The Sun.
London, England, 1814-05-03 00:00:00

30(IVAL. OF TRIP TO PARIS.

(No. VI.)
ZlEDlTort,—t have already noticed the man-
eer in which .the
alld people slnak of the English,
it may not.be amiss to mention the way in
Which they speak of the people ref other coon-
,lei. You will, of course, ir, make those al-
- law
anees and deductions in your own mind which
the nature of the case requires ; you will read
,hat I write with the 'Unprejudiced eye of a per.
119 n calculating all chances at hone, and there-
fore not to be- misled by the dicta' of another,
Ivh°Se observations arc drawn from the very focus
(?I'leception, i. e. personal Ohservati-on in a fo-
_teign.laod. I have often been amazed at the im-
. - -,
e tone of the writers of tra%el s—
the tour-
'sts, whether from Moscow to Constantinople, or
fiNvl the
Ed
geware-road to Derbyshire. How-.
:vet indisestible their stories are, tWere is no con.
,ending against—" Sir, I have seen ; and surely I
to know.;" though, like the disputants re-
'lleeting the colour of the cameleon, ALL .inay be
'g• But if the very ocular demonstration re-
- :s !ive4 by travellers may lead to erroneous concep-
en"s °4 their parts, how much more are their
!ia,ble to be abuied by what they hear. `.•*•o
.
eec)ltrovertibly has the eye.:sight been consi-
ered as the 'truest medium of rapresentation to
tillbelse,.that we have the proverb of—" seeing's
oitolt":ng ;" but, on the contrary, no one ever
of making an axiom of the words—" hear-
believing ;" so different-Are the appeals to
ft.
.certain judgment made froth the eyes and
6tbe ears ! Leaving it, therefore, as I have
ta.d' to you to make such allowances as you think
likable to the condition of an EoglishM:M,
I.lljeCt at every torn to he a'ssnred of'" the thing
t:iich is :tot," I will Proceed to state to you all
°bservations which occurred to me, exereis-
till the best of my power, the discrimination
etw
• een the true and the false.
I`r°Rl Boulogne to Montrenil- I heard nothing '4t tlicotnia upon the Prussians. They were the
hest
460Ps in the world ; the least addicted to
; under perfect discipFote ; kind, nd at-
‘:lltive to the people and; in fine, all that could
;e-I'lected from good Soldiers and humane men.
ttit the Russians, and in an especial manner
t Cossacks, the terrific Cossacks,---=they were
14,(1)l,4 ible fellows ; perfect Rawheads and Bloody-
s 2
ce Malbrug " was not a greater
il'arectow.: than a Cossack, throughout ztll this
flirt of Picardy. All this gave me but an
pillion of our good Allies, the Russians,
1,4 411 opinion still worse of the Grand
t°41:1"3 of' Europe, the Cossacks; but, on
ftlll°i; nearer into contact with the latter, I
4:411 that the idea formed of them Was drawn,
t the life, but from the magnifying lens of
ethrt.; and that, in their place, the Russians,
to Y, and even the Cossacks, were as well
t
j-eclilled es the soldiers of any other country;
,tltlllY teach Philo-5(4)4 a lesson, to see that their
tai have carried justice and wisdom into the
ti:t)cils of the most polished and enlighteTA na-
tl3' (if the earth.
v:lat the circumstance to which i have alluded,
the horrid opimion of the Russians enter-
tji lby the people of France, not yet visited by
tif• titr()",ps of that country, affords a striking proof
11,1 e Wonderful power possessed by the Press.
e Yet a hope remained,BqoN,iPAßTE bad en-
ti‘:t"tired to rouse the population of, France to
tcs en
m"ise, by exaggeratedpictores of the ex-
-0,,,5e3 committed by the Cossacks and othets of
17;‘-tillussatl soldiery. He vast fortunately, but
te4ie,"'eaessfl la- stimulating the people to -the
vi,,,1-Itee he desired ; but still hehad so far im-
Prance with the idea he was endeavour-
ti° hlculcate, that there was not a peasant in
11101,11'd n'ho did not firmly believe that detni-
ii%l4' who, if he did not drink humao blood,
`ait took every occasion to spill it for his

