Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

charge, and the cavalry advanced. Enquiry was immediately made who had given the order, but no satisfactory account could be had. The cavalry however charged with success, and after the battle, Bonaparte ordered the drummer before him, and asked

it."

him, how he had dared, without order, to beat the charge. The boy quickly replied, "General, I saw a fine opportunity for the division to advance, and no orders were given; I could not resist the temptation, and, did beat the charge." My noble boy," replied the consul, "you gave a lesson to your general, and I will reward you for He immediately made him chief drummer of his favourite regiment of chasseurs, commanded by young Beauharnois, his step son, and the boy always appears in a superb dress at the parade, with his drums and horse most beautifully adorned with silk and ribbons, gilt ornaments, &c.; and he never passes the first consul, in filing off, without a marked nod and a smile. He will no doubt soon be made an officer."

"It is said, that Mr. West exhibited, among his professional friends in Paris, a painting of the subject of "the pale rider on a white horse," mentioned in the Revelations, and is a most excellent likeness of the first consul. How far the application can be made in a serious point of view, is not for me to give an opinion upon; but much might certainly be said on the subject."

[blocks in formation]

"I asked a lady in Paris, who is under twenty years of age, and the mother of three children, what made her so indifferent to them, and unmoved by that adversity under which she was labouring; she replied, without hesitation, that she attributed it to the many scenes of horror she had witnessed in Paris, during the revolution, which had steeled her heart against the finer feelings, and rendered her proof against poverty, misery, and distress.--She added, that when a child, she was often promised, as a reward for good behaviour, to be permitted to go and see the victims of political fury guillotined, and has often witnessed the execution of seventy or eighty in the short space of an hour, the young and old scrambling for places, to see well, as if they had been at a play. She also observed, that to see two or three cart loads of dead and perfectly naked bodies, go by her window in the course of a morning, was very usual."

ART. XX. Letters from France written by J, and October, 1802.

IF the declamations and interrogations of this author were all omitted, the "occurences" announced in the title page might have been comprised in one letter of the ordinary length. The words and the matter of the volume are in the same proportion that the husk of a cocoa nut would be to the kernel of a

filbert.

Mr. King has communicated one very interesting fact; he was introduced to Santerre, and conversed with him upon the execution of Louis XVI. Santerre entered on the subject without hesitation; he said it was expected there would be a cry for mercy, and a tumult in consequence, and he had received orders to fire on those who should begin it; the scaffold accordingly was surrounded by aristocrats, many of whom were well known men; the Marseillois were preparing to answer them and support the sentence, and a contest would in all probability have ensued, as bloody as the carnage at the Thuilleries, or the massacre at the prisons. The thought occurred to Santerre to bid the drums strike up;

KING, in the Months of August, September, 8vo. pp. 168.

the watch word could not be heard, nor the cry raised, and thus the whole dan. ger was prevented, and the lives of thousands were preserved.

Santerre added that

66

sentence executed, devolved on him, it was Though the duty of seeing the king's impossible he could rejoice at an event, that however necessary was distressing and lamentable; he deplored it as much as any man in France, and tried all he could to prevent it by repeated visits to the Temple, to instruct the king by what measures he might still save himself; he said several expedients of them evinced that he had no confidence were proposed to the king, but his rejection in the nation and would retort upon it if ever he possessed power. Once he thought the king would accede to his overtures, but he required some hours to ponder on them; he saw the queen in the interim and declined further treaty. In the last extremity he made another effort, he went once more to it he temporized any more, but if he would the king, and told him his life was in danger listen to his overtures the king would be sav ed and liberated, he would forfeit his existence if he failed; again the queen interposed, and Santerre was set at defiance. Soon after

his doom was fixed and negotiation was un- dependent chief judge of that day, in sumavailable."

Mr. Fox refused to visit Santerre. When we consider how that great and excellent man has been calumniated, we do not wonder at his refusal, yet we wish he had shown more courage in this instance, and more caution at the Thuilleries. The master-key of the Bastile is in Santerre's possession, he has likewise several species of fetters from the "king's castle," of which one pair had been found on the wrists of a man recently dead, who had been starved to death, either by design, or by a still more atrocious neglect.

The following anecdotes deserve selection:

"Nothing marks the inconsistency of the French temper, more than this fact: on a day when several victims were immolating to the fury of Roberspiere, a great concourse of people had assembled; on that very spot, at the foot of that very scaffold where they suffered, a mountebank had reared his motley chair, and was exhibiting his monkey antics; and while some were gazing at the strokes of the guillotine, others were laughing at the buffoon tricks of this unfeeling

fool."

