliant, and too 
 little attached to his country and its' 
 produce, as the Englishman is too 
 stubborn, and too unwilling to learn 
 from another. For certainly there is 
 no country that has not some virtue in 
 it, which, if adopted by our own, 
 might render us still more perfect in 
 national felicity. If life could be ren- 
 dered more sweet, and the hardness of 
 the times, the common subject of com- 
 plaint, in some measure removed, it 
 would be of little consequence from 
 what source the cause of it arose. 
 And certainly it might be so in many 
 cases, if the best use were made of the 
 bountiful provisions of nature. 
 
 Upon the continent, not in France 
 and Flanders only, but also in Holland, 
 the economy of provision is extended 
 to the cattle, The wife of our modern 
 
242 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 farmer would doubtless think her time 
 ill employed in making vegetable soups 
 for her cows ; but no day in summer 
 or in winter is allowed to pass there, 
 without a trough of soup being given 
 to these animals in the morning, and 
 it is frequently given in the evening 
 also. It is made up of different ingre- 
 dients, according to the season of the 
 year ; and, whatever may be said of 
 the summer months, when there is an 
 abundance of moist food in the fields, 
 it must be highly useful in the winter 
 season, when their food is dry, and 
 furnishes but little milk. A root, 
 which resembles a turnip in its colour, 
 and a large thick carrot in its form, is 
 what gives it its chief strength in the 
 winter: the chaff and sweepings of the 
 barns are boiled with it, and sometimes 
 a quantity of hay or straw. In the 
 spring, when food becomes most scarce, 
 the women collect the thistles, nettles, 
 
STATE OF FRANCS. 243 
 
 and long grass that grow up in the 
 hedges and ditches, and also the weeds 
 that are gathered out of the corn when 
 it is cleaned. It is common for the 
 day labourers to keep a cow with lit- 
 tle or no land to feed it on. It is fed 
 in this frugal way, the wife and chil- 
 dren providing the victuals ; and thus 
 the markets are supplied with a consi- 
 derable quantity of butter and cheese 
 even in winter. They give bread to 
 their horses, when they travel, either 
 in waggons or diligences. This is 
 made of rye without fermentation, 
 and is esteemed more profitable and 
 heartening, than grain in an unmanu- 
 factured state. 
 
 The general economical principle of 
 the French, is to prepare by fire, all 
 the food for themselves, and a great 
 deal for their cattle, and they scarcely 
 ever eat any thing but what is hot, 
 for heat with the food assists the di- 
 e 2 
 
244 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 gestion, and of itself even adds to its 
 nourishment They use the same eco- 
 nomy in their fuel. Most of their 
 cooking is done by charcoal, a very 
 small quantity of which, burnt in 
 stoves, built for the purpose, is suffi- 
 cient to keep victuals boiling for a 
 long time. Their coals also are well 
 husbanded. They are sifted, so as to 
 separate from them the dust, which is 
 mixed with water incorporated with a 
 thick strong clay, and then beaten hard 
 into an iron mould, and made like an 
 oblong brick. When dry, these bric- 
 kets become perfectly hard, and make 
 an excellent and durable fire. The 
 worst of coal-dust, such as abounds in 
 our midland counties, will in this way 
 burn very pleasantfy. 
 
STATE OF FRANCE, 24£ 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Management m Farm-houses — Large Gar- 
 dens — Apoplexies and sudden Deaths rare 
 — Wolves, Foxes — Beer, Wines ? Brandy— 
 Weights and Measures, — Money. 
 
 THERE is a striking difference alto- 
 gether in the management of the firms 
 of France and those of England, nor is 
 it hardly credible at how small an ex- 
 pense the families of the farmers are 
 maintained. A vegetable soup, a dish 
 of stewed vegetables, with sometimes 
 some slices of fat pork in it, a piece 
 of cheese-curd, and plenty of bread, 
 composed half of wheat and half of 
 rye, is the usual dinner of the farmer's 
 family. And in the evening they feed 
 heartily and cheerfully upon a large 
 bowl of sallad, a vegetable stew and 
 bread, or upon a milk soup. Cold vie- 
 
246 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 tuals cannot satisfy the appetite like 
 warm food, and never produces the 
 same sensation of refreshment. Heat 
 itself seems to contribute a satisfaction, 
 and doubtless the body is not obliged 
 to furnish so much of its natural 
 warmth when hot, as when cold vic- 
 tuals are to be digested. Foreigners 
 rarely eat any cold food. 
 