Isgaient.
t',. 911 ad-vancing somewhat further into the caul'', -
k', ll
11°"'":er, I discovered that the terror of
It':'float-is ,
* in. Lead vanished. Upon haying a little
11—e°11rse with them, 'the inhabitants discover-
',
that the Cossacks, though not Beaux or
, 14ttiers, r.'cre not anthropophagi or cannibals ;
~I,d
:vi4t,!'',"( one was pleased to, learn by experience
41/1 111 fact, they possess many virtues, and,
1,,,-I,g others, fidelity, good-buinour, and a
4
grrllle"tless of disposition.
t,-ki 11"t' 2 o'cloclt we arrived at Montreuil, the
.
I;,s tice of LE FLEUR, that happy fellow,.who
tl6 Patalle.l now in Prance. The postillic;ns,
ti' h
vii , "F'es, the.tradesmen,•the beggars, the mer-
-4:ih/6' des gards, are still the same ; but the con-
-1 'O.lOll has left no IC,$ r1.7.1.711S to idle away the
1411 rs • .
wii ..111 lore, and. inspire gaiety and delight
t4:l'eer. they go- All these happy scenes
are
Le:ed, and the boys of France most become
men
i‘-;'e they can be
renewed.
)11-4*('44 s..tanc.'s in a flue situation ill a Lill,

surruilnded by lovely, ta-eadoWi irrigated
directions, tnd commanding- on every Mde an cx-
tended prospect of a highly cultivated, thongliinUi
a pictUresque country. Here, having taken coffee
at five o'clock, we stopped to dine, and were
joined by two English gentlemen, who had'cluse-
! ly pursued our route all the way flout Cale's. The
Host at Dessein'S had recommended the " Hotel

de France," ,:incito the Hotel de France me drove,
Where the following card was put into our hands ;
and it is but Saying the truth oaf Monsieur VAREt4sas,
to acknowledge; that he kept the promise of
his professions nitich better than.the.majority of
hi'S brother RestatiratNirs. •

" Atrutts7:x VAnnt,Nrs, fils de l'apcien yarennes, pa-
vient le public et Messrs. les Voyageurs, (LIAM est entr6 dabs
I'li6tel de la Cour de France, u Nlontre'uit-sur-Mer, oit it
suit l'Etat de Traiteur, Restaurateur. MeSst s..les Voyageurs
y troureront s claque moment tout ce que l'on pout desires;
ils y seront 16g6 cornmoUment et traits a leur satisfaction."

Four travellers had .a
good dinUer, with 'aspara-
gus, fish, and flesh, and two bottles of passable
Burgundy, with a desert of pears, apples, and fine
French plums, for 18 franks, or somewhat less
than four,shillings, each.

While this repast -was meparing, I wandered
with a fellow ." inquisitive" traveller into the
town. All its beauty lies in the distant. view.
The- streets are desolate, the houses deserted ;

ruin Stares you in the face wherever'you turn yottr
•eyes, The Mayor's house is only a larger exam-
ple of misery than the dwellings of the other in-
habitants. Broken windows and doorless en-
trances are all that do honour to the quondam
residence of the chief Magistrate of a respedtable
city. Nor does the city itself assimilate ill with
this judicial appurtenance. There reigns an air
of distress and dreary vacuity throughout, which
is most painful to Contemplate, and not,-thank
God, not easy fora Briton to conceive. his no

figure of speech—there is more graSS than pave-
ment visible in the principal- square ! Time har-
vests of France have for fire years,grownin the
midst of her populous places ; that vegetation
has disfigured her cities, which ‘Vould have em-
bellis-Imed her fields. One cannot contemplate this
calamitous situation 'wiihout in cmkrses•
more bitter than ever ou the head of the Demon,
whose restless ancl-. insatiable ambition was the
sole cause of all. *Yet I have heard few of the
French speak of him with asperity—all with dis-
gust ; but there is a coolness in their hate which
I cannot reconcile with that temper and charac-
ter of a peop:e which I could admire. One man
told me at Sarver, " Our Emperor, when his Mar-

sivals forsook him, said to them,

Du as you

please, i cao live as a soldier: "

VIATOR.