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  23rd Our battalion marched to Gommegnies as a post of observation on the roads between [blank – Le Quesnoy and Bavay] we heard the cannonading at [Le] Quesnoy this evening.

  24th Through Englefontaine to Poix [du Nord] rode on for quarters. The country is very fine, it is richer I think than the Belgian frontier, it is certainly much prettier as there is more wood which causes variety, there is another circumstance which gives a varied appearance to the face of the country, which is that every farm grows a little of everything, consequently even where the country is flat, you do not see a wide unbroken expanse of corn with nothing to relieve the eye. However I speak here only of the country, the villages and hamlets have an appearance of extreme poverty, the houses are built of wood and straw thatched, indeed the peasantry here (and there are no superior sort to them) appear to live almost in a state of nature, having as I said on their farms almost everything they consume, thus they have very little intercourse with the world and money an article almost unknown among them There is no class of people above that mere farmers inhabiting the country parts through which we passed, no appearance of a gentleman ventures out. Thus I can easily conceive that such a peasantry, poor, unarmed and ignorant of what is going on beyond their own immediate sphere cannot however numerous have any political weight. However provisions are abundant and of course cheap when left alone are I dare say happy enough in their own way.

  25th To Maretz, tedious march, bad day, went on again for quarters, encamped.

  26th Through Beaurevoir to Bellenglise, near which we encamped, there is one tolerably good house in Bellenglise, the first I have seen in the country, the rest of the village is as miserable as the others we have passed. There is near this place on the banks of which we were encamped, a canal made by Bonaparte, it was begun 15 years ago and has been navigable 7 years. It was worked by prisoners of war, it is thus that Bonaparte has made himself popular. By means of this canal there is inland navigation from Paris to Antwerp10. Near this place is a tunnel, I think 500 toises11. Being in want of sugar I rode to St Quentin about 6 miles from our camp, it is a pretty good town, [it] has been a fortress and is celebrated as the scene of the celebrated victory gained by the Duc de Savoie commanding the armies of Phillip’s against the Constable Montmorence in 155712 in honour of which Phillip built the Palace of Escurial, the Bonaparte government had begun to repair the fortifications.

  27th Through Vermand, pretty situation, Caulaincourt where there is a chateau belonging to the Duke de Vicenza.13 Through to Ham, there is a French garrison in the castle of Ham which have surrendered on some odd terms which I do not understand14. Peronne was taken by storm last night15. There are no very good houses in Ham; but I think that some of the villages begin to look a little better built than those further back.

  28th To Roye, a large irregularly built old town like all the rest of the towns we have passed has been formerly a fortress. We passed one or two large chateau, or gentlemen’s country seats, some of which have woods, enclosed land and walks, evidently for convenience of shade.

  29th Through Tillolloy, Orvillers [Sorel], Cuvilly to Gournay [sur-Aronde]. Just after passing through Cuvilly we descended a hill which commanded an extensive view over a flat country but the country is not so well cultivated as that we have passed and very thinly inhabited, the soil is chalky and the quantity of fallow land very great; we got on a chaussee today for the first time since leaving Mons. The villages here are stone built but that does not proceed from the people being richer but from the article itself being abundant.

  30th Through Estrees-St-Denis, Pont Sainte Maxence, where we crossed l’Oise by a bridge which was destroyed last year, the country on the other bank of the river is well cultivated and pretty, the south bank very commanding rocky and very heavily wooded. I went on for [our camp] ground but not hearing the name of the place where we were to halt I went on to Senlis, a city and the first good looking place I have seen this side of Paris. It is an ancient looking place, the people had their homes shut up and appeared quietly waiting to see how things were to end and which side they were to shout for. There was a report when I was there that Paris had surrendered [and] the Prussian advanced guard had an affair at Soissons.

  After waiting some time I went back to Fleurines where the division was encamped, the country between Senlis & the river one continued forest.

  As the army stood in front of Paris awaiting the outcome of political negotiations following Napoleon’s abdication16, James found the time to record his views on the present state of France.

  July

  1st Through Senlis, Louvres (where there is a very haut fonce [very dark] chateau17 and is a good looking little village) to Vaudherland which was occupied by cavalry, we then turned off the road to the right and encamped near Goussainville, got the first sight of Paris today. As we approach Paris the country becomes better cultivated, the towns & villages are better built and country seats more frequent but the villages are for the most part deserted and consequently plundered. Bonaparte after his defeat returned to Paris where all was dismay, it was known that the army was annihilated, that the allies were advancing, the chamber of representatives intimated to Bonaparte the necessity of his abdication as the allied powers had declared him to be an insuperable obstacle to the peace of France, he abdicated in favour of Napoleon II but they took [no] notice of this article and the emperor became M. Bonaparte, still however popular, still the favourite of the Parisian populace.

  The Chamber of Representatives continued their stormy debates to read them is really ridiculous and more resemble the squabbles of a meeting of tradesmen than the deliberations of the representatives of a great nation, [on] only one thing were they unanimous, aversion to the Bourbons. This body however cannot be looked upon as the real representation of the people, it was composed of Bonapartists & Jacobins, of all men of revolutionary & republican principles, of the various different shades with which France abounds18. All of them enemies to what they call the old regime, none of the friends of the House of Bourbon and of peace had seats there. The object of this body in their deliberations was to stop the allies if possible with the pretence that Bonaparte having abdicated the cause of the war was at an end.

