The FRENCH are numerous in Buenos Ayres; report says, they are equal in number to the British, but I do not believe it. Their trade here, what there is of it, must be advantageous: they bring every requisite for the ladies' toilet; fans, silk stockings, perfumery, scented waters, gloves, jewellery, and those nic-nacs in which the French so much excel. Some shops make a great figure in French goods, as silks, shawls, and every essential to gratify female taste. Roquin, Meyer, & Co. is the chief mercantile French house; but there are numbers of Buenos Ayrean and other firms, that import largely from France, as do also some English houses. There are many gentlemanly and intelligent men amongst the French settled in Buenos Ayres; but the mass will not bear a comparison with the British in point of respectability. Frenchmen themselves allow this, and laugh at the billiard-markers and waiters of Parisian growth. The superior class are to be found in the best societies of the city. Their lively manners and conversation have ever been a contrast to the reserve of the English; and, as companions, they may be more sought after than my modest countrymen: a Frenchman is at home in all countries. The English likewise visit the first families, and give at times splendid entertainments, or _tertulias_; yet, I have fancied, they appear more happy when amongst themselves. Their behaviour has been attributed to pride and many other causes: the French term "_mauvaise honte_," affords a better solution. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, I am convinced, the British character is esteemed; and, however the French may beat us in companionship, they cannot deprive us of that esteem. The news of Napoleon's death caused great tribulation in French society at Buenos Ayres. It was some time ere they would believe it; it must be a trick, they said, of the English; and until the causes of his death became so well authenticated, expressions of foul play were more than whispered. Their love for this "man of blood" has ceased to astonish me: were I a Frenchman, it is probable I should love him too.[13] On Bonaparte's birth-day, in 1821, I observed the tri-coloured flag, waving from a French _pulperia_ near the beach. This flag, once so formidable, and which made every Briton prepare for "bloody fight," now floats harmlessly in Buenos Ayres, being used as a signal for merchant vessels. [13] A translation of O'Meara's work, in French, has appeared in Buenos Ayres, with the consequent conclusion, that Sir Hudson Lowe must be a perfect brute. In Spanish, we have one or two diatribes against the British government, and their tyranny exercised on the seas; but the malignity so apparent in the observations destroys their effect. * * * * * A great many PORTUGUESE are residents of Buenos Ayres, as merchants, shopkeepers, &c.; they carry on a constant commerce with the Brazils.