troops? "For a very good reason, they replied, the troops would be attacked and knocked on the head, but the populace will not resist the militia." This peasant, who is a rich proprietor, applied for a guard to protect his house, in a village where there is much plundering and burning. The mischiefs which have been perpetrated in the country, towards the mountains and Vesoul, are numerous and shocking. Many chateaus have been burnt, others plundered, the seigneurs hunted down like wild beasts, their wives and daughters ravished, their papers and titles burnt, and all their property destroyed; and these abominations not inflicted on marked persons, who were odious for their former conduct or principles, but an indiscriminating blind rage for the love of plunder. Robbers, galley-slaves, and villains of all denominations, have collected and instigated the peasants to commit all sorts of outrages. Some gentlemen at the table d'hote informed me, that letters were received from the Maconois, the Lyonois, Auvergne, Dauphine, &c. and that similar commotions and mischiefs were perpetrating every where; and that it was expected they would pervade the whole kingdom. The backwardness of France is beyond credibility in every thing that pertains to intelligence. From Strasbourg hither, I have not been able to see a newspaper. Here I asked for the Cabinet Literaire? None. The gazettes? At the coffee-house. Very easily replied ; but not so easily found. Nothing but the Gazette de France; for which, at this period, a man of common sense would not give one sol. To four other coffee-houses, at some no paper at all, not even the Mercure; at the Caffe Militaire, the Courier de l'Europe a fortnight old; and well dressed people are now talking of the news of two or three weeks past, and plainly by their discourse know nothing of what is passing. The whole town of Besancon has not been able to afford me a sight of the Journal de Paris, nor of any paper that gives a detail of the transactions of the states; yet it is the capital of a province, large as half a dozen English counties, and containing twentyfive thousand souls; and, strange to say! the post coming in but three times a week. At this eventful moment, with no licence, nor even the least restraint on the press, not one paper established at Paris for circulation in the provinces, with the necessary steps taken by affiche, or placard, to inform the people in all the towns of its establishment. For what the country knows to the contrary, their deputies are in the Bastile, instead of the Bastile being razed; so the mob plunder, burn, and destroy, in complete ignorance: and yet, with all these shades of darkness, this universal mass of ignorance, there are men every day in the states, who are puffing themselves off for the first nation in Europe! the greatest people in the universe! as if the political juntos, or literary circles of a capital constituted the people; instead of the universal illumination of knowledge, acting by rapid intelligence on minds prepared by habitual ener gy of reasoning, to receive, combine, and comprehend it. That this dreadful ignorance of the mass of the people, of the events that most intimately concern them, arises from the old government, no one can doubt; it is, however, curious to remark, that if the nobility of other provinces are hunted like those of Franche Comte, of which there is little reason to doubt, that whole order of men undergo a proscription, and suffer like sheep, without making the least effort to resist the attack. This appears marvellous, with a body that have an army of one hundred and fifty thousand men in their hands; for though a part of those troops would certainly disobey their leaders, yet let it be remembered, that out of the forty thousand, or possibly one hundred thousand noblesse of France, they might, if they had intelligence and union amongst themselves, fill half the ranks of more than half the regiments of the kingdom, with men who have fellow-feelings and fellow-sufferings with themselves; but no meetings, no associations among them; no union with military men; no taking of refuge in the ranks of regiments to defend or avenge their cause; fortunately for France, they fall without a struggle, and die without a blow. That universal circulation of intelligence, which in England transmits the least vibration of feeling or alarm, with electric sensibility, from one end of the kingdom to another, and which unites in bands of connection men of similar interests and situations, has no existence in France. Thus it may be said, perhaps with truth, that the fall of the king, court, lords, nobles, army, church, and parliaments, proceeds from a want of intelligence being quickly circulated, consequently from the very effects of that thraldom in which they held the people: it is therefore a retribution rather than a punishment. 