 The farmer therefore is careful to 
 provide himself with a large garden, 
 and to keep it stored with a good pro- 
 vision, and regular supply of vegeta- 
 bles, for the winter as well as the sum- 
 mer months. His fruit also is valu- 
 able to him ; for apples, pears, &c. 
 baked and eaten with bread, of- 
 ten constitute the evenings repast. 
 These are refreshing, wholesome, and 
 nourishing. It is on these accounts 
 that convents were always provided 
 with a spacious garden, well laid out, 
 and planted with the best fruit trees, 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 247 
 
 and with vegetables in great abundance. 
 It may even be doubted whether the 
 gardens did not supply both to them 
 and to the farmers the half of the food 
 which they consumed. The poor la- 
 bourer pursues the same economical sys- 
 tem, and never sups, after the fatigues 
 of the day, but on a hot dish. It may 
 be thought that their labourers cannot 
 do so much work as ours. This is the 
 case of the manufacturers and artizans, 
 but the cause is not in the want of 
 force but of skill, in the habit of indo- 
 lence, and little spirit of industry that 
 is among them. But it certainly is 
 not true of the labourers in the field. 
 They are accustomed, like ours, to 
 a slow regular pace and method of 
 work ; they go steadily on, and are 
 not deficient in the sum of their . la- 
 bour. And surely their warm vegeta- 
 ble and milk diet must give more mois- 
 
5248 ACCOUNT OF TH£ 
 
 ture and more strength to their bodies* 
 than cold bread, or bread and cheese. 
 
 It is not foreign from the subject to 
 remark here, that apoplexies and sud- 
 den deaths are seldom known in France, 
 and indeed in no country are so com- 
 mon as in England, where perhaps the' 
 largest quantity of strong animal food 
 is eaten, and the smallest use is made 
 of vegetables. May we not presume 
 that such gross feeding fills the body 
 too full of thick blood, which meeting 
 sometimes with obstructions in its cir- 
 culation, occasions these events. The 
 same danger does not seem to exist 
 when the blood is kept clear, and more 
 free in its circulation, by a larger sup- 
 ply of vegetable, and a smaller propor- 
 tion of animal juices. 
 
 Their farm houses are not built for 
 pleasure, but in a way suitable to their 
 use: and the out-buildings together 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 249 
 
 with the house generally form a square, 
 in the centre of which is the yard, 
 where every thing is shut up safe and 
 warm in the nisjht. The cause which 
 rendered such security necessary has 
 been in a great measure removed from 
 France; namely, the ravages that were 
 formerly made by the wolves. It is 
 seldom that any of them are seen in the 
 northern departments ; never except in 
 the Winter, when they are driven from 
 the forests by the want of food. In 
 Champaigne, and the province of the 
 Ardennes, where the forests are large, 
 they are still pretty numerous ; and 
 when hunger obliges them to travel 
 from home, they commit great depre- 
 dations. It sometimes happens that 
 they go mad, when the effect of their 
 rage is dreadful, and almost certain 
 death to those who happen to approach 
 them. A reward is paid by the govern- 
 ment for every one that is killed ; for a 
 
250 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 female the reward is double of what is 
 given for a male. While the writer was 
 at Verdun, which was during the winter, 
 a week seldom passed, and sometimes 
 not two days, without the skins of 
 them being brought in to be sold to 
 the furriers. They have also foxes of 
 a very large size, not a great deal less 
 indeed than the wolf, but by no means 
 mischievous. 
 
 The people of the Netherlands, as 
 well as those of the northern depart- 
 ments of France, drink a great deal of 
 beer which is nourishing, though not so 
 pleasant in its taste as ours, and it is 
 not intoxicating. In Flanders the heads 
 and feet of cows and calves are boiled 
 in the liquor before it is put upon the 
 malt, and not unfrequently a small calf 
 entire, so that, containing a quantity 
 of these animal juices, it is often gluti- 
 nous, and even sticky. The farther 
 we sro south, the lighter the beer is 
 
STATE OF FRANCS. 251 
 
 made, and at Paris it is perfectly 
 bright, clear, and sparkling. The use 
 of beer is become much more prevalent 
 of late years in France. In Burgundy 
 and Champaigne it is more generally 
 drank than wine. It is far more agreeable 
 than the common wines, even to the 
 taste of the inhabitants, and much less 
 likely to disagree with them. The fact 
 is, that the greater part of the wines 
 raised on a spot, the aspect of which is 
 not entirely southern, is made very 
 poor, and are usually consumed within 
 a twelvemonth after they are made ; so 
 that they are by no means wholesome, 
 especially if taken in quantities. 
 
