Chapter XXIV: Appendix: A

_THE OPERATION ON LOUIS THE SIXTEENTH OF FRANCE_

THE somewhat lengthy attempt to determine the exact date which changed the course of Louis XVI.’s life, to which I have been compelled in the text, would have been unnecessary had the document which proves both the operation itself and the moment of it been published.

It is certain that Maria Theresa knew in the last year of the old King’s reign the nature of the trouble.[46]

Footnote 46:

MARIA THERESA to MERCY, _3rd January 1774_.—“Je ne compte presque plus
que sur l’entremise de l’empereur, qui à son arrivée à Versailles,
trouvera peut-être le moyen.”

Louis XVI.’s hesitation in the matter endured through the month immediately succeeding his accession; though in the December[47] of that year he seems to have come very near to a decision. It is certain that the Emperor was to act with authority in the matter; and it is probable that Louis XVI.’s long and disastrous hesitation was in part occasioned by his brother-in-law’s delay and postponement of his voyage to Versailles.

Footnote 47:

MARIE ANTOINETTE to MARIA THERESA, _17th December 1774_.—“Le roi a eu
il y a huit jours une grande conversation avec mon médecin; je suis
fort contente de ses dispositions et j’ai bonne espérance de suivre
bientôt l’example de ma sœur.”

Mercy was informed thoroughly of the main object of the Emperor’s visit just before it took place,[48] and Maria Theresa at the same time specially emphasised to her Ambassador this capital business which her son had undertaken.[49]

Footnote 48:

MERCY to MARIA THERESA, _18th March 1777_.—“Relativement au séjour que
fera ici S.M. l’empereur, et à toutes les circonstances qui pourront
en résulter, il ne me reste pas la moindre incertitude sur les hautes
intentions de V.M., et ses ordres seront remplis avec tout le scrupule
et le soin qu’exige l’importance d’une pareille conjuncture dont il
peut résulter tant de différents effets.”

Footnote 49:

MARIA THERESA to MERCY, _31st March 1777_.—“Vous pouvez bien croire
que ce point est un des plus importants a éclaircir, s’il y a à
espérer de la succession ou point, et vous tâcherez de mettre au clair
cela avec l’empereur.”

We know that the operation was performed by the King’s surgeon, Lassone, and the point is to determine, in the absence of direct evidence, the date upon which Lassone operated.

I say “in the absence of direct evidence,” for, though that evidence exists, it is not available. All papers left by Lassone, including the _procès verbal_ of the operation on the King, were ultimately brought into the collection of Feuillet de Conches. This collector has been dead twenty years, and Dr. Des, among others, asked, just after his death, for the production of this all-important document; but it was refused, and I believe it is still refused.

It is a great loss to history. Moreover, one does not see what purpose can be served by such reticence, if, as I believe, it is still maintained.

As it is, we must depend upon a few veiled and discreet allusions in the contemporary correspondence of Mercy, the Queen, and the Empress. The principal of these consist in nine passages, the first of which is as follows:—

“Le 27 je me rendis de grand matin à Versailles, où, après avoir
parlé d’affaires avec le comte de Vergennes, j’allai à l’hôtel
garni qu’occupait l’empereur. Le premier medécin Lassone avait
été pendant une heure chez S.M., et elle était alors dans son
cabinet avec l’abbé de Vermond.”

This letter was written on 15th June 1777. Mercy, who had been in very bad health, sends to Maria Theresa his account of the Emperor’s visit. In this letter he mentions, under the date Tuesday, 27th May, a long interview which the Emperor had with Lassone, he himself, Mercy, being present, and also Vermond, the Queen’s former tutor. Later in the day the Emperor spent two hours alone with his brother-in-law, discussing, in Mercy’s phrase, “confidential details.” It was at this moment, presumably, that the Emperor persuaded the King. It will be seen, therefore, that he put off mention of the matter until late in his visit, at the end of the month of May. Maria Theresa, having by that time had opportunity of hearing by word of mouth things that could hardly be written, writes that she is content so far as things have gone, but is waiting to hear about everything from her son on his return.

She also writes to Marie Antoinette on the 29th June 1777, as follows:—

“J’en attends les plus heureuses suites, et même pour votre état
de mariage, sur lequel on me laisse espérance: mais on remet le
tout au retour,[50] où on pourra me parler.”

Footnote 50:

“The return,” of the Emperor, that is.

It is evident that nothing was done during the Emperor’s actual stay, or in his presence. On the 29th of August, Maria Theresa, having seen her son, is still by no means certain.[51] One must allow a fortnight (more or less) for news to reach her from Versailles. We may be confident, therefore, that whatever was written to her about the middle of the month of August was not yet wholly reassuring, though this may not prove that no operation had taken place; it may only go to show that success was not yet certain.

Footnote 51:

MARIE THERESA to MERCY, _29th August 1777_.—“Je le souhaite à l’égard
du roi, mais je n’en suis pas rassurée.”

It is on the 10th of September, in a letter from Marie Antoinette to Maria Theresa, that the first note of confidence on the part of the Queen appears. It was premature, but matters were now certain.[52]

Footnote 52:

“Ce nouveau-né”—she writes of her sister-in-law’s child—“me fait
encore plus de plaisir par l’espérance que j’ai d’avoir bientôt le
même bonheur.”

We may, therefore, take it for certain that things were settled _not earlier_ than the middle of August, _nor later_ than the end of the first week of September; and it may be predicted that when Lassone’s paper sees the light it will bear a date within those three weeks.

Mercy sees by January[53] that everything is long settled. The Queen knew herself to be with child in the first week in April, and news was sent to her mother on the date which I have given in the text.

Footnote 53:

“Je dois aussi ajouter la remarque très essentielle que la reine
continue à se conduire très-bien avec le roi, qui de son côté persiste
à vivre maritalement dans le sens le plus exact et le plus réel.”

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