The Sun.
London, England, 1814-05-16 00:00:00

• (No. IX.)

• I concluded my last' letter with notice of the
price of the principal articles of provision inn those
parts of France v hich I have visited, and which
will (as I have ascertained from conversations with
, persons from all quarters) apply very generally
and accurately to the whole kingdom. This.will
,afford a very ;avowable idea of the cheapness of
living in France, and nudouhtedly a pe.rson of
moderate income can attain many objects in this
country which his purse could not reach in Eng-,
land. The low price of wines, too, adds greatly
to die luxuries.which a liMite4l fortune may com-
mand here. The small Burgundy, which is an
excellent and pleasant table beverage, may be
'purchased at• less than a shilling per bottle, and
the very finest sorts 'of Claret, Champagne, and
Burgundy, may be put in the cellar at from two
to four 'shillings per bottle. 'This is the fair
side of the picture. On the other, hand, an Eng-
lishman .who Should prefer the expedient of
living 'in France to living in his native land,
must consent to many privations in making
the exchange, Not to mention the greater se-
curity of property and of person—not to mention
the invaluable rights enjoyed by British subjects,
he must consent to the surrender of almost all the
domestic con forts of life—at least of those enjoys
merits, which we are 'in the habit of accounting
our greatest domestic comforts. These are sacri-
ficed in every point ; in the kitchen, in the bed-,
room, in the parlour, in the farm-house,„in the
village, in the city. Convenience, cleanliness,
delicacy, are unknown or unpractised. Filth
mixes most intimately with . grandeur, and
nastiness is a habit of the people. Social pl-a-
sures• are rare, limited, and few in number. • Let

us not forget also the laxity of principle and .the
subversion of morality, which a dreadful revolution
and a long career of guilt have established gene-
rally over the population of this fruitful land.—
.What their wicked Theorists have denominated the
demoralization of a people, has been frightfully ac-
complished
in France. It is a horrid thing to as-
sert; but the moral principle seems to be almost
extinct in all ranks and classes, from the corrupt
and mercenary Senator to the oppressed and un-
settled peasant. You cannot move without being
shocked by the obvious absence 4f every idea of
honour in the high, and of honesty in the low.-
1 say, " of honour in the high ;" for I esteem as
nothing that depraved source of actionwhich is held
up as honour among the military, and which-con-
sists in a professed, unchusin devotedness to any
power that may have acquired the ascendancy, and
a readiness to spill their own blood, or the blood
of others, in any quarrel, public or private7-right
or wrong. Upon this.toPie, however, as I shall
most probably have to touch again after my in-
tercourse with the French has been more extend-
ed, I shall not now dilate ; but the sketch I have

given at a first view, is, I am sorry to pronounce,
not that hasty one which there is any chance of

experience causing me to revoke !
But to return to my subject. There are several
other offsets against the pro, side of the accou►►t,
in the question of the expediency of living in
France or England. I have mentioned most of
the necessaries, which are infinitely more reason-
able in the former than in the latter country :
there arc some, however, in which we have the
advant,ige, though it is probable that the renewed
pacific intercourse of nations will materially diwi-
nisl► the existing diproportions. For e ample—

Coffee is, per lb.,
Tea
Sugar .. • - 4s. to

-18 s. to 255.

The material sold for tea at the above exorbitant
price is, moreover, a vile mixture of the leaves of
various plants, and not the genuine produce of
the East. Except at Calais (where, I imagine,
it was smuggled from Indiamen in the Downs),
and in one or two other instances, I met with no-
thing that really bore any affinity to tea. In ex-
amining the leaves of the decoction in one case,
where the taste was extremely dissimilar from
what is usual, I found that the tea leaves were a
species of birch, as broad as the joint of my
thu►nb, and nearly as large. These, shrivelled up
by the agency of fire, made excellent tea for the
Parisians :—they, however, wisely prefer coffee,
and our Ladies' favourite beverage is very little
in demand.

In all useful utensils, too, the French are an
age behind the English. Their cutlery is • miser-
able, except in a few trinkets—their saddlery is
worse. The manufactures of Birmingham, Man-
chester, and Sheffield, must .be invaluable in
France, where they have neither knives to cut,
the minor conveniences of the kitchen or the
table to .use, nor a general supply of raiment to
wear. In glass and porcelain (atleast in their
price) they have again the advantage. Looking-

glasses, IA Lich would cost an enormoue sum in

private houses.