 The vines in a direct southern aspect 
 supply the cellars of the rich, or afford 
 wine for a foreign market ; and no- 
 thing remains for the people at large 
 but the produce of the unripened 
 grapes, and the second running of the 
 good ones, which an Englishman 
 
§52 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 would esteem little better than vinegar 
 and water* The same is true of their 
 brandies : we meet with very little good 
 brandy in France : all that is good is 
 made on its southern side and on the 
 coast of the Mediterranean, and is 
 mostly sold for exportation. What is 
 made in the interior is either very 
 weak, or strengthened by chemical 
 preparations. The best French brandy, 
 and perhaps the best of most other 
 productions of the earth, is to be met 
 with in England. 
 
 It is many years since the money, 
 the weights, and the measures, both 
 of surfaces and of solids, have been di- 
 rected by the national assembly to be 
 regulated upon the same rule; namely, 
 that of decimals. As a regulating prin- 
 ciple for the measures, they have taken 
 the ten millionth part of a quarter of a 
 degree of a meridian, which they call a 
 metre ; from this they rise by_ tenths, 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 253 
 
 and descend in the same proportion; 
 so that all measurements are made in 
 the most simple and most intelligible 
 manner ; and when once well under- 
 stood, will facilitate the sale of their 
 merchandize and calculations. But it 
 is not an easy matter to persuade a 
 people to change their old customs and 
 ways ; and although the government 
 have taken every pains to establish 
 their own calculations, they are not 
 generally adopted* and least of all in 
 the conquered countries, where they are 
 rendered sufficiently unpopular by hav- 
 ing been introduced from the French 
 government. 
 
 In all public markets, and in the 
 manufactories where duties are paid, 
 the new weights and measures are used 
 by necessity ; but in the retail trade, 
 though they are always kept on the 
 counters, others* which are concealed 
 
£54 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 under it, are most frequently brought 
 into use. A regulation of this kind had 
 indeed become highly desirable, not 
 only because the conquered countries 
 had weights and measures peculiar to 
 themselves, but because the provinces 
 of France did not follow the same rule 
 in their weights and measures. The 
 weights also rise and descend by 
 tenths, having for unity the weight of 
 a centimetre cube of distilled water at 
 the thawing degree, and this they call 
 adramme. All the new republican and 
 imperial money bears likewise a deci- 
 mal proportion to a livre, which itself 
 contains ten double sous, or pence. 
 The Napoleons, which have been coin- 
 ed since the coronation of Buonaparte, 
 are gold pieces of ten, twenty, and 
 forty livres. Their silver pieces are 
 livres, two livres, and five livres, and 
 they reckon downwards as low as the 
 
STATE OF TRANCE. <255 
 
 hundredth part of a livre, which they 
 call a centime. The old terms, sous 
 and denier, are not known in the pub- 
 lic offices ; they count only in livres 
 and centimes. 
 
%56 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XXiri. 
 
 Account of the Gendarmerie — Their Behaviour 
 to the English Prisoners — Police — Original 
 Intention and actual Power of that Body — 
 Their Discipline. 
 
 I HE institution of the gendarmerie is 
 very ancient. It was originally de- 
 signed as the body guard of the king, 
 and was composed of gentlemen, or 
 the sons of gentlemen, who were hand- 
 somely provided for in that capacity. 
 Now the number of these men is great- 
 ly increased, and they are become the 
 executive power of the realm. A bri- 
 gade of them is stationed in every de- 
 partment. The brigadier, and other 
 officers, remain in the town of the pre- 
 fecture, and with them a body of from 
 ten to twenty men; the rest are posted 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 257 
 
