GOVERNOR OF ANTWERP. 97 
and of the 4th, with part of the 6th. Fifteen hundred 
bombs, eight hundred cannon balls, many red-hot balls 
and fusees, were thrown on our ships. The enemy then 
retired ; the experience of three days had sufficed to give 
him the estimate of the rough tilter he had to deal with. 
I will borrow from the journal of the siege kept by M. 
Ransonnet, Carnot’s aide-de camp, some details that may 
be interesting, and which will show the strictness of the 
man and of the times. 
On the 10th of February, the new governor of Ant- 
werp wrote to the Mayor of the town :— 
“Tam very much surprised that the person charged 
with ordering the furnishing of my quarters, did not re- 
strict himself to what was necessary. 
“T also desire that any demands of this nature, made 
on my account, may not have the character of a forced 
requisition. 
“All the effects enumerated in the annexed list are 
unnecessary.” | 
The necessities of the Belgian campaign, having sug- 
gested to the Emperor the idea of borrowing some troops 
from the garrison of Antwerp for the army, Carnot wrote 
a despatch to the General-in-Chief, Maison, dated the 
27th of March, whence I have extracted the following 
passages :— 
“In obeying the orders of the Emperor, I am obliged 
to declare to you, the Commander-in-Chief, that these 
orders are equivalent to ordering Antwerp to be ceded 
.... The circumference of this place is immense, and 
there would be at least fifteen thousand good troops re- 
quired to defend it. How could His Majesty suppose 
that with three thousand sailors, the greater part of whom 
SEO. SER. 5 
<u = | tC 
