Account of the state of France

Chapter I. Page

ACCOUNT of the author— Englishmen arrested — Reasons assigned for their arrest — Ambiguity of the decree — Different ways of executing it^-Account of the author continued

Chapter II

Author's arrival in the department of Jemappes, and subsequent treatment — Daughter of Jean de Brie — Author's confinement 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 following pages 46

Chapter V

Men of low birth raised to eminence — Buonaparte'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-— Resources — 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 — Dismantling of the towns, and sale of convents — Entire dismantling of the towns by Napoleon — Rattle of Jemappes 76

Chapter VIII

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 85

Chapter IX

Changes brought on by the French revolution — 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 revolutionary measures 95

Chapter X

Landed property passed into other hands — Destruction of the woods and other trees — Pillage of the public property — Farmers become proprietors of land, and enrich themselves — Registry of estates and duties on thejn — Towns impoverished — Appearance of the country changed — Beggars — Charity given after confession — Increased price of provisions 103

Chapter XI

Taxes: — On wine, spirits, and beer; — on property, cards, stamps, mortgages;-— on land, windows, and doors; — on manufactured and printed goods ; — on posting — Liberty of speech — Account of Buonaparte's privy council — His irritability — Liberty of the press — Newspapers — Sudden disappearance of some men in Paris .*. 114

CONTENTS. ▼

Chapter XVI. Page

State of religion in the low countries — The Protestant — Paiticular account of those in the department of Jemappes — Regulation 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 confession—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 — Worship of images — Bible — Prayers in Latin—Convents — Charitable institution 195

CONTENTS. Vii

Chapter I

Account of the Author — Englishmen arrested — Reasons assigned for their Arrest — Ambiguity of the Decree — Different Ways of executing it — Account of the Author continued.

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 ened the whole republic with dissolution. The peace of Amiens furnished 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 supporters. Scarcely, however, had he resumed his station, when the decree of Buonaparte respecting the arrest 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 suitable 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 censure, and the officer of police scrupled 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 excited 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 embarrassments in executing the orders of government. But as a more complete 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 his sorrows to the moment when he made his escape.

The arrest of the English began directly after the capture of the French merchant ships by order of the English ministry, and without any declaration 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 legitimacy 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.

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 misunderstanding be of a short duration, he could exchange one unlawful seizure 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 introducing 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 ambiguous 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 ostensible means of support by their fortune or industry. In some towns the men only were arrested; in others, entire families were obliged to go away to the depot. The author was at this time at Dunkirk, where he had gone in order to establish his seminary of learning, a second time, since the peace of Amiens; 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 Dunkirk before, and was so well known both personally and by the useful establishment which he had formed. After this the alarm of the English increased every day, and new fears were added to those of the day before. At first a written engagement was given by every individual, that he would not go beyond the walls of the town without the express permission of the commandant ; but afterwards 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 enforced, 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 fortitled 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

June, 1803, he removed thither, and had the pleasure to see his numbers increase, notwithstanding the unfavourableness of the times and the immense losses sustained in the neighbouring ports by all the principal merchants. Five weeks after, however, he received an order from the gendarmes to quit the place, and repair to Valenciennes. This injunction was not accompanied 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 departure, 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 authoritatively, that it never was the intention of the government to unsettle, or give any disturbance to, those who conducted manufactories, or had formed 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 remain where he was, with the assurance, 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 decree 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 recovered from a long and alarming illness, and actually in danger of another ; 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 preparation, and to leave his school as it was ; nor did the magistrates dare to soften, even by a short respite, the rigour 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 fortnight, that he might put his affairs into a proper train, and conduct his family in some comfort to the place of their destined imprisonment. The prefet granted it without any hesitation, 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 governors of any country might ordain. " He regretted the necessity he was under 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 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, parents 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 respectable friends, who interested themselves greatly in his success, because they conceived 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 stability to insure success. He took the advantage, however, of this occurrence in his favour to procure a passport for 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.

Chapter II

Author's Arrival in the Department of JemappcS) and subsequent Treatment — Daughter of Jean de Brie — Author's Confinement in the Vrison of Mons, and March to Verdun — General 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 Valenciennes and Brussels. It is a large well-built town, and was formerly rich. Here he remained three months, undisturbed, the number of his children was increased, and their mother be* ginning to recover her strength, when, without the smallest previous intimation, or any reason being assigned for it, he was arrested, and detained in the custody of a gendarme.

