herefore, of
the ground of this dyke which we trod, must have been the spot on which
a desperate struggle had been maintained. In casting our eyes back to
the distant spires of the city of Antwerp, we could not help entering
for an instant, into the feelings of the people who were then besieged;
and remembering that these spires, which now rose so beautifully on the
distant horizon, were then crowded with people, who awaited with
dreadful anxiety, in the issue of the action which was then pending, the
future fate of themselves and their children.

To those who take an interest in the delightful study of political
economy, and who have examined the condition of the people in different
countries, with a view to discover the causes of their welfare or their
suffering, there is no spectacle so interesting as that which the
situation of the people in Flanders affords. The country is uniformly
populous in the extreme; go where you will, you every where meet with
the marks of a dense population; yet no where are the symptoms of
general misery to be found; no where does the principle of population
seem to press beyond the limits assigned for the comfortable maintenance
of the human species. Flanders has exhibited, for centuries, the
instance of a _numerous, dense, and happy population_. It would perhaps
not be unreasonable to conclude, from this circumstance, that the
doctrines now generally admitted in regard to the increase of the human
species have been received with too little examination. Man possesses
in himself the principles requisite for the regulation of the increase
of the numbers of mankind; and where the influence of government does
not interfere with their operation, they are sufficient to regulate the
progress of population according to the interest and welfare of all
classes of the people.

END OF VOLUME FIRST.

EDINBURGH: Printed by JOHN PILLANS, James's Court.

TRAVELS IN FRANCE,

DURING THE YEARS 1814-15.

COMPRISING A

RESIDENCE AT PARIS DURING THE STAY OF THE ALLIED ARMIES,

AND

AT AIX, AT THE PERIOD OF THE LANDING OF BONAPARTE.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. II.

SECOND EDITION, CORRECTED AND ENLARGED.

EDINBURGH:

PRINTED FOR MACREADIE, SKELLY, AND MUCKERSY, 52, PRINCE'S STREET;

LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN; BLACK, PARRY AND CO. T.
UNDERWOOD, LONDON; AND J. CUMMING, DUBLIN.

1816.

CHAPTER I.

JOURNEY TO AIX.

IT was thought advisable, by the gentleman who is