GOVERNOR OF ANTWERP. 99 



Prince born a Frenchman, and who knows so well the 

 laws prescribed by honour.&quot; 



After the events of Paris, after the institution of a Pro 

 visional Government, the Minister of War, Dupont, sent 

 one of his aides-de-camp to Antwerp. The following is 

 the letter that Carnot wrote to him on this occasion : 



&quot; 15th April, 1814. 



&quot; I must acknowledge, my Lord Count, that your hav 

 ing sent me an aide-de-camp with a white cockade is a 

 calamity : some wished to adopt it instantly, others have 

 sworn to defend Bonaparte ; a sanguinary conflict would 

 have immediately resulted in Antwerp itself, if, with the 

 advice of my Council, I had not determined to defer my 

 adhesion, and that of all the armed force .... Is civil 

 war then wished for ? is it wished that the enemy should 

 become master of all our strongholds ? and because the 

 city of Paris has been forced to accept the rule of the 

 conqueror, that therefore all France shall receive it ? It 

 is evident that the Provisional Government is only trans 

 mitting the orders of the Emperor of Russia. Who will 

 ever absolve us from having obeyed such orders ? What ! 

 you do not allow us even to preserve our honour ; you 

 yourself become an accomplice of desertion, promoter of 

 the most monstrous anarchy! The lessons of 1792 and 

 1793 are lost upon the new chiefs of the State. They 

 first seek to catch our adhesion by surprise, by affirming 

 to us that Napoleon had abdicated, and now they contra 

 dict it. After having given us a tyrant instead of anar 

 chy, they put anarchy in place of the tyrant. When 

 shall we see the end of these cruel oscillations ? Paris 

 is enjoying . only a momentary peace ; a perfidious calm 

 which presages to us the most horrible tempests. Oh, 



