children decided
me, and especially my daughter, then scarcely fourteen years old. I
committed myself, in a manner, to her, as if the voice of God had
made itself be heard by the mouth of a child*.

* England was then the hope of all who suffered for the cause of
liberty; how comes it, that after the victory, her ministers have so
cruelly deceived the expectation of Europe?
(Note by the Editor.)

My son took his leave, and after he was out of my sight, I could
say, like Lord Russel: the bitterness of death is past. I got into
my carriage with my daughter: uncertainty once terminated, I
collected all my strength within myself, and I found sufficient of
that for action which had altogether failed me for deliberation.

Note by the Editor:
* It was but a trifle to have succeeded in quitting Coppet, by
deceiving* the vigilance of the prefect of Geneva; it was also
necessary to obtain passports for the purpose of going through
Austria, and that these passports should be under a name which
would attract no attention from the different polices which then
divided Germany. My mother entrusted me with this commission, and
the emotion which I experienced from it will never cease to be
present to my thoughts. It was undoubtedly a decisive step; if
the passports were refused, my mother sunk again into a much more
cruel situation; her plans were known; flight was thenceforward
become impracticable, and the rigors of her exile would have
every day been more intolerable. I thought I could not do better
than to address myself directly to the Austrian minister, with
that confidence in the feelings of his equals which is the first
movement of every honest man. M. de Schraut made no hesitation in
granting me the so much desired passports, and I hope he will
allow me to express in this place the gratitude which I still
retain to him for them. At a period when Europe was still bending
under the yoke of Napoleon, during which the persecution directed
against my mother estranged from her persons who probably owed to
her courageous friendship the preservation of their fortunes, or
their lives, I was not surprised, but I was most sensibly
affected by the generous proceeding of the Austrian minister.

I left my mother to return to Coppet, to which the interests of her
fortune recalled me; and some days afterwards, my brother, of whom a
cruel death has deprived us almost at the moment of entrance into
his career set off to rejoin my mother