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 December 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 become 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 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 calamity unmoved, one so uncommon and so unmerited as this, excited her indignation and her pity to so high a degree, that she was taken seriously ill in her box, and did not for some time overcome 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 manner 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 remained closely confined for three days. c

He had a miserable bed without furniture 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 indulgence he paid sufficiently dear.

On the last day of the year, when the ground was drenched by successive rains, the roads wretchedly bad, and the days at the shortest, he was marched away, accompanied by a gendarme, 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 departure, 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 embarrassing journey after him to Verdun, without his assistance and support. On this occasion, for the first time in his life, he found himself completely unmanned ; but the recollection of the virtue and force of for* titude soon restored him to himself. His friends also spoke with a confidence, 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 supported, with all his influence, an adc 2 dress he had sent up to the minister, in which he was represented as a manufacturer of considerable utility to the town of Mons, having introduced a new species of industry, employed a considerable number of hands, and become 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 discharge. 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, on the presumption that the author was still there. This man, of mean birth and brutal character, forms a perfect contrast 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 displayed 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 prolonged the evil, although he could not have failed to have perceived it. 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 application, 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 deferred," 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 unfortunate English under their care every indulgence of which a jealous and harsh government would allow.

When he complained to the major of the unnecessarily severe treatment he had met with at Mons, he replied, 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 interpretation, 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 regarded astheir friends."

All the English were at large within the town from the first hour of their arrival, 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 once a day, between nine and twelve, to tlie^townjhouse, to sign the musterroll. 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 English first became their guests. No doubt they are now enriched, for Frenchmen know how to make a great advantage of a small profit. Their extreme frugality and spare diet enable them to make a saving where one of our people would hardly procure the necessaries of life. They appeared to be honest, and did not discover any particular disposition to impose upon the English, who for the most part were unacquainted with the language, and the value of the articles they had occasion 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 delightful. In the winter the overflowing of the Meuse, which passes directly 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

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 themselves with such greediness, and with so little regard to the persons whose property they were devouring, that they were speedily seized with a dysentery, and fell like leaves in autumn.

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 consequent Treatment of his Countrymen— Permission obtained to remove to Amiens, and Departure for Holland— Arrest on the Frontiers, and Escape from his Guai^ds — Arrival 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 estimable. He had found a few scholars 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 therefore, independently of any other profession, 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 communicated a taste for the strawwork 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, and a worse calamity than the others was likely to befal him from a source to which he had looked for pleasure and friendship.

While at Verdun he became acquainted with a man of the name of C r. He had been an attorney in England, and is known, it is presumed, at Salisbury, Bellericay, 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 something wrong in his intellect; and yet at times he was a pleasant entertaining companion. We naturally attach ourselves to the partners of our affliction, and cannot help feeling a more than common sympathy, 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 indeed at the suggestion of the secretary 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 superintendance : a disease which appears to them the more terrible, as it is not frequently seen in their land. Humanity seems to have crept sometimes into the councils of the French directors. Though their general measures, which originated with Buonaparte, were cruel, many instances occurred of individuals being indulged who were afflicted either in mind or in body. Mr. C — — r came to Mons, and with him a woman supposed 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 Jewish 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, together with some keen and wellsupported battles, between Mr. C — — r and the lady, which made it necessary even for the police to interfere, determined the author upon giving up wholly his acquaintance. It is a little remarkable, that though a prisoner of war himself, (for so he was still considered), this man was placed under his responsibility. It was therefore necessary that he should declare to the municipality that he would be no longer answerable in any respect for the behaviour 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 irritated against the author for breaking off the acquaintance, and nourished a revenge, which he had no opportunity of manifesting, till the indiscreet letter of an English gentleman, addressed to the minister after a breach of his word of honour given under circumstances of peculiar indulgence, occasioned a government order, that all those Englishmen wlio enjoyed any privilege as to the place of their residence, in consequence of illness or infirmity, should be sent back again to Verdun. Mr. C was suddenly ordered to return, and no reason assigned 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 general 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 suffered the heavy vengeance of the minister, if an officer of engineers, an excellent and amiable man, who was a friend on all occasions, and