[292] Claude Blanchard had a son who was himself a commissary, and who died recently, at the age of ninety, at La Flèche, (Sarthe.) The writer of this review is a great-grandson of Claude Blanchard.
[293] The treaty of Paris (1763) had deprived France of Canada and Louisiana.
[294] The only contemporary history is the Abbé de Longchamp's Histoire de la Dernière Guerre, in three volumes.
[295] This first expedition comprised five thousand men; it was followed a year afterward, by a second corps of three thousand, brought from the West-Indies, but which remained only a short time in America. They were commanded by MM. de Saint-Simon and d'Autichamp.
[296] Duportail, camp-marshal, who was minister of war for some time toward the end of 1790, went through the American campaign as a volunteer in the service of the United States.
[297] Cornwallis, a skilful general, though unfortunate on this occasion, was highly esteemed by Napoleon I.
[298] "We quartered with the Americans, but we asked nothing from them but shelter. Each officer brought with him his provisions and cooking utensils, his bed and bedding, and we occasioned no expense whatever to our hosts. I had for my use two wagons or covered conveyances drawn by good horses, and I had all I stood in need of."
[299] Does not this remark, written in the darkest period of the Reign of Terror, and under danger of death, indicate the most profound convictions? A very tragical equality! and one that brought M. Blanchard and the royal family together under circumstances deserving of notice. On the 10th of August, when Louis XVI. and his family sought refuge in the hall of the Legislative Assembly, they were kept with their suite for many hours in a small apartment, and when the dauphin, who afterward perished in the Temple, was in danger of being stifled with heat, he was let down from the chamber into the hall, and received upon the knees of Deputy Blanchard, who held him there for a long time.
[300] The preliminaries of this peace, which recognized the existence of a new nation, were signed the 10th of January, 1783. M. Blanchard received the news the following March at Porto-Cabello, New Spain, where the fleet which had brought our troops with a view to an expedition against the English Antilles, was lying at this moment. "The assurance of this peace caused me great joy, both because I am a citizen, and because I saw in it the termination of my anxieties in regard to my family. The news was received with enthusiastic joy by all, with the exception of some few ambitious men who thought only of themselves and their own fortunes."
[301] What has become of the journal of M. de Custine, of which the manuscript of M. Blanchard makes mention in the following passage? "To-day, M. de Custine, who has just been travelling into the interior of America, showed me his journal and the result of his observations, which appear to me wise and liberal." We have found no other trace of the Memoirs of General de Custine on the campaign in America.