  The cry was merely changed from Vive l’Empereur to that of Vive la nation, their object was the same still to remain the disturbers of the peace of Europe, a nation of soldiers, a privileged banditti. But it is to be hoped that the allies will not leave them the power to annoy with the will for the will they have; and always will have, ‘The unconquerable will, the study of revenge, immortal hate’. Let no false idea of magnanimity prevent us from crushing the serpent that has stung us twice, for it is natural to suppose that the serpent will change its nature and be alive to gratitude as that the present demoralised race of Frenchmen born in war, educated to look on plunder, rapine & bloodshed as the truly honourable employments, the only road to wealth and consideration.

  The allied armies advanced without regard to the overtures and declarations of the legislative body or their threats to declare the war national. The War Minister however, Davout19, has shown great diligence and urging in assembling another army which with the National Guards of Paris amount it is said to 80 thousand men which now occupy Montmartre and Paris. There are negotiations going on, the army however is almost all closed up now and I have no doubt but that they will come in to the terms of the allies.

  2nd Through Gonesse to Arnouville, encamped. Blucher has crossed the river at St Germain and is threatening the south side of Paris. We heard cannonading today. The French hold St Denis as a kind of advanced post of Montmartre, they are both very strong, Montmartre appears particularly so.

  With Paris threatened from the south, the French defensive position became untenable and the Convention of St Cloud was signed on 3 July by which the French army was to retire south of the Loire. Effectively the war was at an end.

  3rd Blucher was sharply engaged yesterday and this morning Lord Wellington rode by our camp
, shortly after we heard that a convention had been signed for the evacuation of Paris.

  4th By the convention signed yesterday by Lord W[ellington] & Blucher on the one hand and by Davout for the other. The French army are to evacuate St Denis today, Montmartre tomorrow and Paris the next day and are to retire behind the Loire in 8 days.

  No mention is made of the king, it being supposed by the allies that he has never ceased to reign. The French on the other hand, still talk of La Nation and wear the national cockade. I went into St Denis, it is exceedingly strong, the French troops of the line were giving it up to the National Guard when I went in, I found myself where I had no business, among the French soldiers and I was told by the people that I had better go away as many of the soldiers were drunk and all of them very sulky. All the troops wore the tricoloured cockade, even the National Guards and all those of the inhabitants that wore a cockade wore that one.

  5th Closed up a little & rode to St Denis, headquarters, there a few white cockades hoisted, no national ones.

  6th To Montmartre which has now a British and Belgian garrison, it is impregnable I think, there are only about 20 pieces of cannon there, but they are of very large size20. The tricoloured flag is still flying and the cockade worn by the National Guard. There was a great row in Paris last night, the Imperial Guards declared that they were betrayed, and swore they would burn the city. They were prevented by the National Guard. The provisional government still talk of La Nation. I rode to the gates which are guarded by the National Guard.

  7th Marched to La Vertu on the Seine, quartered [here]. The chateau hereabouts are very pretty and the grounds well laid out for summer comfort. Rode to the gates of Paris, could not get in, headquarters are there. This villainous French army fired upon the commissioner appointed by Lord Wellington to see the convention performed and notwithstanding no one has been punished.

  Chapter 15

  Paris in Peace Time

  King Louis XVIII entered Paris on 8 July to resume his reign. James was actually within the city when the king arrived and his observations on the reactions of the Parisian crowds are both astute and very interesting.

  Over the coming weeks, he visited all of the great sites of Paris and he has left his very interesting assessment of them and also his views of the rapidly changing and fluctuating political situation.

  8th Went to Paris, everybody is allowed to enter now, indeed there is one brigade encamped in the Champs Elysees1; I will not attempt to describe Paris. I had not formed any very great idea of the beauty of the city, but only of its public monuments, which are really magnificent.

  When I went in, in the morning, the tricoloured flag was flying on all public buildings except the Palace of the Tuilleries and almost everyone had the tricoloured cockade. It was known that the king was to make his entry in the course of the day; by degrees the tricoloured cockade began to disappear & a few white ones were hoisted, at last the flags on the public buildings were replaced by the white flag & the white cockade became general. The king made his entry amidst great shouting in the afternoon. The people are however very sulky.

  The appearance of Paris as I entered was upon the whole rather preposing [sic]. The people were from the uncertainty and novelty of their, of course, unsettled [circumstances]. All business was suspended and they were all on the wing, dressed out for promenade to see and hear what was going on. Add to which it was known that the king was to enter and at the quarter at which he would enter was the same as we went in by, viz one of the northern barriers, the crowd was principally moving that way. The first coup d’oeil was for that reason striking.