 in the towns and villages of the de- 
 partment, according to its population. 
 They ought all to be furnished with 
 good horses, though it happens that 
 there are a few footmen in most of the 
 brigades. The most important service 
 which they render to the state, is in 
 what relates to the conscription, and 
 the arrest of deserters and robbers. 
 They also attend to keep the peace at 
 all punishments and executions. It is 
 their duty, in connexion with the 
 civil police, (for we may consider them 
 in the light of a military police,)* 'to 
 know every body that resides, or that 
 is seen for any length of time, within 
 the boundaries marked out for their 
 inspection ; and they are authorized to 
 demand passports of every one they 
 meet, and to take those into custody 
 concerning whom any suspicion may 
 arise. They are expected to look fre^ 
 quently, and especially in the even** 
 s 
 
258 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 ings, into the public houses, in order 
 that all passengers may be examined. 
 Besides which, the publicans are com- 
 pelled to make out, every evening, a 
 list of the names, occupations, and 
 places of abode of those who lodge in 
 their houses, which they deliver at the 
 mayor's office the following morning. 
 
 The gendarmes are ready to give 
 assistance, when called upon, to quell 
 disturbances and prevent mischief, 
 where any is suspected to be intended. 
 They have a regular communication, 
 with each other, and certain days are 
 appointed for visiting the neighbour- 
 ing brigades, when all the prisoners are 
 forwarded in whatever direction they 
 are to be sent. The unfortunate Eng- 
 lish have consequently fallen into their 
 hands. In some instances our coun- 
 trymen have been ill used by them ; 
 but it must be confessed, that in gene- 
 ral they have met with humane and 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. S59 
 
 liberal treatment. When the gen- 
 darmes have had to do with such as 
 could pay, it was their interest to be- 
 have well; for the liberality of the 
 English is highly spoken of in France ; 
 and in such cases as these, it may be 
 presumed that liberality would not be re- 
 strained. If they were sent forward 
 from brigade to brigade, the gendarme 
 received nothing from his prisoner, 
 having him under his care only a few 
 hours, and then lodging him in the 
 next prison- But the English have, 
 in general, been indulged in taking 
 one of them from the place where they 
 were arrested, to the town where they 
 were to be confined, and, in these cases, 
 as it was an extra service, they were 
 expected to pay, for a horseman six 
 livres a day, and for a footman fouiy 
 reckoning also the days of his return. 
 These days are calculated by marches, 
 which do not exceed fifteen miles for a 
 s 2 
 
260 ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 footman; so that the journey from 
 Mons to Verdun, being reckoned at 
 nine days, and as many to return, 
 though the whole may be performed 
 in ten, the author was required to pay 
 three louis for the indulgence of having 
 one of these for a companion, who 
 was an intelligent man, and from 
 whom he derived some of the informa- 
 tion winch is now communicated to 
 the public. 
 
 The government is very scrupulous 
 in the choice of these men. Most of 
 them have served in the army, and 
 distinguished themselves by their bra- 
 very and good behaviour, or else they 
 belong to good families; and no man 
 without the best of characters can ob- 
 tain the rank of gendarme. Their 
 discipline is strict, and embraces even: 
 their domestic economy. They have 
 barracks appropriated to them in every 
 department, and no one is allowed .to 
 
.STATE OF FRANCE. Q&l 
 
 .marry till the officer has received a 
 good character of the intended bridej 
 and given his approbation of the match 
 in writing. A party of these is attach- 
 ed to every army, where they are also 
 the executors of the law. The arm}?* 
 of England, under general Sou.lt, had 
 a large party of them accompanying it, 
 who were to have landed with the first 
 detachment, and undertaken the grate- 
 ful task of establishing liberty and good 
 order in society amongst us. They 
 have not yet rendered us this piece of 
 service ; and as the people at large, in; 
 their own country, have long ridiculed- 
 the idea of the descent, though at one 
 time they believed it to be seriously 
 intended, we also may flatter ourselves 
 in the hope, that our present good 
 order will not be improved by theirs 
 interference, nor the security of our 
 property depend upon their exertions. 
 j In the outset of the revolution, and 
 
