1200 and frequently rose to 2000, that many of them held high rank the army or in society, that credit and loans were given them from feelings of humanity, and that vouchers could be produced before a mixed commission. They suggested that the sum could be repaid out of the surplus of £9,000,000 remaining from the £60,000,000 paid by France to indemnify British sufferers, and they urged that French prisoners in England had been released conditionally on the discharge of their debts. The treaty of peace, indeed, required prisoners of war to pay their debts, but the English prisoners mostly quitted France without waiting for formal release or for the conclusion of peace. The deputation apparently effected nothing. It was obviously difficult for the English Government to create a precedent by liquidating private debts, and the Verdun creditors had to whistle for their money.
Paris was again flooded with English in the spring of 1815, but when Napoleon's arrival became imminent there was a perfect stampede. One of his first questions was whether there were many English. On being told that nearly all had left, he replied, " Ah, they recollect what I did before, but such things are not repeated." Their alarm, however, was very natural, and their flight the plainest dictate of prudence. He might not have laid hands on them before Waterloo, but had he returned a victor, who could have trusted to his moderation?
