little prospect which lately appeared of
its termination, seemed to afford no chance for the accomplishment of my
wish. At a period, however, when that arbitrary power, which had so long
held in subjection the other nations of the Continent, sought to
overthrow the only monarch who dared to oppose it, and to claim for his
subjects the natural rights from which they had been excluded by the
"_Continental System_," it pleased Divine Providence to destroy the
fetters which enslaved the nations of Europe, as if to try, whether in
the school of adversity, they had learned to merit the blessings of
independence. These great and glorious changes, the reality of which it
was at first _difficult_ to believe, having opened to the subjects and
commerce of Britain, countries from which they had been for so many
successive years proscribed, it was not long before numbers of British
repaired to the continent to indulge that love of roving for which they
had been always distinguished (and which a long war had suppressed but
not eradicated) and to claim from all true patriots, in the countries
they visited, that friendly reception to which the long perseverance and
vast sacrifices of England, during a struggle unexampled in history, had
so justly entitled the lowest of her subjects.

The unsettled state in which most part of the Continent necessarily
remained for a little time after the entrance of the Allies into Paris,
did not afford the most favourable moment for the journey of one who
was not a military traveller; and I did not regret that business
prevented my leaving England for a few months after the opening of the
Continent, as I had the gratification of being a witness, in the British
metropolis, to the exultation of all ranks of men; first, at seeing the
legitimate monarch of France arrive there in company with our
illustrious Regent who having long contributed to lessen the afflictions
of the exiled _Count de Lille_, had first the satisfaction (to which he,
amongst all the sovereigns of Europe, was best entitled, by the great
part, which under his government, England had performed for the cause of
European liberty) of saluting him as _King of France_, amidst the cheers
of applauding thousands; and, secondly, of witnessing the arrival of the
magnanimous Alexander, of that too long unfortunate monarch, Frederick
William, of those chiefs, Platoff and Blucher, whose exploits have
ranked them amongst the first of heroes, and, at l