THE 
MO NDE 
MAGAZINE. 


JANUARY 1. 
[No. 6. of VoL. 10. 


ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
HE following obfervations are the 
refult of nearly five months refi- 
dence in France during laf fummer, 
which, [ em well aware, neither have 
nor afpire to have any other value than 
their truth and accuracy. You will par- 
don the frequent recurrence of a naufeous 
pronoun, which is, I can affure you, full 
as difagreeable to my ears as to yours; 
and your candid reader is requefted to be- 
lieve that it isadopted as a fort of voucher 
for the narrative, left the author fhould 
be confidered merely as an “ Ens rationis,” 
a being without _ 
A local habitation and a name. 
‘The loyalty alfo of my countrymen will, 
{am fure, excufe any errors in ftyle, when 
they fee the tendency of thefe obferva- 
tions to vindicate his Majefty’s Minifters 
for having condefcended to negociate with 
the Firft Conful, and to acknowledge fo 
explicitly his title to the fovereignty of 
France. 
In the beginning of June laft, having 
obtained his Majefty’s licenfe to pafs into 
France, 1 embarked at Gravefend, and 
reached Calais on the 4th of June. I re- 
collected the ditty which Hogarth ha 
immortalized, and at Calais gate expect- 
ed to have feen the picture realized | 
which the author of “ Oh the roaft beef 
of old England” has fo facetioufly de- 
icribed. 
Veitibulum ante ipfum primifque in fau- 
cibus Orci 
Tudtus et ultrices pofuere cubilia Cure: 
Palientefque habitant Morbi, triftifque 
Senectus, 
Et Metus, et malefuada Fames, et turpis 
Egeftas, 
Terribiles vifu formz ! ZEN. 6. 
But how was1 furprifed when, inftead of 
the ghaftly forms of penury and famine, I 
found the people happy in the enjoyment 
of plenty and the moft profound tran- 
quillity! Calais, it fhould be obferved, 
has weathered the ftorm of the revolu- 
tion without having been witnefs to one 
fingle act of bloodfhed, notwithftanding 
its choice of Robefpierre for a reprefenta- 
tive. I fpent three weeks there plea- 
fantly, and (with one exception) quietly. 
MontTuty Mag. No. 67. 
A few days before I arrived, a man, 
whofe real name was Duperron, but who 
had affumed a fiGiitious one, had been 
placed under the cuftody of one of the 
gens darmes, the police either having or 
pretending to have fome caufe to fulpe& 
him. As foon as he knew he was fuf- 
pected, he quitted the hotel, and was 
fuppofed to have made good his efcape 
from the country. For ten or twelve 
days the affair feemed forgotten, but one 
evening when I returned from the play, 
I was furprifed to fee fome gens d’armes 
ftationed about my hotel, and- one of 
them feated at the elbow of Madame 
Grandfire, my hoftefs, during fupper. 
It appears that Fouché (miniftre de la po- 
lice generale) had intercepted fome of Du- 
perron’s letters, actually written and fent 
from Calais, and had given orders that. 
domiciliary vifits fhould be made, and 
that Madame Grandfire fhould be fent to 
Paris the next morning, in cafe the fugi- 
tive were not difcovered. Late in the 
evening a man who had connived at his 
efcape, after having been queftioned and 
threatened by Monf. Mengaud, the com- 
miffary of police, gave information that 
he was concealed in a cottage within the 
walls of the town. A guard was imme- 
diately placed near the houfe, and Du- 
perron was conducted next morning, in 
chains, by two gens d’armes to Paris. He 
was in the ‘Temple fo late as September. 
I fhould obferve, that the night before 
his apprehenfion, he had offered 200 louis 
to a Danifh captain to take him over to 
England. The day after my arrival at 
Calais, I addreffed a letter, by miftake, 
to Lucien Bonaparte, inftead of Fouché, 
requefting him to grant mea paffport for 
the purpofe of enabling me to continue 
my journey to Paris, and to examine fome 
manufcripts in the public libraries. Ina 
few days he fent me the following very 
flattering anfwer, which immediately re- 
moved the alarm I felt about the pofli- 
bility of procuring a paflport as an 
Englifhman. 
Liberté Egalité 
Paris le 26 Prairial, an 8 de la Répub- 
lique Francaife, une et indivifible. 
Le Miniftre de l Interieur a ..... 
J'ai regu, Monfieur, la lettre par la- 
quelie vous n’invitez a vous accorder un 
aK paile- 
