262 DEVASTATIONS AND RBSTOEATIONB. 



The Col du Mont Genfevre, upon whioli the valley of the Durance abuts, 

 is less elevated than those of Mount Cenis, of the Great and the Little St 

 Bernard, of the Simplar, and of the St Gothard ; sheltered as it is against 

 the north wind, it presents exceptional advantages in the inclement 

 season ; and the pass is not, like the others, a desert and inhospitable col, but 

 is a cultivated and inhabited plateau, in which there are two villages — the 

 principal villages of two communes. 



The Dauphines of a former day, more especially Humbert II., and Louis 

 IL, and subsequently Louis XL, took a special interest in this region; 

 they dug channels of irrigation, raised dikes, and founded useful establish- 

 ments. The memory of them is still maintained among the mountain 

 population. 



By order of Louis XIV., Vauban, after having completed the fortifications ' 

 of Briangon and Embrun, of which the Romans had laid the foundation, 

 constructed in all its parts the stronghold of Mont Dauphin. 



Previous to the revolution, Dauphiny was considered an independent 

 State connected with France ; not incorporated with the kingdom, but 

 governed by the king under the title of Dauphin of the Viennois. It 

 embraced the territory now forming the departments of the lafere, the 

 Dr6me, and the Higher Alps. Until then the Higher Alps, being an 

 integral portion of Dauphiny, shared the revenues of a wealthy province ; 

 and they were dependent on a central administration not far distant, where 

 their requirements were known, and where an interest was taken in efforts 

 the inhabitants had to put forth. Subsequent to the division of France 

 into departments it was otherwise. But Napoleon I., having his attention 

 directed to the subject byM. Ladoucette, who was prefect of the High Alps, 

 constructed, by the Durance and the Mont Gen6vre, the great military road 

 from Spain to Italy, and caused the route from Paris to Nice to pass by 

 Gass. And the department was enriched by Napoleon with many vitalising 

 institutions which were subsequently suppressed. 



At the time of the reverses experienced by the nation in 1815, and in 

 despite of orders received from the authorities in France, the inhabitants of 

 Briangon, of Mont Dauphin, and of Fort Queyras, refused to open their 

 gates to the Austrio-Sardinian army; and by this patriotic conduct there 

 was preserved for France a great quantity of munition and war stores which 

 the army had taken to Italy. 



But from that time onwards the High Alps have exhibited a continuous 

 decadence. Through the policy of centralization the business of the 

 department, in common with that of the whole country, removed to Paris, 

 failed to receive from the Administration the attention given to districts less 

 inaccessible and more out-spoken ; and depopulation followed, apparently in 

 consequence of the continuous impoverishment of the land. 



M. L6once de Lavergne, in a treatise on ^conomie Utirale, writes, — " The 

 two departments of the High and the Low Alps present a sad contrast to 

 the other parts of this region. TheT/ have retrograded instead of advancing. 

 It is the least wealthy portion of the district ; it has only 22 inhabitants to 

 the hectare, while even Corsica has 27. For more than a hundred years 

 past all who have known the French Alps speak of the coming destruction 

 of the whole of the vegetable soil by the periodical ravages of the torrents." 



The population of the High Alps, it is stated by Cezanne, increased by 

 14,000 from 1806 to 1846 ; but it diminished by 11,000 from 1846 to 1866 ; 

 and he gives official returns in proof of this fact, with official returns 



