tissement empechera cela_." In fine, the _Caisse
d'Amortissement_ was to work miracles. I replied that the principle of the
_Caisse d'Amortissement_ was good, provided a constant and consistent
economy were practised; but that at present and during the whole time from
its establishment, it had been a mockery on the understanding of the
Nation, when we reflected on the profligate expenditure of public money,
occasioned by the ruinous, unjust and liberticide wars, which were entered
into and fomented by the British Government. Indeed, I said it was like the
conduct of a man who possessing an income of 200L per annum, should set
apart, in a box as a _Caisse d'epargne_, 20L annually, and at the same time
continue a style of living, the annual expence of which would so far exceed
his income, as to oblige him to borrow 7 or 800L every year. The old
gentleman was all amort at this comparison, which must be obvious to every
one. Nothing shows in a more glaring light the blind and superstitious
reverence paid to great names; for because this sinking fund was proposed
by Pitt, all his adherents extol it to the skies, without analysing it, and
give him besides the credit of an invention to which he had no right
whatever.

ST JEAN DE MAURIENNE.

I started from Chambery on the morning of the fourth of August, and stopped
at Montmelian to breakfast. Here begins the valley of Maurienne, and as
this valley, along which the road is cut, is extremely narrow, being hemmed
in on each side by the High Alps, Montmelian, which stands on an eminence
in the centre of the valley (the road running thro' the town), must be a
post of the utmost importance towards the defence of this pass. It was a
fortified place of great consideration in the former wars, and if the
fortifications were repaired and improved, it might be made almost
impregnable, as it would enfilade the road on each side. From the
above-mentioned features of the ground, the valley narrowing more and more
as you proceed, from the high mountains that align it and from its
sinuosities, it follows that at every angle or curve caused by these
sinuosities, you appear as if you were shut out from all the rest of the
world and could proceed no further. The river Isere runs thro' and parallel
with this valley. It rises in the mountains of Savoy and falls into the
Rhone in Dauphine. I passed the night at Aiguebelle.

From Aiguebelle to St Jean de Maurienne is twelve leagues, and I found
m