[39] _Origines de Caen, 2nd edit._ p. 300.
[40] Vol. II. p. 78.
LETTER VI.
HAVRE--TRADE AND HISTORY OF THE TOWN--EMINENT MEN--BOLBEC--YVETOT--RIDE
TO ROUEN--FRENCH BEGGARS.
(_Rouen, June_, 1818.)
To Fecamp and the other places noticed in my last letter, a more
striking contrast could not easily be found than Havre. It equally wants
the interest derived from ancient history, and the appearance of misery
inseparable from present decay. And yet even Havre is now suffering and
depressed. A town which depends altogether upon foreign commerce, could
not fail to feel the effects of a long maritime war; and we accordingly
find the number of its inhabitants, which twenty years ago was estimated
at twenty-five thousand, now reduced to little more than sixteen
thousand.
The blow, which Havre will with most difficulty recover is the loss of
St. Domingo; for, before the revolution, it almost enjoyed a monopoly of
the trade of this important colony, in which upwards of eighty ships,
each of above three hundred tons burthen, were constantly employed.
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