h an aunt at
Severe. The two pro-consuls passing through that place, she threw
herself at their feet, imploring mercy for her parent. This they not
only promised, but offered her a place in their carriage to Dax, that she
might see him restored to liberty. On the road the monsters insisted on
a ransom for the blood of her father. Waiting, afflicted and ashamed, at
a friend's house at Dag, the accomplishment of a promise so dearly
purchased, she heard the beating of the alarm drum, and looked, from
curiosity, through the window, when she saw her unfortunate parent
ascending the scaffold! After having remained lifeless for half an hour,
she recovered her senses an instant, when she exclaimed:
"Oh, the barbarians! they violated me while flattering me with the hope
of saving my father!" and then expired. In October, 1795, Cavaignac
assisted Barras and Bonaparte in the destruction of some thousands of
men, women, and children in the streets of this capital, and was,
therefore, in 1796, made by the Directory an inspector-general of the
customs; and, in 1803, nominated by Bonaparte a legislator. His
colleague, Citizen Pinet, is now one of our Emperor's Counsellors of
State, and both are commanders of His Majesty's Legion of Honour; rich,
respected, and frequented by our most fashionable ladies and gentlemen.
LETTER XXXIII.
PARIS, October, 1805.
MY LORD:--I suppose your Government too vigilant and too patriotic not to
be informed of the great and uninterrupted activity which reigns in our
arsenals, dockyards, and seaports. I have seen a plan, according to
which Bonaparte is enabled, and intends, to build twenty ships of the
line and ten frigates, besides cutters, in the year, for ten years to
come. I read the calculation of the expenses, the names of the forests
where the timber is to be cut, of the foreign countries where a part of
the necessary materials are already engaged, and of our own departments
which are to furnish the remainder. The whole has been drawn up in a
precise and clear manner by Bonaparte's Maritime Prefect at Antwerp, M.
Malouet, well known in your country, where he long remained as an
emigrant, and, I believe, was even employed by your Ministers.
You may, perhaps, smile at this vast naval scheme of Bonaparte; but if
you consider that he is the master of all the forests, mines, and
productions of France, Italy, and of a great part of Germany, with all
the navigable rivers and seapo
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