In this comparative calculatiln it would also
be requisite to estimate the loss of money in the
transfer from the one country 'to the other. At
present, a fund of. 10001. in England could not be
realized in France without experiencing a dimi-
nution, at a very moderate computation, of 2001.
very probably of 3001. This heavy loss or; the
exchange will, of course, be lessened in the
course of time, but present it forbids all jaunts
to France on the score of economy.
From Noailles to Puisseux, 1-1- post. At Puis-
seux commences the paved road, which is conti-
nued all the way to Paris. This, must be a great
accommodation in winter, when the
\weather is
'wet ; but in the summer- sea Son, when dry, it
is better to drive along the side of the pavement,
on the common road. -From Puisseux to Beau-
mont is the next stage, of 11 post ; from Beaumont
to Moisselle, the. next, IL. post ; and from Mois-
selle Denis, of an equal length., the last corn-
,
mon stage -to Paris ; that from St. Denis being a
post royal, and paid double.
this division of the route, nothing worthy
of notice occurred. The country continues to
. improve as you approach Paris. There is more
wdod, and a richer cultivation. Here, as at other
stages, I had the curiosity to look into the stables
while we were Changing horses. These esta-
blishments contain in general from 40 to 60 horses;
.and. there are others employed in agriculture,
which, on the occasion of a great run upon the
road, are put in requisition. The transition from
the plough to the cabriolet, or from the waggon
to the coach, is made with little trouble ; nearly
the same harness does for both, and the same
species of cattle is indifferently applied to all pur-
poses----for tillage, or postage, or riding, or draw-
ing‘ I have before mentioned that these horses
were in good condition, and, in spite of their
figures (which -promise no speed), get pretty ra-
pidly over the ground. You will be as much sur-
prised to hear as I was to find, that, in nine in-
st4oces.'out of ten, their sole food is straw ! Like
the Irish.story of the potatoes- for breakfast, din-
ner,, and supper, so is it with- these animals, and
their parallel variety of straw-in the morning, straw,
at noon, straw at night. The only exception
which I discovered to this prevailing mode of

nourishment was at -one or two Post-houses,
where a small measure. of bran was afforded as a
singular treat' to the horses, ,which: had been
greatly fatigued with a• multiplicity of runs in the
course of a few hours. As far oats, or any other
kind of grain, it is, by nil accounts, so long .since
a French hoise; not in the army, has, tasted pro-
duce of this kind,, that it is very questionable
whether any of them Would relish such feeding,
or, if they did, know how to masticate matter of
a quality so hard and dry !
Before 'travelling- my last stage into Paris,. I
may take this opportunity of 'noticing, that by
the rules of the Police, which are scrupulously
attended to, no carriage is allowed to pass ano-
ther on the road for the purpose of arriving first
at the post-house. Races between postboys and
coachmen are therefore unknown. If, howeVer,
one carriage is stopped by accident, by the rupttire
of some of the harness, the defalcatiOn of a wheel,
or any of those occurrences' so, frequent in France,
those in the rear have a right to go on, and take the
lead ; but unless this is the case, no cabriolet dare

venture to drive past another which maintains its
course upon the high way. The same priority attaches
religiously to the furnishing of horses at the post-
houses. No bribery can procure them for one ve-
hicle till its predecessor shall have been provided.
First come, first served," is their unvarying
and excellent motto.

Determined to enter Paris by day-light we lost
no time in pushing on from St. Denis, which we
left about five o'clock on the Friday afternoon,
having thus performed the journey from Calais,
by ordinary means, in about thirty-six hours.
The road here becomes very attractive, not only
from the near approach to the great city, but
from the view of several celebrated places and pa-
laces on either side. At this time it was rendered
peculiarly interesting, from its pas Sing over a part
of the field of Montmartre, where the last blow
was given to the fortunes of Bnonaparte ; where
the possession of Paris was conquered; :where the
Allies, in an arduous struggle, reaped the fruits of
all their toils; and where the liberties of all nations,
and the peace of Europe, were accomplished. Even
at this period there were sonic vestiges remaining of
this immortal day. Upon the heights the effect of
the cannonade was still visible ; and here and there,
upon or near the road, lay a dead horse, the burial
of which tithe had not yet permitted. In other re-
spects, however, all was as if no such battle had
ever been fought. The fields, so lately stained
with human blood, and disfigured with the mu-
tilated corpses of the slain,
.were green with cul-
tivation—over the road formed by the transport

in tranunility---where the bugle and the "limpet
so recently sounded the dreaditil charge ; wli
the noisy drum drowned the groans of the
.a.fld confontid in rude clamour
the agonies of battle ;' where carnage revelied„
.and the smoke, and fire, and thunder of war was
terrible ; even there, within, so short a space,
rural quiet and
pastoral simplicity reigted
undisturbed sovereignty. The song of the LIT
.bottrer in the field had entirely succeeded to tho
strife of the warrior ; the with
lovely herbage did not
;
seem as if its roots had • been mnisteneoi cv
human gere. The celebrated heightg of
t Li
martre on the left, crowned with windmills ja:‘:
WOlid
activity, looked gay and animated.
ful and mutable are the affairs of maul,
About six o'clock we entered Paris-,—Of
in its present state, I shall endeavour to
you some idea in my ensuing Letters.
VIATOIL

