Historical Affairs. Cassas, accompanied by his son, a page of "I have repeatedly thought it my duty "Marshal Bertrand, the Countess, general Monthelon, and Gouyer, inhabit a house in the town where daily visit. They are full of trouble. From the habits of life they have been accustomed to, all are inclined to launch out into extravagance; however, the admiral is a rigid economist, and this system of retrenchment appears to give great dissatisfaction. Napoleon takes every thing as he can find it; however, the complaints of his followers have met his ears, and he has solicited permission to provide for them himself. He is unwilling that either the one or the other should in any shape be a burden to the British Government, and he is equally hurt that their comforts should in any shape be abridged. "The best thing Napoleon can do is to get a wife. Unless influenced by some fair damsel of the island, I fear he will become careless of his person. He asked me one day, whether I did not think a wife necessary for a man's health ?-I presume he theans to say, the society of a lady would' much contribute to the happiness of a man. He has a little abrasion on the fore arm just now; it is attended with considerable inflammation. Think of his application→→ a little salt dissolved in water, with which he continues to bathe the place! He has his little dinner sent into his bed-room, January 1816. 65 where he partakes of it with Las Cassas. Frequently of an evening he joins Balcom's family, and, with the girls, and perhaps a favourite visitor, he joins in a party of whist, when he tries to revoke or cheat, and when discovered (by the arch youngest lass) he laughs immoderately. "The rigour with which it is now deemty, must ill suit his former elevation. ed necessary to treat this pest of civil socieprobability of an escape is so absurd, that The you would imagine a small degree of relaxation fair. No, no. Napoleon has a Captain of the 53d residing in the house with him, and two orderly serjeants, who never permit him to pass the threshold of his hut without accompanying his steps. This he thinks severe, and I was told yesterday that he had, at last, solicited a favour-to have the two soldiers removed, as their presence fortunes: if they were thought indispensahad a tendency to remind him of his misble, to clothe them differently. Although I have this from unquestionable authority, I can scarce think Bonaparte would condescend so far as to supplicate or complain." FRANCE. DOCUMENTS CONNECTED WITH THE To his Excellency the Duc De Richelieu. The Allied Sovereigns having confided to Marshal the Duke of Wellington the command in chief of those of their troops, which, according to the 5th article of the treaty, concluded this day with France, are to remain in this country during a certain number of years, the undersigned Ministers, &c. think it their duty to give some explanation to his Excellency the Duke de Richelieu as to the nature and extent of the powers attached to this command. Although chiefly guided with respect to this measure by motives tending to the safe ty and welfare of their subjects, and being very far from having any intention of employing their troops in aid of the police, or of the internal administration of France, or in any manner that might compromise or interfere with the free exercise of the royal authority in this country, the Allied Sovereigns have, however, in consideration of the high interest which they take in supporting the power of legitimate Sovereigns, promised to his Most Christian Majesty to support him with their arms against every revolutionary convulsion which might tend to overthrow, by force, the order of things at present established, and to menace, also, again, the general tranquillity of Europe. 66 Historical Affairs. ty of their own subjects, and the generat They do not, however, dissemble, that in The undersigned have the honour, &c. Paris, Nov. 20. 1815. NOTE, Castlereagh. Hardenberg. Delivered in by Viscount. Castlereagh to the Representations having been laid before It is now the second time that the powers The legitimate Sovereign of France has, That the purest sentiments of regard for Louis XVIII. deference for his ancient and fortunes, have guided invariably the Allied illustrious House, and respect for his misCouncils, has been proved beyond a question, by their having, last year, framed the treaty of Paris, expressly on the basis of preserving to France its complete integrity, and still more, after their late disappointment, by the endeavours they are again tial integrity of France, with such an ademaking, ultimately to combine the substan quate system of temporary precaution as may satisfy what they owe to the security of their own subjects. But But it would be the height of weakness, as well as of injustice, and in its effects much more likely to mislead than to bring back the people of France to moral and peaceful habits, if the Allied Sovereigns, to whom the world is anxiously looking up for protection