By order of the government, it has furnished, in the course of the war, seven thousand two hundred and seventy-eight engraved maps, two hundred and seven manuscript maps or plans, sixty-one atlases of various parts of the globe, and upwards of six hundred descriptive memoirs.
[Footnote 1]: FRANÇOIS ANDREOSSY; who was the great great grandfather of the present French ambassador at our court. [Return to text]
[Footnote 2]: On the 25th of April, 1792, was published a regulation, decreed by the king, respecting the general direction of the Dépôt de la guerre. The annual expense of the establishment, at that time amounted to 68,000 francs, but the geographical and historical departments were not filled. Note of the Author. [Return to text]
[Footnote 3]: An Agence des cartes was appointed, by the National Assembly, to class these materials, and arrange them in useful order. [Return to text]
[Footnote 4]: At the juncture alluded to (1793), the want of geographical engineers having been felt as soon as the armies took the field, three brigades were formed, each consisting of twelve persons. The composition of the Dépôt de la guerre, was increased in proportion to its importance: intelligent officers were placed there; and no less than thirty-eight persons were employed in the interior labour, that is, in drawing plans of campaigns, sieges, &c. Note of the Author. [Return to text]
[Footnote 5]: That tempestuous period having dispersed the then director and his assistants, the Dépôt de la guerre remained, for some time, without officers capable of conducting it in a manner useful to the country. In the mean while, wants were increasing, and military operations daily becoming more important, when, in 1793, CARNOT, then a member of the Committee of Public Welfare, formed a private cabinet of topography, the elements of which he drew from the Dépôt de la guerre. This was a first impulse given to these valuable collections. Note of the Author. [Return to text]
[Footnote 6]: Prince Charles is employed at Vienna in forming a collection of books, maps, and military memoirs for the purpose of establishing a Dépôt for the instruction of the staff-officers of the Austrian army. Spain has also begun to organize a system of military topography in imitation of that of France. Portugal follows the example. What are we doing in England? [Return to text]
[LETTER XXVII]
Paris, December 3, 1801.
In this season, when the blasts of November have entirely stripped the trees of their few remaining leaves, and Winter has assumed his hoary reign, the garden of the Tuileries, loses much of the gaiety of its attractions. Besides, to frequent that walk, at present, is like visiting daily one of our theatres, you meet the same faces so often, that the scene soon becomes monotonous. As well for the sake of variety as exercise, I therefore now and then direct my steps along the