ed to displace him. To avoid the merited
vengeance of many individuals whom he had ill-treated, he was obliged, on
giving up his prefecture, to make a precipitate retreat from Clermont. The
delators attempted the same system with the new Prefect and Col. Wardle,
having invited some of the Swiss officers to a ball, to which were likewise
invited people of all opinions, an information was lodged against him,
purporting that he wanted to corrupt the Swiss officers from their
allegiance. The Prefect sent the letter to Col. Wardle and said that it had
not made the slightest impression on his mind, and that he treated it as a
malicious report. The new Prefect adopted the same system as the General
and tranquillity is since perfectly restored.

Things have been taking a better turn since the dissolution of the _Chambre
introuvable_. Decazes, the present minister, is an able man, and if he is
not _contrarie_ by the _Liberaux_, he will keep the fanatical _Ultras_ in
good order. The Bishop of Clermont is a liberal man also, and as it seems
the wish of the present public functionaries here to conciliate, it is to
be hoped that their example will not be lost on the _bons vieux
gentilshommes_ of Auvergne.

I find an inexhaustible fund of entertainment from the conversation of M.
C----. He has so many interesting anecdotes to relate respecting the French
Revolution. With regard to his present occupations, which are directed
towards rural economy, he tells me that he has succeeded in a plan of
cleansing the town from its Augean filth, and making it very profitable to
himself; and that he calculates to obtain a revenue thereby of twenty
thousand franks annually. He has, in short, undertaken to be the grand
_scavenger_ of the town, and the Government, in addition to a salary of
2,500 francs per annum, which they give him for his trouble, give to him
the exclusive privilege of removing all the dung he can collect in the
precincts of the city, and of converting it to his own advantage. He began
by fitting up a large enclosure, walled on each side, and in which he
deposits all the filth he can collect in the stables, yards and streets of
Clermont. He sends his carts round the town every morning to get them
loaded. All their contents are brought to this repository, and shot out
there. Straw is then placed over this dung, and then earth or soil
collected from gullies and ravines, and this arranged _stratum super
stratum_, till it forms an im