I walked one morning to St. Julian, about two leagues from Geneva; it is pleasantly situated in that part of Savoy which is ceded to France, and which is in fact the most essential part of the country, as it is said this division materially interrupts the communication between those parts which remain with the King of Sardinia. The object in visiting St. Julian, was principally to see the plain, where after a sharp contest, the Austrians were defeated by little more than half their number of French troops, but having received reinforcements, renewed the action and were victorious. It must be confessed, that the Austrian troops are much inferior to the French; and the latter having so frequently defeated them, feel quite indignant against the Austrians for the part taken by their government in the invasion of France, and the restoration of the Bourbons. Most of the French officers I have met with indulge the hope, that some differences at the Congress may occasion a fresh war with Austria. The French in general join the officers in looking forward to the recovery of what they contend are their natural limits--the Rhine and Belgium;--and after so many years of war, are dissatisfied at having no conquests to boast of. It cannot be however expected that the great bias given to the French in favour of war, by their late ruler, should speedily subside; but the restless and impatient spirit which at present prevails in France, and which would engage immediately in a fresh war, must be in some degree restrained by the exhausted state of their finances; and as it is, many of the taxes are much complained of. * * * * * CHAP. XII.