publicly that he would listen to no denunciation, unless the denouncer gave up his name and consented to be confronted with the accused.  The consequence of this intimation was that all denunciations ceased.  The late Prefect however was not so prudent, and chose rather to encourage delation; but mark the consequence!  He arrested several persons wrongfully, was obliged to release them afterwards, was in continual hot water and it ended by the Government being obliged to displace him.  To avoid the merited vengeance of many individuals whom he had ill-treated, he was obliged, on giving up his prefecture, to make a precipitate retreat from Clermont.  The delators attempted the same system with the new Prefect and Col.  Wardle, having invited some of the Swiss officers to a ball, to which were likewise invited people of all opinions, an information was lodged against him, purporting that he wanted to corrupt the Swiss officers from their allegiance.  The Prefect sent the letter to Col.  Wardle and said that it had not made the slightest impression on his mind, and that he treated it as a malicious report.  The new Prefect adopted the same system as the General and tranquillity is since perfectly restored.

Things have been taking a better turn since the dissolution of the Chambre introuvable.  Decazes, the present minister, is an able man, and if he is not contrarie by the Liberaux, he will keep the fanatical Ultras in good order.  The Bishop of Clermont is a liberal man also, and as it seems the wish of the present public functionaries here to conciliate, it is to be hoped that their example will not be lost on the bons vieux gentilshommes of Auvergne.

I find an inexhaustible fund of entertainment from the conversation of M. C——.  He has so many interesting anecdotes to relate respecting the French Revolution.  With regard to his present occupations, which are directed towards rural economy, he tells me that he has succeeded in a plan of cleansing the town from its Augean filth, and making it very profitable to himself; and that he calculates to obtain a revenue thereby of twenty thousand franks annually.  He has, in short, undertaken to be the grand scavenger of the town, and the Government, in addition to a salary of 2,500 francs per annum, which they give him for his trouble, give to him the exclusive privilege of removing all the dung he can collect in the precincts of the city, and of converting it to his own advantage.  He began by fitting up a large enclosure, walled on each side, and in which he deposits all the filth he can collect in the stables, yards and streets of Clermont.  He sends his carts round the town every morning to get them loaded.  All their contents are brought to this repository, and shot out there.  Straw is then placed over this dung, and then earth or soil collected from gullies and ravines, and this arranged stratum super stratum, till it forms an immense compact cake of rich compost; and when