  The disposition as I said observable in the crowd was that of sulky ill concealed resentment, but consistently with the national character, they became as it were intoxicated at their first shouts of Vive le Roi, they heard and joined in them and you might have seen the same men who in the morning of that day would have argued warmly yet sensibly in their aversion to the Bourbons and have declaimed about the right of the nation to choose their own government, you might see the same men in the evening cutting such capers as would make you believe them mad with joy. ‘Vive la Bagatelle’ [Long live nonsense] is truly the French motto, as long as there is something novel, a procession or fete, anything that will collect a crowd, whether it be the review of the victorious armies of their enemies, or the celebration of the victories of their own, whatever may be the standard feeling, the immediate effect is nearly the same, anything that is done with bustle excites a shout or huzza & temporary oblivion of all their set maxims and opinions. ‘Tout est bon pourre qui on l’amuse’ [Everything is good as long as it amuses]. Whatever may be the theory of the Parisians that is precisely their practise. Is this the national character of Frenchmen? Is not this littleness rather the effect of the revolution and of the subsequent Bonaparte system which strove to discourage all serious enquiry and which in a manner forced the public to look at events through the angling glass2, very distorting vision of the Moniteur3. Which public in place of what is in England political discussion that is a rational comparison of the advantages gained to the country at large with the sacrifices made to obtain those advantages, is content to take the word of government (and that too of a government subject, like an oracle they can neither contradict nor answer) for actual advantages and future prospects the French character was always frivolous and futile, but I do not think it was always so little, so contemptibly time serving.

  The French revolution overturned all established order, the first burst of liberty was like a phrenzy [sic] a nation more liable than most others to let its passions get the better of its reason, was worked up to a fever of enthusiasm which deceased even reason itself. Amidst the shock of contending parties and amidst the fears & suspicions which were blindly circulated by the designing intrigues of these different parties, crimes became so common, opinions and systems so monstrous were openly upheld and succeeded each other, that the nation became demoralised. The character of nations, like those of individuals is formed by circumstances and may be changed by circumstances. A succession of publick [sic] and sudden changes each bringing with it a temporary ascendancy, a studied system of delusion on the part of government, an artful continuation of regulations whose end and object was to render the spirit of the nation warlike, have completely changed the character of the French nation and have converted a frivolous fickle but at the same time generous, gallant, honourable people, into a nation whose object is universal conquest, to impose slavery on other nations without enjoying liberty themselves, with whom the faith of engagements is [an] object of ridicule and who shamelessly and openly avow that monstrous Machiavellian principle often before practised but never before acknowledged, ‘No matter how criminal so ever the means be, so the end is obtained.’

  I remarked that they were particularly civil to the English and what surprised me, recognised them at first sight. I had a greatcoat on to hide some half dozen fractures in my trousers, at any rate our dress is not characteristically English, but at every step we heard (there were two of us) ‘Voila des Anglais’ [Here are the English] and having dismounted and put up my horse at an inn to walk about, in trying to get back along the boulevard at about the time the king was to enter, I got wedged into a crowd of dirty rascals and at last was tired of heaving my way through them, was stewing in despair staring at them and they at me, when someone said ‘Il est Russe’ [He is Russian], ‘Non’, said I ‘Comment donc Anglais’ [how so English]. ‘Oui’ and room was made for me immediately.

  9th Our regiment marched this morning to the Bourse4 de Belleville and relieved a wing of the 43rd Regiment. There are troops and artillery at all the gates, whose orders are very strict and their mode of proceeding laid down in case of a row very summary. We took up our quarters in one of three public houses frequented on Sundays by the lower order of Parisians where they dance. Want of foresight is a striking feature in the character of the lower order of Parisians, they literally look no further than the Sunday be
fore them. All the saving from their weekly earnings are spent on this day, they consider themselves in the jollity of these places for the toils of the past week and are content to commence the ensuing one as poor as the last.

  10th Still on duty. The Emperors of Austria & Russia and the King of Prussia entered Paris yesterday evening.

  I rode into Paris today, the streets are very bad, irregularly built, dirty, narrow and with the exception of the boulevard there is no place for foot passengers. The carriages of every description drive strait on and get out of the way for no one, so that a stranger on foot is always in danger of being run over & is sure of being bespattered with dirt. I rode this evening up to the fortified heights of Belleville, they are not naturally so strong as Montmartre but artificially more so. There are a great number of very heavy guns there, most of which are overturned and spiked. The country about there is very fine, there are several very good houses there, all of which are deserted. From it is a view of Vincennes in which is a French garrison which has not yet surrendered5.

  11th Relieved this morning. The division has moved to Clichy where it is encamped, the Brunswick troops who have no tents are in the village of Clichy which is about a mile from the barriere.

  Went to Paris, spent the day in the Louvre, it is more magnificent than I had conception of, I cannot attempt to describe it. The thing I was very happy to see is that the Prussians are claiming those things that were taken from them.

  Bonaparte is very popular in Paris, his conquests were useful only to the capital and that too only in a way which would not have blinded other people. Were a king of England to seek to render a war popular by promising to adorn the city of London with pictures, statues, triumphal arches and public buildings executed and furnished at the expense of conquered nations, I do not think that the city of London would be as generous enough to accept of advantages purchased by the sacrifices of the whole nation, at any rate I am sure that the nation would have too much spirit to be dictated to by the city of London.