and repose, were to deny that principle of integrity in its just and liberal application to other nations, their Allies (more especially to the feeble and to the helpless), which they are about, for the second time, to concede to a nation with whom they have had occasion so long to Contend in war. Upon what principle can France, at the close of such a war, expect to sit down with the same extent of possessions which she held before the revolution, and desire, at the same time, to retain the ornamental spoils of all other countries? Is it, that there can exist a doubt of the issue of the contest or of the power of the Allies to ef fectuate what justice and policy require? If not, upon what principle deprive France of her late territorial acquisitions, and preserve to her the spoliations appertaining to those territories, which all modern conquerors have invariably respected, as inseparable from the country to which they belonged. The Allied Sovereigns have perhaps some. thing to atone for to Europe, in conse quence of the course pursued by them, when at Paris, during the last year. It is true, they never did so far make themselves parties in the criminality of this mass of plunder, as to sanction it by any stipulation in their treaties; such a recognition has been on their part uniformly refused; but they certainly did use their influence to repress at that moment any agitation of their claims, in the hope that France, not less subdued by their generosity than by their arms, might be disposed to preserve inviolate a peace which had been studiously frained to serve as a bond of reconciliation between the nation and the King. They had also reason to expect that his Majesty would be advised voluntarily to restore a considerable proportion at least of these spoils, to their lawful owners. But the question is a very different one now, and to pursue the same course under circumstances so essentially altered, would be, in the judgment of the Prince Regent, equally unwise towards France, and unjust towards our allies, who have a direct interest in this question. His Royal Highness, in stating this opi nion, feels it necessary to guard against the possibility of misrepresentation. Whilst he deems it to be the duty of the Allied Sovereigns not only not to obstruct, objects to the places (present occasion, but to facilitate, upo the return of these from whence they were torn, it seems not less consistent with their delicacy, not to suffer the position of their armies in France, or the removal of these works from the Louvre, to become the means, either directly, or indirectly, of bringing within their own dominions, a single article which did not of right, at the period of their conquest, belong either to their respective family collections, or to the countries over which they now actually reign. Whatever value the Prince Regent might attach to such requisite specimens of the fine arts, if otherwise acquired, he has no wish to become possessed of them at the expence of France, or rather of the countries to which they of right belong, more especially by following up a principle in war which he considers as a reproach to the nation by which it has been adopted, and so far from wishing to take advantage of the occasion to purchase from the rightful owners any articles they might, from pecuniary considerations, be disposed to part with, his Royal Highness would on the contrary be disposed rather to afford the means of replacing them in those very temples and galleries, of which they were so long the ornaments. Were it possible that his Royal High ness's sentiments towards the person and cause of Louis XVIII. could be brought into doubt, or that the position of his most Christian Majesty would be injured in the eyes of his own people, the Prince Regent would not come to this conclusion without the most painful reluctance; but, on the contrary, his Royal Highness really believes that his Majesty will rise in the love and respect of his own subjects, in proportion as he separates himself from these remembrances of revolutionary warfare. These spoils, which impede a moral reconciliation invaded, are not necessary to record the between France and the countries she has exploits of her armies, which, notwithstanding the cause in which they were achieved, must ever make the arms of the nation respected abroad. But whilst these objects remain at Paris, constituting, as it were, the title-deeds of the countries which have been given up, the sentiments of re-uniting these countries again to France will never be altogether extinct; nor will the genius of the French people ever completely associate itself with the more limited existence assign ed to the nation under the Bourbons. Neither is this opinion given with any disposition on the part of the Prince Regent to humiliate the French nation. His Royal Highness's general policy, the demeanour of his troops in France, his having seized the first moment of Bonaparte's surrender to restore to France the freedom of her commerce, and, above all, the desire he has recently evinced to preserve ultimately to France her territorial integrity, with certain modifications essential to the security of neighbouring States, are the best proofs that, consideration of justice to others, a desire to heal the wounds inflicted by the revolution, and not any illiberal sentiment towards France, have alone dictated this decision. The whole question resolves itself into this:-Are the powers of Europe now forming in sincerity, a permanent settlement with the King?