The Sun.
London, England, 1814-05-20 00:00:00

JOURNAL OF A TRIP TO PARIS.

(No. X.)

have read somewhere-the dictum of a Writer,
who pronounces that " he who has not seen Pa•
ris has not seen the World ;" with a little varia-
tion, it might.now justly be .said, that he who
sees Paris • sees all the World. In the Arabian
and' other Works of the same species, we
are generally delighted, at the finale, with the gor-
gecius meetings of the Emperors of Samareand and
Sereedib ; the Kings of Diarbekir, Arabia, Persia,
or Balsora ; and the .contemporary assemblage of
a thousand Princes and Warriors, whose names
and titles it is not easy to remember ; but here, at
this marvellous'era, these fictions of romance ate
more than. realised. Monarchs, more powerful
than imagination has pourtrayed ; an occasion,.
more interesting than fancy has conceived ; crowds
of heroes, more numerous than fable has ventured
to groupe together, are here assembled, within the
walls of Paris. Such were my reflections as the
cabriolet gained upon the environs of the City,
and the gate of St. Denis, guarded by Russian
sentinels, opened to receive us.
- I have mentioned the only vestiges
hosti-
lities which met the eye on the field of Montmar-
tre. The Fauxborg of St. Denis; bore stronger
traces of the recent state of affairs in the tmw tran-
quil Capital of France. On the right of the gate
was a strong stone battery, with embrazures, &c.
for the mounting of cannon, and loop-holes for
seusquetry. This commanded the road. From
each side extended the massy pallisades, of which
we had heard so much in England—those ram- 1
parts, behind which the Tyrant wished the people
of Paris to rally, resist, and perish.
Numerous and atrocious as the crimes of Buon a-
parte have been, and his direst enemy need enter-
tain uo desire to blacken their foul_ catalogue
with any addition, perhaps one of the most hor-
rible of them all was the design he formed, and so
earnestly endeavoured to have carried into effect,
with regard to defending Paris. These weak
wooden barriers could not have withstood a single
assault ; and only a few hours prolongation of the
resistance offered to the Allies by Marmont must
have produced a catastrophe so horrid, that nature
shrinks at the bare apprehension of it. There
would, indeed, have been a bloody day for the re-
cords of History. As it was, the Parisian popula-
tion were infinitely more indebted, for the salva-
tion they experienced, to the clemency of the vic-
tors, than to the valour or prudence of their pro-
tectors. Marmont prolonged an useless effusion of
blood for nearly thirty miles ; every height that
afforded a position was occupied, and cost the
Allies numbers of men to force, while, from the
nature of their situation, the loss of the enemy
was comparatively inconsiderable ; this course
was pursued to the very streets of the metropolis,
and it was not till Montmartre and Belleville were
stormed, and every point of defence exhausted,
that a Capitulation was proposed. To this the
humane Alexander consented—but where would
the crime have lain, had a Commander and an
Army, exasperated by this provoking and fruitless
sacrifice of lives, taken their desperate revenge
upon the mighty City, lying psiostrate before
them Paris and Prance have reason to thank
God that more moderate and beneficent Counsels
prevailed.

It is a fact, I believe unknown in England,
that the cannonade of the 30th approached so close
to Paris, that several persons were killed, by ran-
dom shots, in the streets. In the Rue de Mont-
blane, one of the finest on the outside of the_Bou-
levarts, and almost in the centre of the Town,
two persons, a man and a woman, were thus de-
prived of life. The former was killed in his house;
,the latter had both legs carried off in the street,
and shortly after died of the wound.
Neither is it generally understood to what ex-
tent of infamy the deceptions system of the Ty-
rant was carried. Even on the last day of his
power, when the Allies were within three miles
of the Capital; nay, after the negociation was
completed for their entering the place, the people
were still ignorant of their fate. In the after-
noon of the 30th, a change in the direction of time
wind caused the reports of the guns to be less dis-
tinctly heard. The Agents of the Corsican were
immediately at work; and, in a few hours, it was
generally credited about Paris, that Buonapara
had arrived with 80,000 men, attacked, and de-
feated the Allied Armies. Thousands of persons,
who had shut themselves up in their houses, yen-
tired forth, again on the strength of this false-

hood ; and, on the morning of the 31st, when
the Allied Troops took possession, of Paris, it was
bong before the multitude could be convinced,

even by ocular demonstration, that they were not
the conquering forces of litionaparte. The sight
of the Cossacks, whom the French know almost
by an intuitive feeling of dread, Ei3 well as ,by de-

. scription,
at length dispelled this dream—the last
imposed upon a deluded people, by an odious,
barbarizing Despotism, and these uncouth sol-
diers took up their quarters in the Golden City—a
name which they bestowed upon it when the
gilded dome and spire of the Rote des invalides.
first met their view upon the heights, and cheered
them on to battle for Moscow's splendid revenge.
Their difficulties, in accomplishing this object,
.occurred on the outside of the walls ; mine on the
- inside. We drove first to the Hotel des Etrangers—
irwas crowded beyond the reception of another
traveller. We next proceeded to a Hotel in the
Rue Vivienne, where, by good fortune, two ,beds
were to be had, up five lung stairs. These were se-
cured, ad interim, and, in the chamber attached to
them, a general purification ensued. We then, with
some difficulty, found separate habitations for
the rest of the party (four in number), dined at a
late hour, at Bibliotte's, in the Palais Royal, and
soon after retired to our new lodgings, to:repair
the fatigues of travelling with , '' tired Nature's
sweet restorer—balmy sleep."
The difficulty of procuring quarters was evinced
by the price. My two fellow-travellers were not
only compelled to pay at the rate of ten francs
per night for their garrets, but, though they only
intended to remain in Paris two or three days, to
take -them by the week. This imposition was a
second thought of the Hostess, as soon as she
heard that it was not their intention to remain
longer than the time I have mentioned. I was
rather more fortnnate,. having procuret!,tempora-
rily a back moth-, hut on a first floor and in a
good situation, for five francs a day. The first
floor of the same lintel, consisting of three rooms,
was occupied by an English'Nobleman, at the rent
of 900 frtukes per month. The second, alto te-
nanted by a Countryman, at the price of 750. I
shortly afterwards succeeded to another chamber,
at an additional five francs ; and these prices may
be reckoned about the average of what are de-
manded for decent lodgings from Englishmen at
Paris.

VIATOR.