18 miles. The 28th. At the table d'hote last night a person gave an account of being stopped at Salins for want of a passport, and suffering the greatest inconveniences; I found it necessary, therefore, to demand one for myself, and went accordingly to the Bureau; but went in vain: this was an air veritablement d'un commis. These passports are new things from new men, in new power, and shew that they do not bear their new honours too meekly. Thus it is impossible for me, without running my head against a wall, to visit the Salins or Arbois, where I have a letter from M. de Broussonet, but I must take my chance and get to Dijon as fast as I can, where the president de Virly knows me, having spent some days at Bradfield, unless indeed being a president and a nobleman, he has been knocked on the head by the tiers etat. At night to the play; miserable performers; the theatre, which has not been built many years, is heavy; the arch that parts the stage from the house is like the entrance of a cavern, and the line of the amphitheatre, that of a wounded eel; I do not like the air and manners of the people here. The music, and bawling, and squeaking of l'Epreuve Villageoise of Gritty, which is wretched, had no power to put me in better humour. I will not take leave of this place, to which I never desire to come again, without saying that they have a fine promenade; and that Monsieur Arthaud, the arpenteur, to whom I applied for information without any letter of recommendation, was liberal and polite, and answered my inquiries satisfactorily. The 29th. To Orechamp the country is bold and rocky, with fine woods, and yet it is not agreeable; it is like many men that have estimable points in their characters, and yet we cannot love them. Poorly cultivated too. Coming out of St. Vete, a pretty riant landscape of the river doubling through the vale, enlivened by a village and some scattered houses; the most pleasing view I have seen in Franche Comte. 23 miles. The 30th. The mayor of Dole is made of as good stuff as the notary of Besancon ; he would give no passport; but as he accompanied his refusal with neither airs nor graces, I let him pass. To avoid the centinels, I went round the town. The country to Auxonne is cheerful. Cross the Soane at Auxonne; it is a fine river, through a region of flat meadow of beautiful verdure; commons for great herds of cattle; vastly flooded, and the hay-cocks under water. To Dijon is a fine country, but wants wood. My passport demanded at the gate; and as I had none, two bourgeois musqueteers conducted me to the hotel de ville, where I was questioned, but finding that I was known at Dijon, they let me go to my inn. Out of luck; Monsieur de Virly, on whom I most depended for Dijon, is at Bourbon le Bains, and Monsieur de Morveau, the celebrated chemist, who I expected would have had letters for me, had none, and though he received me very politely, when I was forced to announce myself as his brother in the Royal Society of London, yet I felt very awkwardly; however, he desired to see me again next morning. They tell me here, that the intendant is fled; and that the prince of Conde, who is governor of Burgundy, is in Germany; they positively assert, and with very little ceremony, that they would both be hanged, if they were to come hither at present; such ideas do not mark too much authority in the milice burgeoise, as they have been instituted to stop and prevent hanging and plundering. They are too weak, however, to keep the peace; the licence and spirit of depredation, of which I heard so much in crossing Franche Compte, has taken place, but not equally in Burgundy. In this inn, la Ville de Lyon, there is at present a gentleman, unfortunately a seigneur, his wife, family, three servants, an infant but a few months old, who escaped from their flaming chateau half naked in the night; all their property lost except the land itself; and this family valued and esteemed by the neighbours, with many virtues to command the love of the poor, and no oppressions to provoke their enmity. Such abominable actions must bring the greatest detestation to the cause from being unnecessary; the kingdom might have been settled in a real system of liberty, without the regeneration of fire and sword, plunder and bloodshed. Three hundred bourgeois mount guard every day at Dijon, armed, but not paid at the expence of the town: they have also six pieces of cannon. The noblesse of the place, as the only means of safety, have joined them; so that there are croix de St. Louis in the ranks. The palais des etats here, is a large and splendid building, but not striking proportionably to the mass and expence. The arms of the prince of Conde are predominant; and the great saloon is called the Salle a manger de prince. A Dijon artist has painted the battle of Seniff, and the grand Conde thrown from his horse, and a cieling, both well executed. Tomb of the duke of Bourgogne, 1404. A picture by Reubens at the Chartreuse. They talk of the house of Mons. de Montigdy, but not shewn, his sister being in it. Dijon, on the whole, is a handsome town; the streets, though old built, are wide and very well paved, with the addition, uncommon in France, of trottoirs. 