1823.3 Memoirs of General DumoHricz. 



to danger, to show his conrage and his Doumonriez set out 



talents, and to enter upon his career, 

 as it were, anew. He travelled in 

 Italy ; and, tempted to decide tlie con- 

 quest between Corsica and France, 

 after havintj sought to defend it against 

 the Genoese, he returned to Paris, and 

 spoke boldly to a proud minister, who, 

 however, was able to appreciate his 

 character; and afterwards went to 

 Eelgiimi, from whence he passed into 

 Spain, with the intention of taking 

 service there. He arrived towards 

 the end of 1763, and did not return till 

 1767, after he had visited Portugal, 

 and published a very remarkable 

 woik, entitled " Essay on Portugal ;" 

 the preface alone of wiiich indicates 

 his superior mind. 



His return to Franco was the conse- 

 quence of a glorious act of justice on 

 the part of tlie minister, the Duke de 

 Choiscul. Dumouricz was named 

 Aide-marichal-general of the army des- 

 tined to invade Corsica, which France 

 had bought from the Genoese. In a 

 word, Corsica was invaded, and Du- 

 mouriez returned to Paris, where his 

 father had just died. 



The Poles had lost their indepen- 

 dance ; they had ceased to be a nation. 

 Dumouriez believed it tbe interest of 

 France to offer them succour, and he 

 was himself ordered to go and exa- 

 mine, and stimulate, their eflbrts, and 

 to lake tiicm uuiler his direction. It 

 is with a nation as with an individual ; 

 tliey must have a certain disposition 

 of mind, to acquire and preserve li- 

 berty, which will not connect itself 

 witli vanity, nor a love of pleasure. 

 Dumouriez did not find this spirit 

 among the people, and failed in tlie 

 attempt : llieir morals devoted them 

 to slavery, and they submitted to a 

 treble servitude. lie had foreseen 

 and predicted this: he called them the 

 Atialiques of Europe. 



On his return to France, where the 

 intrigues of Dubany had obtained a 

 change of ministry, Dumouriez went 

 to give an account of his proceedings 

 to the Duke d'Aiguillon, successor to 

 the Duke do Choiseul. A lively dis- 

 pute took place between the minister 

 and liim ; but this minister liad not the 

 spirit of the Duke de Choisrul : he 

 was wrong, and became Dumouriez's 

 enemy. 



Dumouriez was soon after employed 



on a particular embassy by the king 



himself, relative 1o the events which 



happened in Switzerland in 1772, 



3 



423 



but the Duke 

 d'Aiguillon, (creature of Dubarry,) who 

 knew nothing of Dumouriez's commis- 

 sion, caused him to be followed, watch- 

 ed, and arrested in Hamburg, and 

 brought back to the Bastille, where he 

 remained six months; while the king, 

 who employed him, dared not inter- 

 cede with his minister on his behalf. 

 Wliat a subject for reflection is this ! 

 But Louis XV. the slave of the vilest 

 habits and passions, was but a con- 

 temptible phantom of royally, showing 

 into what depths of degradation it 

 migiit be lowered. In the Bastille 

 Dumouriez wrote the following verses, 

 little known hitherto, and never yet 

 printed : — 



Sans ame, sans honneur, sans pudeur, sans 

 vertii, 

 Jiisqnequanil encore dis-noiis sonffrirasta 

 Que ton pciiple ecras6 te nit-piise et de 

 craigne? 

 II est tenis de cLoisir! Louis! ahdirjne 

 ou regne! 



Dumouriez quitted the Bastille as he 

 had entered it, without any legal pro- 

 ceeding or motive given. He was em- 

 ployed for the execution of different 

 projects, which he in a great measure 

 had planned and developed ; and was 

 at lastelccted commander of an obscure 

 place failed Cherbourg, which he con- 

 verted into a fine town, and one of the 

 best ports in France. It is to be re- 

 gretted that our limits will not permit 

 us to trace the progress of this extra- 

 ordinary change. England may, per- 

 haps, better a[)preciate his labours than 

 can the country in M'hich he was born. 



At the breaking-out of the revolu- 

 tion, Dumouriez was its decided par- 

 tizan ; but from that moment he chose 

 the place which he has always occu- 

 pied, between the extreme parties of 

 ultra and counter revolution. He had 

 too well considered the kingly abuses 

 of absolute power, — which result, in 

 fact, from the intrigues of those who 

 are place<l in the seats of the adminis- 

 tration ; he knew that something better 

 than mere force was wanting: first, 

 laws, constitutional codes, and, for 

 their defence, a power independent 

 of sinister will, lie, too, was well 

 aware, from his historical studies and 

 his own experience, of all the evil 

 which the want of power j)roduces, 

 both on the part of the supreme exe- 

 cutors of the law, and the insubordi- 

 nation of the people, to desire that the 

 restrictions imposed on royalty should 

 impede the beneficent exercise of its 

 atlribiites 



