Memoirs of the Rev. Samuel Parr
Ch VII. 1812-1815
Samuel Parr to William Roscoe, 6 July 1815
“Dear Mr.
Roscoe,—My peace of mind has been for some months quite destroyed.
There lay before me a choice of evils; and, after the partition-conspiracy at
Vienna, followed up by proclamations worthy of Sylla, I decided for Napoleon. My friend, in these troublous times we
look about for consolation; and I have found a small portion of it in the
possible suspension of carnage, in the diminution of taxes, and the delay of
national bankruptcy. Yet, the strong question upon which kings and the people
are now at issue, and the determination of oppressors to crush all social
rights, and all social improvements, by mili-![]()
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tary violence,
their vigorous sympathies in their common cause, and their combined strength,
perpetually recur to my mind. There will be an end, dear sir, of national
independence. What violations of promises!—what bloodshed are we to look for in
France! The monsters are now giddy with victory; but they will soon form a
system for securing themselves by perpetuated and extended cruelty. I dreaded
Napoleon; but I dread and I detest his enemies far
more. There is no chance of cure for the inveterate and legitimate crimes of
the old governments. As to the Bourbons, I despise, and am compelled to detest
them. There is no sincerity among them; and you and I, who are old-fashioned
moralists, look upon sincerity as the foundation of all virtue. But I will
write no more. We must talk together, and before we meet, there will be a rank
and abundant harvest of evils. You and I are pure from the blood of our
fellow-creatures; and we can turn from the savage clamours of the world, to
commune with our own hearts. God bless you!
“S. Parr.
“Hatton, July 6, 1815.”
Emperor Napoleon I (1769-1821)
Military leader, First Consul (1799), and Emperor of the French (1804), after his
abdication he was exiled to Elba (1814); after his defeat at Waterloo he was exiled to St.
Helena (1815).
William Roscoe (1753-1831)
Historian, poet, and man of letters; author of
Life of Lorenzo di
Medici (1795) and
Life and Pontificate of Leo X (1805). He
was Whig MP for Liverpool (1806-1807) and edited the
Works of Pope,
10 vols (1824).