28 miles. The 31st. Waited on Mons. de Morveau, who has, most fortunately for me, received, this morning, from Mons. de Virly, a recommendation of me, with four letters from Mons. de Broussonet; but Mons. Vaudrey, of this place, to whom one of them is addressed, is absent. We had some conversation on the interesting topic to all philosophers, phlogiston; Mons. de Morveau contends vehemently for its nonexistence; treats Dr. Priestley's last publication as wide of the question; and declared, that he considers the controversy as much decided as the question of liberty is in France. He shewed me part of the article air in the New Encyclopædia by him, to be published soon; in which work, he thinks he has, beyond controversy, established the truth of the doctrine of the French chemists of its non-existence. Mons. de Morveau requested me to call on him in the evening to introduce me to a learned and agreeable lady; and engaged me to dine with him to-morrow. On leaving him I went to search coffee-houses; but will it be credited, that I could find but one in this capital of Burgundy, where I could read the newspapers? At a poor little one in the square, I read a paper, after waiting an hour to get it. The people I have found every where desirous of reading newspapers; but it is rare that they can gratify themselves; and the general ignorance of what is passing may be collected from this, that I found nobody at Dijon had heard of the riot at the town house of Strasbourg; I described it to a gentleman, and a party collected around me to hear it; not one of them had heard a syllable of it, yet it is nine days since it happened; had it been nineteen, I question whether they would but just have received the intelligence; but, though they are slow in knowing what has really happened, they are very quick in hearing what is impossible to happen. The current report at present, to which all possible credit is given, is, that the queen has been convicted of a plot to poison the king and Monsieur, and give the regency to the count d'Artois; to set fire to Paris, and blow up the palais royal by a mine! Why do not the several parties in the states cause papers to be printed, that shall transmit their own sentiments and opinions only, in order that no man in the nation, arranged under the same standard of reasoning, may want the facts that are necessary to govern his arguments, and the conclusions that great talents have drawn from those facts? The king has been advised to take several steps of authority against the states, but none of his ministers have advised the establishment of journals, and their speedy circulation, that should undeceive the people in those points his enemies have misrepresented. When numerous papers are published in opposition to each other, the people take pains to sift into and examine the truth; and that inquisitiveness alone the very act of searching, enlightens them; they become informed, and it is no longer easy to deceive them. At the table d'hote three only, myself, and two noblemen, driven from their estates, as I conjecture by their conversation, but they did not hint at any thing like their houses being burnt. Their description of the state of that part of the province they come from, in the road from Langres to Gray, is terrible; the number of chateaus burnt not considerable, but three in five plundered, and the possessors driven out of the country, and glad to save their lives. One of these gentlemen is a very sensible well informed man; he considers all rank, and all the rights annexed to rank, as destroyed in fact in France; and that the leaders of the national assembly having no property, or very little themselves, are determined to attack that also, and attempt an equal division. The expectation is gotten among many of the people; but whether it take place or not, he considers France as absolutely ruined. That, I replied, was going too far, for the destruction of rank did not imply ruin. "I call nothing ruin," he replied, "but a general and confirmed civil war, or dismemberment of the kingdom; in my opinion, both are inevitable; not perhaps this year, or the next, or the year after that, but whatever government is built on the foundation now laying in France, cannot stand any rude shocks; an unsuccessful or a successful war will equally destroy it." He spoke with great knowledge of historical events, and drew his political conclusions with much acumen. I have met with very few such men at tables d'hotes. It may be believed, I did not forget M. de Morveau's appointment. He was as good as his word; Madame Picardet is as agreeable in conversation as she is learned in the closet; a very pleasing unaffected woman; she has translated Scheele from the German, and a part of Mr. Kirwan from the English; a treasure to M. de Morveau, for she is able and willing to converse with him on chemical subjects, and on any others that tend either to instruct or please. I accompanied them in their evening's promenade. She told me, that her brother, Mons. de Poule, was a