Читать книгу A Residence in France During the Years 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795, Complete - Charlotte Biggs - Страница 68

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I have this day made a diſcovery of a very unpleaſant nature, which Mad. de ____ had hitherto cautiouſly concealed from me. All the Engliſh, and other foreigners placed under ſimilar circumſtances, are now, without exception, arreſted, and the confiſcation of their property is decreed. It is uncertain if the law is to extend to wearing apparel, but I find that on this ground the Committee of Peronne perſiſt in refuſing to take the ſeals off my effects, or to permit my being ſupplied with any neceſſaries whatſoever. In other places they have put two, four, and, I am told, even to the number of ſix guards, in houſes belonging to the Engliſh; and theſe guards, excluſive of being paid each two ſhillings per day, burn the wood, regale on the wine, and pillage in detail all they can find, while the unfortunate owner is ſtarving in a Maiſon d'Arret, and cannot obtain permiſſion to withdraw a ſingle article for his own uſe.—The plea for this paltry meaſure is, that, according to the report of a deſerter eſcaped from Toulon, Lord Hood has hanged one Beauvais, a member of the Convention. I have no doubt but the report is falſe, and, moſt likely, fabricated by the Comite de Salut Public, in order to palliate an act of injuſtice previouſly meditated.

It is needleſs to expatiate on the atrocity of making individuals, living here under the faith of the nation, reſponſible for the events of the war, and it is whiſpered that even the people are a little aſhamed of it; yet the government are not ſatiſfied with making us accountable for what really does happen, but they attribute acts of cruelty to our countrymen, in order to excuſe thoſe they commit themſelves, and retaliate imagined injuries by ſubſtantial vengeance.—Legendre, a member of the Convention, has propoſed, with a moſt benevolent ingenuity, that the manes of the aforeſaid Beauvais ſhould be appeaſed by exhibiting Mr. Luttrell in an iron cage for a convenient time, and then hanging him.

A gentleman from Amiens, lately arreſted while happening to be here on buſineſs, informs me, that Mr. Luttrell is now in the common gaol of that place, lodged with three other perſons in a miſerable apartment, ſo ſmall, that there is not room to paſs between their beds. I underſtand he was adviſed to petition Dumont for his removal to a Maiſon d'Arret, where he would have more external convenience; but he rejected thiſ counſel, no doubt from a diſdain which did him honour, and preferred to ſuffer all that the mean malice of theſe wretches would inflict, rather than aſk any accommodation as a favour.—The diſtinguiſhing Mr. Luttrell from any other Engliſh gentleman is as much a proof of ignorance as of baſeneſs; but in this, as in every thing elſe, the preſent French government is ſtill more wicked than abſurd, and our ridicule iſ ſuppreſſed by our deteſtation.