P.S.—Notwithstanding Cobbett says, we men from the Peninsula must never think of marrying English women, we may at least be anxious about our friends; for we are not, I conclude, worn out for friendship, as well as for love. Tell me all you can, as usual, about every one in your world.
CHAPTER XX.
State of Feeling in France—Rocket-Practice—The Prince Regent’s Hobby—The Mayor’s Ball—The Flag-of-Truce.
Head Quarters, St. Jean de Luz,
January 18th, 1814.
My dear M——,
After two or three days’ continual rain, we have at last a clear beautiful day; thermometer in my room at 63°.
In the midst of a terrible storm the day before yesterday a little cockle shell of a sloop arrived in the open bay here, with the Count de Grammont on board and Colonel Abercrombie, with despatches and a paper of the 10th. This told us the principal news. We have thus heard that the Danes are with us; ideas of peace thrown aside, and the Allies across the Rhine. This is popular news here; for almost all are against a peace with Bonaparte, partly from public feelings that such a peace would be injurious to England and the world, partly the fact that any peace would not be desirable to our military men, especially to those on the staff, whose splendour would be much shorn by it. The civilians and regimental officers, who are not on the eve of a step, are alone inclined to a peace; to many it will be ruinous.
We again hear of refractory conscripts, and men refusing to march, in the right of the department de Landes and elsewhere, and I believe it in some degree. But this alone will not do without a more general feeling and even then scarcely, unless a portion of the army takes a part and declares its views against the common enemy Bonaparte, whom all Europe are now hunting like a mad dog.
The Count de Grammont has made a most expeditious trip. He had had communications with the persons on his former property here, and I suppose his visit home was connected with this, to know what line to pursue, &c. The feelings of this part of France seem, as yet, to be still the same: all desire peace, and for that purpose are eager to get rid of Bonaparte; but there is no feeling manifested towards the Bourbons, not hitherto, at least; and I really believe the military men, and even many civilians, would rather have Bonaparte if they could be sure of a peace with him. He has done much for them, and on a great scale. The Code Napoleon has been a great work, and from what I hear is much liked. Instead of being governed, and oppressed in fact, by the rich, as they were before, they are now governed by the law, and that a good law; and as the mayor here and several others say, well administered, when the state was not concerned. The only defect seemed to be that the magistrates having been latterly ill-paid, a temptation to corruption on their part existed; and this was a change from anarchy, and therefore the more felt, as then the strongest (I mean in means and territory) was everything and the poor man nothing. In short, the only really great grievance felt at this distance from the court of the tyrant seems to have been the horrid conscription and its tremendous increase of late, and the want of commerce. Nor would the French feel either of these so much as any other nation in Europe. The first she would not feel so much, on account of the natural tendency of the inhabitants to a military life and habits; the last, from the great internal resources of France in other respects, making loss of commerce of much less importance to her than to almost any other power which had been accustomed to enjoy them. I do not mean less than Austria, which has been so generally shut out from commerce to any extent, but compared with England, Holland, or Sweden.
Thursday, 20th.—Another change again in the weather. Yesterday it was quite a fine, sunny, warm day, till one or two o’clock, like our May, and we were all out, witnessing some experiments made with the rockets, about two miles off, when a storm gathered, and soon the rain and wind came, and has continued to this time. The night has been very boisterous, and one of our Commissariat transports has been on shore in the bay here, stranded, and it is feared that five or six lives are lost: all hands are now at work moving the stores—corn and hay.