"What a soul had the wife of the Marechall de Monchy; her husband being taken to the Luxembourg, she was there as quick as him; she was told that the act of arrestation did not mention her; "if my husband is arrested I too am arrested;" he was carried to the revolutionary tribunal, and she accompanies him; the public accuser tells her she was not sent for: "if my husband is eent for I shall be with him ;" he is condemned to death; he is placed in the murderous car; the executioner tells her she is not condemned: "if my husband, wretch, is condemned, I too am condemned." I come to the sequel; must I so often depreciate the revolution? these occurrences make us shudder, and induce us to believe that there are as many evils under a demoeracy, as under any other government. This unparalleled woman suffered with her husband; she had committed no crime: she was testifying a conjugal love and heroism beyond example, and yet she was beheaded; the executioner, the judge, and every monster accessary to her death, was guilty of a

most atrocious murder."

"There was a trial in England respecting some forged assignats; the person who forged them, confessed it in open court, and said it was done with the approbation of the secretary of state; perhaps this was a falsehood, but it is on record, and no one from government has condescended to deny it. Lord Kenyon, the moral, simple, blunt, in

ming up, told the jury, that in war there were certain laws by which nations were bound, such as not using poisoned arms, quarters in war, &c. &c., but forging assig

nats did not seem an offence against the faith

of nations, &c. &c. About that time a proshewed some curious plates for forging Engjector presented himself to Roberspiere, and lish bank-notes; Roberspiere rewarded his ingenuity with a commitment to the Conciergeric."

Bonaparte, it seems, wishes to efface all recollection of the fate of the royal family; no one is permitted to see the dungeons of the Conciergerie where they were confined: a cowardly and vain precaution, as if the people could be made to forget their own power! Mr. King was in Paris on the day when the usurper was chosen consul for life; he heard to the continental custom, a fine was some murmurs, and though, according imposed on those who did not illuminate, he saw many a dark and gloomy window. Massena and Moreau, he says, have a distinct circle and no intercourse with any one out of it: if another change was to happen, it is from their integrity and moderation that the republic would expect to be freed from military servi

tude.

They had a violent altercation with the first consul, and said to him, Sir, be more modest! you have not much to presume upon: if each of us takes back the laurel of which you have robbed us, your brows will be naked! This is a sus picious anecdote, and Mr. King discovers a strange want of discrimination and Massena together for their integrity or of knowledge when he classes Moreau and moderation. In military talent they are perhaps equal, and each has rendered more essential service to France than ever the Corsican performed: the campaign in Switzerland saved the republic, and it was in Germany that the But as emperor was finally disabled. Massena has the genius of an Italian adventurer, so also has he all the unprincipled rapacity of the character. There were but two generals in the French army in Italy who left behind them a fair name, Joubert, and Baraguay D'Hilliers: it is an act of justice to mention them; their bills were regularly paid, and they were remembered with gratitude when Massena and Bonaparte were execrated.

Where Mr. King repeats what he has heard and relates what he has seen, in common courtesy we are disposed, and

in common justice bound, to believe that his relation is faithful. But his remarks are usually common-place and shallow, and in many instances so utterly with out foundation that it is evident he can have taken little pains to examine, and little time to reflect. Every man, he says, travels safely in France, "either that the police is better regulated than in England, or there are national distinctions, and the French are not so dishonest as we are. Is it that our distresses are greater? Does liberty lead to licence? Is our education conducive to it? What makes this difference? All

Paris is a crowd, yet a pick-pocket is a phenomenon; burglaries are seldom committed, and we scarcely ever heard of a highwayman." P. 7. Yet at this very time it was not safe to travel in the provinces without an armed escort.

Again, we are told, "there is not yet that ostentation and luxury of the nobili ty which formerly insulted the misery of the people; there is no vain display of opulence." Could Mr. King be ignorant of the ostentation of opulence in the generals? of their unmanly luxury? of their Asiatic splendour as well as Asiatic vices?

ART. XXI. The Stranger in France; or, a Tour from Devonshire to Paris ; illustrated by Engravings in aqua tinta of Sketches, taken on the spot. By JOHN CARR, Esq. 4to. Pp. 261.

THIS is an amusing narrative; but during the short breathing time of peace, we had so many trips and tours in France, that if there were not a good deal of sameness in the accounts which have been published of them, we should be justified in suspecting the accuracy of the observer, or the fidelity of his description. Mr. Carr sailed from Southampton to Havre in a packet, which had on board a great number of emigrants, who, in consequence of the decree which had recently passed in their favour, were returning to their beloved natale solum. As the insolence and inde. licacy of custom-house officers are proverbial, it is but justice to those who searched the baggage of these anxious exiles to record, that they "excrcised a liberal gentleness, which gave but little trouble and no pain. They who brought nothing into a country but the recollection of their miseries," is the remark of Mr. Carr, "were not very likely to carry much out of it but the remembrance of its generosity." They were also received on their own shores without any violence or insult.