-And if so, upon what principles shall it be concluded? Shall it be upon the conservation or the abandonment of revolutionary spoliations? Can the King feel his own dignity exalted, or his title improved, in being surrounded by monuments of arts, which record not less the sufferings of his own illustrious House, than of the other nations of Europe? If the French people be de irous of treading back their steps, can they ration ally desire to preserve this source of animosity between them and all other nations; and, if they are not, is it politic to flatter their vanity, and to keep alive the hopes, which the contemplation of these trophies are calculated to excite? Can even the army reasonably desire it? The recollection of their campaigns can never perish. They are recorded in the military annals of Europe. They are emblazoned on the public monuments of their own country; why is it necessary to associate their glory in the field with a system of plunder, by the adop tion of which, in contravention of the laws of modern war, the Chief that led them to battle, in fact, tarnished the lustre of their arms? If we are really to return to peace and to ancient maxims, it cannot be wise to preserve just so much of the abuses of the past; nor can the King desire, out of the wrecks, of the Revolution, of which his family has been one of the chief victims, to perpetuate in his house this odious monopoly of the arts. The splendid collection which France possessed previous to the revolution, augmented by the Borghese collection, which has since been purchased, (one of the finest in the world) will afford to the King ample means of ornamenting, in its fair proportion, the capital of his empire; and his Majesty may divest himself of his tainted source of distinction, without prejudice to the due cultivation of the arts in France. In applying a remedy to this offensive evil, it does not appear that any middle line can be adopted, which does not go to recognise a variety of spoliations, under the cover of treaties, if possible more flagrant in their character than the acts of undisguised rapine, by which these remains were in general brought together. The principle of property regulated by the claims of the territories from whence these works were taken, is the surest and only guide to justice; and perhaps there is nothing which would more tend to settle the public mind of Europe at this day, than such an homage, on the part of the King of France, to a principle of virtue, conciliation, and peace. CASTLEREAGH. ESCAPE OF M. LAVALETTE. As we stated in last Number, M. Lavalette's appeal to the Court of Revision was unsuccessful, and every effort made by his friends to obtain a commutation of the sentence having been alike fruitless, he had prepared himself to abide the sentence of death, when his escape from prison was contrived and effected by means of his wife, on the 20th of December, the following day being appointed for his execution. It appears that Madame Lavalette had been in the daily habit of visiting her busband in a sedan chair, which she preferred to a carriage, on account of the impaired state of her health. She had shewn an extraordinary degree of fortitude and fidelity to her husband; it was but three days before his condemnation that she was deliver-ed of a child; yet from the moment that he was found guilty, she was continually with him in prison, or seeking an opportunity to approach the King at the Thuilleries, for the purpose of soliciting his pardon. On the day of his escape she arrived as usual, about four o'clock, accompanied by her daughter, a girl of 11 years of age, and a female servant; and having dined with her husband, she dressed him in her own clothes, and wrapping herself up in his large cloak, remained in prison, while he, leaning on his daughter and his wife's fomme de chambre passed all the turnkeys and got to the street undiscovered. The governor of the prison was approaching, as his duty required, to examine the face of the person whom he supposed to be Madame Lavalette, when the child cried out in a tone of extreme distress "Oh! maman, quand verrons nous cher papa ?"—" Oh! mamma, when shall we see our dear papa again?" Lavalette answered only with a sigh, in which he counterfeited a woman so well, that the jailor had no doubt of its being the wife. The particular dress worn in win ter At ter by French women also greatly tended to facilitate the imposture.