577 
PARIS. 
by the illuftrious Wellington, I purfued the thieves who 
had defpoiled many of the nations of Europe of their in- 
eflimable monuments of the fine arts ; I attacked and dif- 
perfed them, and reftored to my country the plunder they 
had unjuftly taken, fpurning the idea of negociating with 
the French commifiioners on that fubjedl. They may 
now thank Providence for our not following their bafe 
example. Blucher.” 
Still, however, though the brutal aflivity of Blucher 
was fufficiently evident by the melancholy blanks on 
the walls of the Mufeum ; the whole amount of his fpoli- 
ation would have been as nothing to the remainder of 
the collection, if the other members of the alliance could 
have been induced to forbear; and it was thought, by 
tliofe who were interefted in the retention, that the belt 
way would be to keep quiet as to the proceedings of 
Prulfia, to affeft to take no notice of them whatever, 
hoping that filence might caufe the affair to die away 
after the firft removals were over; and that either the 
indifference or the lingular good-nature of the ftates of 
Europe, might yet leave to Paris the darling boaft of 
being the capital of the world as to fine art. For fome 
time there was reafon to hope that this manoeuvre would 
be fuccefsful. Indeed no Frenchman permitted himfelf 
to entertain the flighteft doubt of the confcioufnefs of the 
allies, when firft matters of the French capital, that they 
were far too weak to repoffefs themfelves of what was 
held in if as trophies of their defeat. “You knew well, 
that we ftiould have arifen as one man to deftroy you, if 
you had dared to lay hands on what every inhabitant of 
France feels to be his honour, his pride, "his delight, his 
exiflence.” 
It certainly feemed, however, as if the allies at leaft 
hefitated very much to mortify this offenfive vanity. 
Every day new arrivals of ftrangers poured into Paris, 
all anxious to gain a view' of the Louvre before its col¬ 
lection was broken up. It was the firft point to which all 
the Britifh directed their fteps every morning, in eager 
curiofity to know whether the bulinefs of removal had 
commenced. The towns and principalities that had been 
plundered were making fedulous exertions to influence 
the councils of the allies to determine on a general reflo- 
ration ; and feveral of the great powers leaned decidedly 
tow’.ards fuch a decifion. Much difcuffion took place; 
many notes w'ere exchanged ; and the French conceived 
fome hopes of forbearance from the liberal ideas of the 
emperor of Ruffia. In a note, which was given in by 
M. Neffelrode on the part of the emperor, the juftice or 
injuftice of the meafure was lefs infilled on than its expe¬ 
diency. It reprefented the painful fituation in which it 
placed Louis with regard to the public ; and that, if the 
allies forebore retaking, laft year, what they deemed their 
property in the mufeum, from their refpeCl for the king, 
this motive ought to operate with double force at the pre- 
fent period. It was for a fhort time believed that the 
Ruffian note had produced fome eft’eCl; but, whether 
Alexander relaxed in the energy of his reprefentations, 
or becaufe the Ruffian troops had withdrawn from the ca¬ 
pital, this hope proved delulive. The war of diplomacy 
ceafed ; and fentence was palled upon the gallery. 
Before actual force, however, was employed, reprefen¬ 
tations were repeated to the French government: but the 
minilters of the king of France would neither promife 
due fatisfadlion nor uphold a ftrenuous oppofition : they 
fhowed a fulky difregard of every application. A depu¬ 
tation from the Netherlands formally claimed the Dutch 
and Flemiflt pictures taken during the revolutionary wars 
from thefe countries ; and this demand was conveyed 
through the duke of Wellington, as commander-in-chief 
of the Dutch and Belgian armies. About the fame time, 
alfo, Auftria determined that her Italian and German 
towns, which had been defpoiled, ftiould have their pro¬ 
perty replaced ; and Canova, the anxious reprefentative 
of Rome, after many fruitlefs appeals to Talleyrand, re- 
Vol. XVIII. No. 1266. 
ceived affurances that he, too, fliould be furniflied with 
an armed force fufficient to protefl him in taking back to 
that venerable city what loft its higheft value in its re¬ 
moval from thence. 
