th the anniversary of the first day of the Revolution particularly
struck me; and thus closed for me the circle of the history of
France which had commenced on the 14th of July 1789.* When the
barrier which separates Austria from Russia was opened to let me
pass, I made an oath never to set my foot in a country subjected in
any degree to the emperor Napoleon. Will this oath ever allow me to
revisit beautiful France?

* (Note by the Editor) It was on the 14th of July, 1817, that my
mother was taken from us, and received into the bosom of God. What
mind is there that would not be affected with religious emotion on
meditating on the mysterious co-incidences which the destiny of the
human race presents!
(End of Note by the Editor.)

The first person who received me in Russia was a Frenchman, who had
formerly been a clerk in my father's bureaux; he talked to me of him
with tears in his eyes, and that name thus pronounced appeared to me
of happy augury. In fact, in that Russian empire, so falsely termed
barbarous, I have experienced none but noble and delightful
impressions: may my gratitude draw down additional blessings on this
people and their sovereign! I entered Russia at the moment when the
French army had already penetrated a considerable distance into the
Russian territory, and yet no restraint or vexation of any kind
impeded for a moment the progress of a foreign traveller; neither I,
nor my companions, knew a syllable of Russian; we only spoke French,
the language of the enemies who were ravaging the empire: I had not
even with me, by a succession of disagreeable chances, a single
servant who could speak Russian, and had it not been for a German
physician (Dr. Renner) who in the most handsome manner volunteered
his services as our interpreter as far as Moscow, we should have
justly merited the epithet of deaf and dumb, applied by the Russians
to persons unacquainted with their language. Well! even in this
state, our journey would have been quite safe and easy, so great is
the hospitality of the nobles and the people of Russia! On our first
entrance we learned that the direct road to Petersburg was already
occupied by the armies, and that we must go to Moscow in order to
get the means of conveyance there. This was another round of 200
leagues; but we had already made 1500, and I now feel pleased at
having seen Moscow.

The first province we had to cross, Volhynia, forms a part of
Russian Poland; it is a fertile