LETTER XII.

PARIS, September, 1805.

MY LORD:--A general officer, who has just arrived from Italy, has assured
me that, so far from Bonaparte's subjects on the other side of the Alps
being contented and attached to his person and Government, were a
victorious Austrian army to enter the plains of Lombardy a general
insurrection would be the consequence. During these last nine years the
inhabitants have not enjoyed a moment's tranquillity or safety. Every
relation or favourite whom Napoleon wished to provide for, or to enrich,
he has saddled upon them as in free quarters; and since 1796, when they
first had the honour of our Emperor's acquaintance, they have paid more
in taxes, in forced loans, requisitions, and extortions of every
description, than their ancestors or themselves had paid during the one
hundred and ninety-six preceding years.

Such is the public spirit, and such have been the sufferings of the
people in the ci-devant Lombardy; in Piedmont they are still worse off.
Having more national character and more fidelity towards their Sovereign
than their neighbours, they are also more cruelly treated. Their
governor, General De Menou, has caused most of the departments to be
declared under martial law, and without right to claim the protection of
our happy constitution. In every city or town are organized special
tribunals, the progeny of our revolutionary tribunals, against the
sentences of which no appeal can be made, though these sentences are
always capital ones. Before these, suspicion is evidence, and an
imprudent word is subject to the same punishment as a murderous deed.