great farmer, who had sown large quantities of sanfoin, which he used for fattening oxen; she was sorry he was engaged so closely in the municipal business at present, that he could not attend me to his farm. August 1. Dined with Mons. de Morveau by appointment; Mons. Professeur Chausee, and Mons. Picardet of the party. It was a rich day to me; the great and just reputation of Mons. de Morveau, for being not only the first chemist of France, but one of the greatest that Europe has to boast, was alone sufficient to render his company interesting; but to find such a man void of affectation; free from those airs of superiority which are sometimes found in celebrated characters, and that reserve which oftener throws a veil over their talents, as well as conceals their deficiencies for which it is intended-was very pleasing. Mons. de Morveau is a lively, conversable, eloquent man, who, in any station of life, would be sought as an agreeable companion. Even in this eventful moment of revolution, the conversation turned almost entirely on chemical subjects. I urged him as I have done Dr. Priestly more than once, and Mons. Lavoisier also, to turn his inquiries a little to the application of his science to agriculture; that there was a fine field for experiments in that line, which could scarcely fail of making discoveries; to which he assented; but added, that he had no time for such inquiries: it is clear, from his conversation, that his views are entirely occupied by the non-existence of phlogiston, except a little on the means of establishing and enforcing the new nomenclature. While we were at dinner a proof of the New Encyclopædia was brought, the chemical part of which work is printed at Dijon, for the convenience of Mons. de Morveau. I took the liberty of telling him, that a man who can devise the experiments which shall be most conclusive in ascertaining the questions of a science, and has talents to draw all the useful conclusions from them, should be entirely employed in experiments, and their register; and if I were king or minister of France, I would make that employment so profitable to him, that he should do nothing else. He laughed, and asked me, if I were such an advocate for working, and such an enemy to writing, what I thought of my friend Dr. Priestley? And he then explained to the two other gentlemen that great philosopher's attention to metaphysics, and polemic divinity. If an hundred had been at table, the sentiment would have been the same in every bosom. Mons. M. spoke, however, with great regard for the experimental talents of the Doctor, as indeed who in Europe does not ? I afterwards reflected on Mons. de Morveau's not having time to make experiments that should apply chemistry to agriculture, yet having plenty of it for writing in so voluminous a work as Pankouck's. I lay it down as a maxim, that no man can establish or support a reputation in any branch of experimental philosophy, such as shall really descend to posterity, otherwise than by experiment; and that commonly the more a man works, and the less he writes the better, at least the more valuable will be his reputation. The profit of writing has ruined that of many (those who know Mons. de Morveau will be very sure I am far enough from having him in my eye; his situation in life puts it out of the question) that compression of materials which is luminous; that brevity which appropriates facts to their destined points, are alike inconsistent with the principles that govern all compilations; there are able and respectable men now in every country for compiling; experimenters of genius should range themselves in another class. If I were a sovereign, and capable consequently of rewarding merit, the moment I heard of a man of real genius engaged in such a work I would give him double the bookseller's price to let it alone, and to employ himself in paths that did not admit a rival at every door. There are those will think that this opinion comes oddly from one who has published so many books as I have; but I hope it will be admitted, to come naturally at least from one who is writing a work from which he does not expect to make one penny, who, therefore, has stronger motives to brevity than temptations to prolixity. The view of this great chemist's laboratory will shew that he is not idle: it consists of two large rooms, admirably furnished indeed. There are six or seven different furnaces (of which Macquer's is the most powerful) and such a variety and extent of apparatus, as I have seen no where else, with a furniture of specimens from the three kingdoms, as looks truly like business. There are little writing desks, with pens and paper, scattered every where, and in his library also, which is convenient. He has a large course of eudiometrical experiments going on at present, particularly with Fontana's and Volta's eudiometers. He seems to think, that eudiometrical trials are to be depended on : keeps his nitrous air in quart bottles, stopped with common corks, but reversed; and that the air is always |