Confli6ling reports continued to prevail among the 
crowds of ftrangers and natives as to the intentions of the 
allies; but on Saturday, the 23d of September, all doubt 
was removed. On going up to the door of the Louvre, 
(fays Mr. Scott,) I found a guard of 150 Britifh riflemen 
drawn up outfide. -J alked one of the foldiers what they 
were there for? “Why, they tell me, fir, that they mean 
to take away the pictures,” was his reply. I walked in 
amongft the ftatues below. In one of the halls, I found 
two brown-complexioned, flout, good-natured looking, 
women, the wives of Englilh foldiers, examining, very 
curioufly, the large reclining figure of the Tiber; one of 
them exclaimed with a laugh, “ See how the young devils 
run over his body!”—On going to the great itaircafe, I 
faw the Englifh guard haftily tramping up its magnificent 
afcent: a crowd of allounded French followed in their 
rear ; and, from above, many of the vifitors to the Gallery 
of Pictures were attempting to force their way pall 
the afcending foldiers, catching an alarm from their Hid¬ 
den entrance. The alarm, however, was unfounded ; 
but the fpedlacle that prefented itfelf was very impreffive. 
A Britifh officer dropped his men in files along this mag¬ 
nificent gallery, until they extended, two and two, at 
fmall diftances, from its entrance to its extremity. All 
the fpedlators were breathlefs, in eagernefs to know what 
was to be done ; but the foldiers flopped as machines, 
having no care beyond obedience to their orders. 
The work of removal now commenced in good earned : 
porters with barrows, and ladders, and tackles of ropes, 
made their appearance. The collection of the Louvre 
might from that moment be confidered as broken up for 
ever. The fublimity of its orderly afpeCl vanifhed : it 
took now the melancholy, confuled, air of a large auftion- 
room after a day’s fale. Before this, the vifitors had 
walked down its profound length with a fenfe of refpeft 
on their minds, influencing them to preferve filence and 
decorum, as they contemplated the majeltic pictures; 
but decency and quiet were difpelled when the fignal was 
given for the break-up of the ellablilhment. It feemed as 
if a nation had become ruined through improvidence, and 
was feliing off 
The guarding of the Louvre was committed by turns 
to the Britifh and Auflrians, while this procefs lafted. 
'Fhe Prulfians faid that they had done their own bulinefs 
forthemfelves, and would not now incur odium forothers. 
The workmen being incommoded by the crow ds that now 
rulhed to the Louvre, as the news fpread of the deflruClion 
of its great colleClion, a military order came that no vi¬ 
fitors fhould be admitted without permilfion from the 
foreign commandant of Paris. This direClion was pretty 
ftriClly adhered to by the fentinels as far as the exclufion 
of the French ; but the words Je fnis Anglais, were always 
fufficient to gain leave to pafs from the Auflrians: our 
own countrymen were rather more ftriCt; but, in general, 
foreigners could, with but little difficulty, procure ad- 
miffion. The Parifians flood in crowds round the door, 
looking willfully within it, as it occafionally opened to 
'admit Germans, Englifh, Ruffians, See. into a palace of 
their capital from w'hich they were excluded. I was 
frequently afked by French gentlemen. Handing with 
ladies on their arms, and kept back from the door by the 
guards, to take them into their own Louvre, under my 
proteClion as an unknown foreigner! It was impoffible 
not to feel for them in thefe remarkable circumftances 
of mortification and humiliation ; and the agitation of 
the French public was now evidently exceflive. Every 
Frenchman looked a walking volcano, ready to fpit forth 
fire. Groups of the common people colletled in the fpace 
before the Louvre; and a fpokefman was generally fieen 
exercifing the moll violent gelliculations, fufficiently in- 
7 H dicative 
