180 
In our travelling company, I became acquainted with Count 
Miot, who had formerly been minister of the interior in Naples, 
and afterwards in Spain, under Joseph Buonaparte, and now was 
travelling for pleasure, and to visit his ancient master. Mr. De 
Mareuil detained all the gentlemen of our party to dinner at his 
house, and we remained there till ten o’clock, very much pleas¬ 
ed. At a ball given by Baron Mareuil, more than two hundred 
persons, the members of the diplomatic body, the first au¬ 
thorities of the country, and the principal inhabitants, were 
present. I met with General Bernard, and became acquainted 
with General Brown, an aged man, whose right side appeared to 
be palsied. The most interesting acquaintances I made, were 
those of Commodore Porter, whose name, as well as the impor¬ 
tant services he rendered to his country, and his late trial, have 
rendered him known to the world, and of Colonel Roberdeau, of 
the engineers. I became farther acquainted with Mr. Calvert, 
who told me his son had studied in Gottingen and had some time 
ago travelled to Weimar, where he was presented at court and 
was very well received. The iadies were very elegantly dress¬ 
ed, and danced very well. They danced mostly French quadrilles, 
but always with the same figures. The music was good, and by 
the marine band of the garrison. The ball, however, did not last 
long; I was one of the last to go, and came home at eleven 
o’clock. The president was not there; he does not accept any 
invitation in the city. The present president receives even the 
foreign ministers only when they have been announced by the 
secretary of state. The president is likewise exempt from re¬ 
turning visits, which he had already the kindness to give me 
notice of by Mrs. Sullivan, in Baltimore. 
Another ball was given by General Brown, in honour of the 
marriage of Captain Gardner, of the fourth regiment of artillery. 
The gentlemen I found there were mostly officers of the army. 
There is scarcely an army in Europe in which the corps of offi¬ 
cers is better composed than in the small American army; since 
in the United States no one can on any account be an officer, if 
he is not well educated. The officers are exclusively taken from 
the military academy in West Point; no subaltern officer is pro¬ 
moted. The greater part of the inferior officers who were ad¬ 
vanced during the last war, had been dismissed. Such a measure 
is in this country unavoidably necessary, where none but people 
of the lowest class enlist as soldiers in the army; without such an 
interval between the officers and the rank and file, discipline could 
not be maintained. Therefore, if a young man is seen in the uni¬ 
form of an American officer, it may with confidence be inferred that 
he is in every respect fit to maintain his place in the best society. 
At the third ball, given by Mr. Huygens, we once more met 