Mr. Carr makes the same observation concerning the celebrated bridge of boats at Rouen, which we noticed in our review of Mr. Hughes's Tour (see p. 81), that it is clumsy, heavy, inconvenient, and expensive: its repairs are estimated at about four hundred pounds a year. A handsome light stone structure; with a centre arch covered with a drawbridge for the passage of vessels of considerable burden, or a lofty flying iron bridge, would be less expensive, and Mr. Carr thinks, more safe and ornamental,

The French revolution afforded numberless examples of heroism and humanity in the female sex: the horrors of a dungeon before their eyes, and the fatal snap of the guillotine ever startling upon their ear were insufficient to subdue the courage which was inspired by affection. At Rouen, Mr. Carr dined at the table of Madame G-—, and sat next an elderly abbé who seemed to be much esteemed by every person pre

sent.

[ocr errors]

During the time of terrour (as the French emphatically call the gloomy reign of Robespierre) the blood of this good man, who, from his wealth, piety, and munificence, possessed considerable influence in Rouen, was sought after with keen pursuit. Madame G was the saviour of his life, by concealing him, previous to her own imprisonment, for two years, in different cel lars, under her house, which she rendered

as warm and as comfortable as circumstances, and the nature of the concealment would allow, In one of these cells of humane secrecy, this worthy man has often eaten his solitary and agitated meal, whilst the soldiers of the tyrant, who were quartered upon his protectress, were carousing in the kitchen immediately above him."

Such instances as these are sunbeams in the storm, which cast a partial splen. dour and give hopes of a returning calm.

In the provinces, all criminal offences are tried before a tribunal composed of civil and military judges. Mr. Carr attended the trial of a notorious offender, and speaks highly of the arrangements of the court; it is one of the peculiar characteristics of these courts, that conviction is immediately followed by punishment. The trial of this unhappy

offender, whose fate was anticipated, had been postponed five months for the purpose of affording him an indulgent procrastination. At ten minutes after one, he was sentenced to lose his head

at four o'clock in the afternoon! Mr. Carr summoned resolution to witness the execution: which we are sorry to learn appears to have passed almost unnoticed by the market-women, and who seemed only intent on the sale of their apples. In describing the dispatch with which the guillotine performs its office, Mr. Carr alludes to the fate of governor Wall, and concludes his chapter by relating an anecdote of the terror and infatuation of guilt, displayed in the conduct of this wretched man, in the presence of a friend of his, from whom he received it.

"A few years before governor Wall suffered, fatigued with life, and pursued by poverty, and the frightful remembrance of his offences, then almost forgotten by the world, he left the south of France for Calais, with an intention of passing over to England, to offer himself up to its laws, not without the cherished hope that a lapse of twenty years had swept away all evidence of his guilt.

"At the time of his arrival at this port town, the hotel in which Madame Hwas waiting for a packet to Dover was very crowded the landlord requested of her, that she would be pleased to permit two gentlemen, who were going to England, to take some refreshment in her room; these persons proved to be the unfortunate Brooks, a king's messenger, charged with important dispatches to his court, and governor W. The latter was dressed like a decayed gentleman, and bore about him all the indications of his extreme condition, They had not been seated at the table long, before the latter informed the former, with evident marks of perturbation, that his name was W, that having been charged in England with offences, which, if true, subjected him to heavy punishment, he was anxious to place himself at the disposal of its laws, aud requested of him, as he was an English messenger, that he would consider him as his prisoner, and take charge

of him.

"The messenger, who was much surprised Is the application, told him, that he could not apon such a representation take him into custody, unless he had an order from the dake of Portland's office to that effect, and that in order to obtain it, it would be proper for hun to write his name, that it might be Compared with his hand-writing in the of fice of the secretary at war, which he offered to carry over with him. Governor Wfull pressed him to take him into custody,

the messenger more strongly declined it, by informing him that he was the bearer of dispatches of great importance to his court, that he must immediately cross the channel, weather looked lowering, in an open boat, and should hazard a passage, although the as no packets had arrived, and that consequently it was altogether impossible to take him over, but again requested him to write his name, for the purpose already mentioned; the governor consented, pens and paper were brought, but the hand of the murderer shook so dreadfully, that he could not write it, and in an agony of mind, bordering upon frenzy, he rushed out of the room, and immediately left the town.

"The messenger entered the boat, and set sail; a storm quickly followed, the boat sunk in sight of the pier, and all on board but one of the waternien, perished!!!

"The great disposer of human destiny. in vindication of his eternal justice, rescued the life of this infatuated delinquent from the waves, and from a sudden death, to resign him to the public and merited doom of the laws.”