-It is extremely loose, and consists chiefly of fur. the very moment he was leaving the Conciergerie, leaning on his child, and the femme de chambre, one of the jailors took him by the arm, and said to him-" I am extremely grieved, Madame-you must be miserable indeed."-When he had got into the court-yard, he found but one of the chairmen belonging to the sedan chair, the other was drinking in a cabaret. But his servant, who knew him immediately, hired a porter who was standing by, and set off with the sedan chair. At the turning of the next street he got into a cabriolet which was waiting for him, and drove away. He left Paris by the barriere of Charenton, and at ten leagues distance took the post road to Fienders. He travelled with a foreign passport; and it appears has succeeded in reaching Bavaria; where it is supposed he will be safe, as the Prince Eugene Beauharnois, son-in-law of the King of Bavaria, is his intimate friend and relation. A short time after his escape, the gaoler entered his room, and Madame Lavalette not answering his address, he approached and discovered the imposture. Madame Lavalette exclaimed with a smile, succeeded by strong convulsions," Il est parti." ("He is gone.")-The alarm was immediately given, and a fruitless pursuit followed. The Attorney-General repaired instantly to the prison to interrogate the lady. When he commenced his examination, she answered him with a laugh. "Rire n'est pas repondre, Madame."-(" To laugh is not to reply, Madame,") was the observation which he made upon her conduct. To this she replied, "Il y a long tems que se pleuremaintenant c'est mon tour de rire." (" I have wept long, but it is now my turn to laugh.") Madame Lavalette is still kept in prison. A letter from Paris says, "she is not permitted to see any one, not even to have her femme de chambre about 'her, and she is only known to be in existence by the permission given to her cook to send her dinner, through the gaoler. If her confinement continues much longer, in the state of health she is, it is probable she must sink under it, and thus fall a victim to conjugal devotion." The escape of Lavelette created a great sensation at Paris; and great discontent was manifested at the circumstance in the Chamber of Deputies, where insinuations were thrown out, that it had been connived at by those who might have prevented it. M. de Sesmaison moved, that the necessary information relative to this transaction should be acquired from the Keeper of the Seals, and the Minister of Police. The Minister of the Interior, Vaublanc, intreated the Chamber to pass to the order of the day, as an investigation' was already begun.-This, however, was refused. A motion for the prevideciding that the motion of M. de Sesmaison ous question was also rejected, the Chamber should be taken into consideration, and it report upon it. was, accordingly referred to the Bureaux to has been excited, by a circumstance connect. In this country, also, considerable interest ed with this affair. Advices have been received by Government, and it has also been announced in the Paris papers, that the French Government have arrested and sent to the prison of the Abbaye, Sir Robert Wilson, Captain Hutchinson, and Mr Bruce.Captain Hutchinson is an officer of the Guards, and related to Lord Donoughmore. Mr Bruce is the eldest son of the banker, Crawford Bruce, Esq. The intelligence of the arrest having been communicated to the British Ambassador, Sir Charles Stewart, he of course made immediate application to informed, that the accusation against them the French Government, by whom he was was their having contrived and assisted in the escape of Lavalette; that they had procured a passport as for an English officer, that, when Lavalette left the Conciergerie, two or three days before the escape, and they travelled with him to Mons, introduced him, under the passport they had obtained, there to be countersigned, and passed hit on; to the English military post, procured it after which, and having breakfasted with the English officer in command, they returned to Paris. The Duke of Wellington, it is said, was applied to, on behalf of the Englishmen arrested, but declined any interfe rence. AMNESTY BILL-STATE OF PARTIES. ministry, produced a trial of strength beThe amnesty bill proposed by the French tween the two parties which compose the alists, that is, those who wish the old reChamber of Deputies, namely, the pure roygime restored as it was in the year 1789, and the constitutional royalists, who have the ministry on their side, but who appear to form a minority of the Chamber. The former party introduced a number of amendments to the original law tending greatly to extend the list of the proscribed. The debate was carried on with the greatest violence for several days. The passions of the two parties appeared to be deeply embarked in the cause, and the speakers on both sides alternately experienced in the course of their harangues, the loudest testimonies both of censure and applause. The Minister, |