It was a very brilliant spectacle.  The Duke de Berri was present.  I think I never beheld so ignoble and disagreeable a countenance as this prince possesses.  I thought to myself that he had much better have stayed away from this review; for he must be insensible to all patriotism who could take pleasure in contemplating a foreign force about to enter and ravage his own country.  We learn that the Duchess d’Angouleme is to have a review of the fideles very shortly.  She is certainly much more warlike than the males of that family; this disposition is increased by her religious fanaticism.  This renders her, of course, a most dangerous person to meddle with politics; but great allowances must be made for her feelings, which must naturally be embittered by the recollection of so much suffering during the Revolution and of the barbarous and inhuman treatment experienced by her father and mother.

I observed a peculiarity in this part of the country, viz., that there are villages lying close to each other in some of which French is spoken, in others Flemish; and that, with some few exceptions, the inhabitants of neighbouring villages are reciprocally unintelligible.  General Wilson does not intend to return to Bruxelles.  I shall accompany him as far as Gand and then return to Bruxelles to await the issue of the contest.

BRUXELLES, June 11.

I took leave of General Wilson at Gand on the 22nd of last month and immediately returned here, where I have been ever since.  I have shifted my quarters to a less expensive hotel and am now lodged at the Hotel de la Paix.  We get an excellent dinner at the table d’hote for one and a half francs, wine not included; this is paid for extra, and is generally at the price of three francs per bottle.  This hotel is very neatly fitted up and is very near the Hotel de Ville.  At the table d’hote I frequently meet Prussian officers who on coming in to visit Bruxelles put up here.  We have just learned the proceedings of the Champ de Mai at Paris, by which it appears that Napoleon is solemnly recognized and confirmed as Emperor of the French.  This intelligence sent a young Prussian officer, who sat next to me, in a transport of joy, for this makes the war certain.  The Prussians seem determined to revenge themselves for the humiliation they suffered from the French during the time they occupied their country, and I sincerely pity by anticipation the fate of the French peasants upon whom these gentlemen may chance to be quartered.  Terrible will be the first shock of battle, and it may be daily expected, and dreadful will be the consequences to the poor inhabitants of the seat of war.  Cannot this war be avoided?  I am not politician enough to foresee the consequences of allowing Napoleon to keep quiet and undisturbed possession of the throne of France; but the consequences of a defeat on the part of the Allies will be the loss of Belgium and the probable