In the course of the last war, we heard it frequently asserted, that no peace with the republic would be permanent, because it must be fatal to the consular interests: the return of the French armies would be attended with new insurrections; it would be impossible that so many soldiers should settle quietly to domestic labours, they would be clamorous for pay, and the increased consumption of provisions would create scarcity and confusion. Too true, indeed, it is, that the last peace was not permanent; but in order to correct so false an idea as this we have now noticed, it is worth mentioning that Mr. Carr, in the course of his walks and conversations with the workmen whom he met, found that most of the masons and gardeners of Rouen had fought in the memorable battle of Marengo, at which it appears that a great part of the mili tary of France, within four or five hun dred miles of the capital, were present. The change, he says, was worthy of observation: we saw men sun-browned in campaigns, and enured to all the ferocity of war, assuming at the sound of peace all the tranquil habits of ingenious industry, or rustic simplicity.

It may give some idea of the confidence of the present government of France in its own strength, that at the windows of the principal print-shops of Paris, Mr. Carr saw exposed to sale prints representing the late king in his full robes of state, under which was

written Le Restaurateur de la Liberté, and the parting interview between that unhappy sovereign and his queen and family in the Temple, upon the morning of his execution. It is very probable, as Mr. Carr conjectures, that the motto is intended as an equivoque, but at any rate the permission of a representation, which must excite so many monarchical prejudices, indicates great confidence on the part of government. Mr. Carr heard Rule Britannia" played on a hand-organ in Paris: we heard the duke of York's march in the same metropolis about two years ago, and in one of the southern provinces our patriotism was excited by "God save the King" on a hand-organ.

Mr. Carr seems to have been exceedingly fortunate in his introductions, and though a stranger in France had every reason to feel himself perfectly at home. He goes to every public place of amusement, and of course sees all the museums, libraries, galleries, national buildings, &c. &c. which he describes agreeably, though sometimes in rather too high-flown language. His book is full of anecdotes, and if some of them bear no very striking internal evidence of truth, there are many interesting ones to which no suspicion can attach. The following is too honourable to the parties to be passed over, and adds another to the thousand instances of female fortitude and affection, which were displayed during the revolution. Mr. Carr had letters of introduction to Monsieur O-; he was at his country house about nine miles from Paris, an invalid. Heavy losses, a painful separation from his native country for the preservation of his own life and the lives of his fa. mily, had undermined his health and made sad inroads upon a delicate constitution. It was in the afternoon of one

of the finest days in June that Mr. Carr accompanied the lady of this gentleman in her carriage to the chateau. After an elegant supper, when Madame O-and her daughter had withdrawn, Monsieur entered into a very interesting account of his country, of the revolution, and of his flight.

He spoke of his lady with all the tender eulogium of a young lover. Their union was entirely from attachment, and had been resisted on the part of Madame Owhen he first addressed her, only becuase her fortune was humble, compared with his. He informed me, and I must not suppress

the story, that in the time of blood, this amiable woman, who is remarkable for the delicacy of her mind, and for the beauty and majesty of her person, displayed a degree of coolness and courage, which, in the field of battle, would have covered the hero with laurels. One evening, a short period before the family left France, a party of those murderers, who were sent for by Robespierre, from the frontiers which divide France from Italy, and who were by that archfiend employed in all the butcheries, and massacres of Paris, entered the peaceful village of la Reine, in search of Monsieur O. His lady saw them advancing, and anticipating their errand, had just time to give her husband intelligence of their approach, who left his chateau by a back door, and secreted himself in the house of a neighbour. Madanie O, with perfect composure, went out to meet them, and received them in the most gracious manner. They formed them that he had left the country, sternly demanded Monsieur O--; she inand after engaging them in conversation, she conducted them into her drawing room, and regaled them with her best wines, and made her servants attend upon them with unusual deference and ceremony. appearance was altogether horrible; they wore leather aprons, which were sprinkled all over with blood, they had large horse pistols in their belts, and a dirk and sabre by city, and they spoke a harsh dissonant patois language. Over their cups they talked about the bloody business of that day's occupa tion, in the course of which they drew out their dirks, and wiped from their handles, clots of blood and hair. Madame Osat with them, undismayed by their frightful deportment. After drinking several bottles began to grow good humoured, and seemed of Champaign and Burgundy, these savages to be completely fascinated by the amiable and unembarrassed, and hospitable behaviour of their fair landlady. After carousing till midnight, they pressed her to retire, observing that they had been received so handsomely that they were convinced Monsieur O had been misrepresented, and that they found the wines excellent, and was no enemy to the good cause; they added after drinking two or three bottles more, they would leave the house, without causing her any reason to regret their admission.

Their

their sides. Their looks were full of fero

66

Madame O, with all the appearance of perfect tranquillity and confidence in their promises, wished her unwelcome visitors a good night, and after visiting her children in their rooms, she threw herself upon her bed, with a loaded pistol in each hand, and overwhelmed with suppressed agony and agitation, she soundly slept till she was called by her servants, two hours after these wretches had left the house."

Mr. Carr's is certainly altogether a very amusing book; the attentions

« ZurückWeiter »