Some Sardinian officers, who were present, seemed
to enjoy my argument, tho’ they said nothing;
and one took me aside, when we quitted the table, and
said he rejoiced to see me take the old man in hand,
as he disgusted them every day by his tirades against
the liberal party, and by his fulsome adulations of
the British Government. The old gentleman held
forth likewise in a long speech respecting the finances
of England, in praise of the sinking fund, and when
it was suggested to him that England from the immense
national debt must one day become bankrupt: “
Non,
Monsieur,” (he said),"
la Caisse d’Amortissement
empechera cela.” In fine, the
Caisse
d’Amortissement was to work miracles.
I replied that the principle of the
Caisse d’Amortissement
was good, provided a constant and consistent economy
were practised; but that at present and during the
whole time from its establishment, it had been a mockery
on the understanding of the Nation, when we reflected
on the profligate expenditure of public money, occasioned
by the ruinous, unjust and liberticide wars, which
were entered into and fomented by the British Government.
Indeed, I said it was like the conduct of a man who
possessing an income of 200L per annum, should set
apart, in a box as a
Caisse d’epargne,
20L annually, and at the same time continue a style
of living, the annual expence of which would so far
exceed his income, as to oblige him to borrow 7 or
800L every year. The old gentleman was all amort
at this comparison, which must be obvious to every
one. Nothing shows in a more glaring light the
blind and superstitious reverence paid to great names;
for because this sinking fund was proposed by Pitt,
all his adherents extol it to the skies, without analysing
it, and give him besides the credit of an invention
to which he had no right whatever.
ST JEAN DE MAURIENNE.
I started from Chambery on the morning of the fourth
of August, and stopped at Montmelian to breakfast.
Here begins the valley of Maurienne, and as this valley,
along which the road is cut, is extremely narrow, being
hemmed in on each side by the High Alps, Montmelian,
which stands on an eminence in the centre of the valley
(the road running thro’ the town), must be a
post of the utmost importance towards the defence of
this pass. It was a fortified place of great
consideration in the former wars, and if the fortifications
were repaired and improved, it might be made almost
impregnable, as it would enfilade the road on each
side. From the above-mentioned features of the
ground, the valley narrowing more and more as you
proceed, from the high mountains that align it and
from its sinuosities, it follows that at every angle
or curve caused by these sinuosities, you appear as
if you were shut out from all the rest of the world
and could proceed no further. The river Isere
runs thro’ and parallel with this valley.
It rises in the mountains of Savoy and falls into the
Rhone in Dauphine. I passed the night at Aiguebelle.