AliktiV.ED,--1 France, 1 Heligoland, J St. Sebastian., I
. sey, I Jers4,.. 3 llu ilin, 5 Waterford. P"---1
Heligoland.-

PRICE Of
THIS DAY AY T%

N EHLaVnBk 0111.gOT 0 Isf I.Vetli‘
F STOCKS, : .
India Bonds, Ss. 99. Vl' i
Exehequet:Bills, bs.
Is. 2r.
1 Omnium, 19 pi-
I Con6ols for Accouut, 661 -
.stock-Broker, 's: a coroll4
, , i. 0. 7
No. is, Coventry street.

Bank Stock,
3 per Cent. Bed. 65ii
3 per Cent. Cons.'66li
4 per Cent. Cons. 81i
5 per Cent. Navy Ann.. 951
• E. ElifON,
. and
•

'
S u e o aver price of Brown or Mugeorau° s o ggro
computed from the Returns Made -in the week 0,6'4
May, 1314; is 83s. 9d. pce cwt.

its
HIGH WATEit AT LONDON .BIUDGE
nnntt
utes at" ~
•
Morning, 16 minutes after 12. I Evening, 0.1
--eroe

J
'l-4'
SUN.

SOLED 011 S DICERE FALSUM ADVEAT

LONDON,
MONDAY', 211_11- 16, 1814.

Paris Papers and Private Letters to the -;)
have arrived since our last. The grand v
is represented as being in a state of great 1.1),
wardress ; so much so, indeed, as to allow'"
expect its signature in the course of the Presel.;'
week. It is stated to consist mainly of the f°
lowing Articles :
The Cape of Good hope, Malta, the WO
and Tobago, to remain British.
Gnadaloope to Sweden.
All the other French and Dutch CoOor:Icg
restored.
, to t;'''
The Fleet at Antwerp to be given 'II I.
French and Dutch, and/the Scheldt to be °Pe

Warlaw (Grand Duchy) to Russia.
foi rec.-
Venice and its Dependencies, INlnntng 3 • I^'
chiera, to Austria 5 which Power Ills° (lirit

Saxony with the King of BRUSSIA.
IASr)
AlvaAr to have Naples, and King FERI)-' of
Sicily, with an indemnity in Italy for the I°'s

his Neapolitan Dominions.
„„ eri
So much has been stated in a -Morning
but it will be seen that there arc many,fl°t .
portant points not touched upon in this entwie
ce
tion. The fate of Poland, of Belgium, of
itself, is not defined ; not a syllable is swid °ictu
new Commercial Code which must be establi'','
04,
nothing of the re-modification of the Cook`leoP
,
tion of the Rhine. These are the princiPl
103..
jects of interest ; and, from the above p 1111311: time
tion of minor points, we can only infer, thaet so
larger arrangements in discussion are.flut et
definitively settled as to permit us to I)l3kte'i) to
confidence on the report of their being

be so early adjusted.
With respect to MunAT's liinadinti' ":en7ve
oalof s
strong, invincible objections to it. So '°-
-3'
BUONAPARTE lives, and a Relative of bis (ell
unprincipled and unentitled to SovereigutY) rln tts t'
there will be a rallying point for the ItoPe' 0-t'i•
turbulent, and the machinations of the clis3tle°l:ll.
We have cut off the Ulcer which infected the -(1
politic of Europe, and are we still to 13'4 1?c5,--e .0-
,with a Wart ? We trust not Let tbisB ''...tlll7er-
Iconic excrescence share the fate of l'i r()
in-law—there is room in Elba for titers
leas
to ICl;iebriemlitsalu.,
Elba. We imagine this is a jeu desPrit 1
,is
tioiis a rencOntre between the
Another report, in a Paper of yes"' 4-- s
having report thatbeca Bu
refusedoN A
...j
and those of the Allies, in Paris, it' "'id' d I.
in consequence 0,
persons were killed ; apd that,
this serious affray, the French troops sy'l
ordered to quit the city. This los been c )1,-1.
Journals; all
tradicted in several Morning
the.pic.
we are happy to add our teStilnOny yin
exaggeration f
bability of its being a gross old
i;iricnliitj ranee4ro..ool,o
some preceding and unimportant fracns.---Irnme-
diately after the review of the Fretlch tr°"s' ten
da • v riGlin-
sake of conveniencv alone, ordered to x°
'n
,
days ago, the greater part of them 'kvere, for the
bleau and other places, so that there `:as not 1