$6$ ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 agreeably to its original design, the 
 police of the republic was under civil 
 officers, who form a part of every mu- 
 nicipal body ; and it is no wonder that 
 the constituted authorities should de- 
 sire to execute the laws by the hands 
 of their own servants, Such a body 
 of men as the gendarmes might be 
 useful assistants, but officious direc- 
 tors. But since the government is 
 changed from a republican to a military 
 form, it may be presumed that the 
 military has encroached upon the civil 
 power, and left it no more than the 
 shadow of authority, wherever it has 
 been able to introduce its own. This 
 is, indeed, the fact, and the conse- 
 quence has been a high degree of jea- 
 lousy and frequent misunderstandings 
 between the generals and the magis- 
 trates, the former of whom are regarded 
 with no friendly eye by the people. 
 But as the power is in their hands, and 
 
STATE OF FRANCE. 263 
 
 their chief is the interpreter as well as 
 the fabricator of the laws, there is 
 little question o£ what is the opinion 
 of the civil magistrate. It was this 
 circumstance that gave occasion to 
 the author's escape. The justice of 
 peace had directed him to be con- 
 ducted, with his papers sealed up, by 
 a gendarme, as expeditiously as possi- 
 ble, to the prefet of the department in 
 which he had resided. The gendarme 
 was furious when the sealed papers were 
 presented to him, with the instruc- 
 tions of the justice. " How did the 
 justice dare," said he, * 4 to seal up the 
 papers of an English prisoner of war ? 
 he knew what to do with an English- 
 man without the directions of the civil 
 power." And he refused, under such 
 circumstances, to take charge of the 
 prisoner* 
 
gfri 'ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 Echaufeurs, or Warmers. 
 
 AN occurrence has lately taken place 
 in Flanders, which is not o-enerallv 
 known in England, and may he men- 
 tioned to show the disposition of the 
 present government of France. Aw 
 alarm of personal danger has heen 
 raised amongst them, hy the arrest of 
 a considerable number of persons, upon 
 a pretext that is not satisfactory to the 
 public. A company of men, who are 
 known by the name of echaufeurs^ 
 or warmers, have infested the, low 
 countries for some time past. The, 
 sons of some good families are sup- 
 posed to be connected with them, who^ 
 being dissipated and extravagant, are 
 not supplied by their parents with the 
 
staYe of trance. 3.65 
 
 adequate means of indulgence, and have 
 allied themselves to characters noto- 
 riously bad, in order to make depre- 
 dations on the property of others. 
 It is said, that they are very nume- 
 rous • that they are dispersed in differ- 
 ent directions, keep up a regular 
 correspondence, and are united as in a 
 common cause. Their custom has 
 been, to beset a house in the coun- 
 try, sometimes in large bodies ; and 
 having gained admittance, to hold 
 the feet of the master, mistress, or 
 other principal person they found, 
 close to the fire, or over it in the 
 flame, in order to make them declare 
 in what place their most valuable pro- 
 perty was concealed ; and when they 
 had taken it, -they decamped. These 
 circumstances have actually taken place 
 in the neighbourhood of Brussels ; and 
 some persons have suffered long and 
 severe fits of illness, both from the 
 
■&66 ACCPUNT ,0F TJiE 
 
 .fright, and, from the wpunds -. thej 
 have received. . It is now nearly 
 two years since the gendarmerie be-: 
 gan to take these people up ; and it 
 has been pretended, that the ramifi- 
 cations of this evil spread so wide, 
 that the most perfect secrecy was 
 necessary, in order to insure the arrest 
 of the remainder of them ; of course, 
 none have vet been brought to their 
 trial. Many respectable housekeep- 
 ers, of good character, have been 
 arrested and detained in prison; some 
 of them of extensive property, who 
 cannot be supposed to be connected 
 with this infamous band. In the 
 month of August it was currently re- 
 ported, that the persons arrested 
 aaiounted to four hundred, ail of 
 whom remained withput evidence, or 
 proof of guilt, within the walls of : 
 iheir prison, tit must be presumed, 
 that some other than that of the 
 
STATE OF TRANCE, %&7 
 
 cchaiifage, is the cause of such nu- 
 merous arrests; and it threw for a 
 time a clamp on the minds of the peo- 
 ple of the low country, to whom this 
 affair seems to have been confined. A 
 proof, amongst many others, that the 
 government of France gives an ac- 
 count of its conduct only when it 
 pleases, and in the manner which is 
 most agreeable to itself. 
 
 J0TC2 SOLD, PfirNTER, SHOE-lAXr* 
 
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