MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 19 



It was at the close of this war, in 1796-97, that 

 Colonel Burckhardt found himself marked out as 

 one of the many victims that were sacrificed to the 

 demon of revolutionary fury. On the accusation of 

 having been concerned in betraying the tete-du-pont 

 at Huningen, near Basle, to the Austrians, when 

 they besieged that fortress, he was tried for his life 

 by the French party in his native city ; and al- 

 though in consequence of the undoubted proofs of 

 his innocence adduced in court he was released 

 from prison, he found it impossible to remain in the 

 power of his enemies, having certain information 

 that he was among the number of those who were to 

 be destroyed either by secret machination or open 

 violence. Quitting his paternal mansion, where he 

 could no longer reside in safety, he entered into a 

 Swiss corps in English pay; but was under the 

 necessity of leaving his wife and children at Basle, 

 to save the family, if possible, from total ruin. 



In this forlorn situation, his son John Lewis be- 

 came a daily witness of the miseries which the 

 country suffered from the devastations of the French 

 Republicans. The effect of these distressing scenes 

 was to inspire him, at a very early age, with a de- 

 testation of their principles, and a resolution never 

 to live under their yoke. So deeply rooted was his 

 abhorrence of their revolutionary doctrines, that he 

 longed to serve in the army of some nation which 

 should be at war with France ; but at his youthful 

 period of life it was necessary first to complete his 

 education, which, with the exception of two years 



