to
Mr L. B., who had been at one time of service to the Princess Borghese
in his legal capacity, and he paid a visit to the Princess. She received
him most kindly, but told him that Bonaparte strictly forbade her
interfering in military matters; that she would willingly apply for the
situation of a prefect for Mr L. B. but could be of no service to his
relation. She was, however, at last prevailed on; she wrote most warmly
to her friends, and in three or four days the young man was sent back to
his happy family.

The French here date Bonaparte's downfall from the time when he first
determined on attacking the power of the Pope. They say that this attack
and the Spanish War, were both contrary to the advice of Talleyrand. In
a conversation which took place between the Emperor Alexander and
Napoleon, Alexander represented his own power as superior to Napoleon's,
because he had no Pope to, controul him; and Bonaparte then replied,
that "he would shew him and the world that the Pope was nobody."

Our conversation turned on the difference between the penal codes of
France and England. The French code, as revised, and, in many parts,
formed by Napoleon, is much more mild than ours. There are not more than
twelve crimes for which the punishment is death. In England, according
to Blackstone, there are 160 crimes punished by death; on these
subjects, I shall afterwards write more fully when I haws received more
information. Mr L. B. related a curious anecdote, from which the
abolition of torture is said to have been determined.

A judge, who had long represented the folly of this method of trial,
without any success, had recourse to the following stratagem:--Be went
into the stable at night, and having taken away two of his own horses,
he had them removed to distance. In the morning his coachman came
trembling to inform him of the theft. He immediately had him confined.
He was put to the torture, and, unable to bear the agony, he said that
he had stolen the horses. The judge immediately wrote to the King, and
informed him, that he himself had removed the horses. The man was
pardoned, and the judge settled a large pension on him. The subject of
the torture was considered, and the result was its abolition.

I found that the opinions as to some parts of their criminal
jurisprudence in France, were the same as are entertained on the same
subject in England. Mr L. B., who has had occasion professionally to
attend many criminal t