Chapter III: Part 3

New lotteries and new taxes were established to raise the means for signing the peace; thus the public ease began with draining them to the last drop.

The Pretender’s son, who seemed quite forgotten, now makes his appearance again. Concluding, as he well might, that nobody would think of him at the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle; he began by protesting against every thing which should be done there. So little regard was paid to the manifesto which he caused to be set up, that all parties signed without minding his protestations. To this opposition he added another still more extravagant at Paris, refusing to comply even with the King’s express orders.

One of the first articles laid down between England and France, had been, that the Chevalier de St. George’s son should quit the kingdom. Lewis XV. several times signified to him the indispensable necessity he was under of adhering to the agreement. Prince Edward plainly told those who first mentioned the King’s pleasure to him, that he would not comply. I have often heard the excuse he gave for this refractoriness. _The King of France_, said he, _promised me that I should always find an asylum in his dominions; for this I have his sign manual in my pocket. A Prince who has a sense of honour, knows what obligations his word lays him under, and how greatly he exposes himself in violating it._

He treated with the King of France as with a private gentleman. He forgot that Sovereigns may fail in their word, without any breach in their honour, the good of their people so requiring. The Pretender’s son was taken into custody, as he was going to the opera. Strange reverse of fortune! On his arrival in France, he had been received with great joy, and marks of consideration. I was something concerned for this young Prince’s fate, and dropped a word or two about him to the King, who answered me with some heat, _What would you have me do, Madam? Should I continue the war with all Europe for Prince Edward? England will not allow him to be in my dominions; it was only on this condition, that she came into the peace. Should I have broke off the conference at Aix-la-Chapelle, and distressed my people more and more, because the Pretender’s son is for living at Paris?_

It must be owned that this Prince shewed an obstinacy beyond example. The King sent all Paris to represent to him the state of affairs, and express the concern it gave him, that he was obliged to remove him from his court. Though these messages were delivered to him in the King’s name, his answers were so many menaces. The Count de Maurepas spoke to him on this occasion, in the following words:

“It is with the greatest grief that the King sees himself obliged to desire your Highness to quit his dominions. I come in his name to assure you that no other consideration than the welfare of his subjects would have prevailed on him to take this step. You would have seen him inflexibly supporting your claim, had not the unhappy turn of the war laid him under a necessity of yielding to the present juncture. The greatest Monarchs cannot always do as they would. There are critical seasons where policy requires them to be pliant. Your Highness knows that; since the unhappy time when the Stuart family lost the crown of England, the Bourbon family has made several efforts for their restoration. You ought to take his intentions kindly, rather than blame his inability. I wish you had been witness to his conversation with me, when he called me into his closet to give me his orders, by which I was to signify to you his desire that you will quit the kingdom; it must have affected you. He sincerely laments your situation, but he cannot turn the tide of fate; and should you force him to take violent measures, it would give him the deepest concern.

“Lewis XV. has sent me to you, not as a King, not as a master, but as an ally, and as a friend; and, what is more, he directed me to ask it of you as a favour, that you would leave his dominions.”

Prince Edward was very laconic in his answer, drawing a pistol out of his pocket, and vowing to shoot the first man that should offer to lay hands on him. The archbishop of Paris likewise conjured him in the name of God and the Pope, but with no greater effect; religion had no more weight with him than politics, so that the extremity which the King would have avoided, became necessary. The Chevalier de St. George’s son was arrested as he was going to the opera.

The enemies of France failed not to exclaim against this violence, exaggerating it with the most odious appellations.

On searching his house, it was found turned into an Arsenal. He had arms enough to stand a siege in form. It was talked at court that he had determined to fight singly himself against a whole regiment, and then set fire to a barrel of powder, which communicated with others, and thus blow up himself, with all that belonged to him. The King, on being told this, said, “A very ill-timed bravery, indeed!”

The peace, however, spread an universal joy through all ranks. There were only two men in the kingdom who were not satisfied with it, the Marshals Saxe and Lowendahl. The former expressed his discontent to the secretary of war in this manner: “After the battle of Fontenoy, said he, we were in a fair way of making ourselves masters of Holland, and putting an end to that troublesome republic; for these merchants, with their shipping and their wealth, are the mischief-makers of Europe; they are the necessary allies of our natural enemies the English. The great work of their destruction was nearly finished; why did we not go through with it? If we again give the republicans time to fortify themselves, they will be as daring as before; and the time may come when France with all its forces will not be able to bring them to reason. Destroying Holland is cutting off England’s right arm; and every body knows, that all France’s policy should center in weakening Great Britain.

“Of what consequence has the victory of Fontenoy been? What is France the better for the taking of Bergen-op-Zoom? All those efforts of courage, all the lives of so many gallant officers who fell in Flanders, were purely thrown away. If these places were to be restored, and the Dutch and the house of Austria to be put on the same footing as each of them was before the war, it had been much better there had been no war at all. France’s giving back its conquests, was making war against herself; her very victories have ruined her; her enemies have retained all their former strength, whilst she alone has weakened herself. Her subjects are fewer by a million, and her finances reduced to little or nothing.”

These speeches reaching the King’s ears, he said, “I understand the language of those generalissimos; they are for ever dwelling on red-hot bullets.”

The count de St. Severin d’Arragon, who had made the peace, undertook to demonstrate the fallacy of such reasonings; and the King has often repeated to me his arguments. “Sire, said he, the conquest of Holland made no part of the plan of this war. All France aimed at, was to keep the Dutch from declaring. The end of our many sieges and battles, was not to destroy their republic, but only to bring it to pacific terms; so that in forcing them to lay aside their arms, the council of state’s view is fully answered.

“Your Generals will have it, that after the battle of Fontenoy, and the taking of Bergen-op-Zoom, the United Provinces might easily have been overrun, and the States-General have been brought under the dominion of France. They are mistaken; the weapons of despair are invincible. To compel a people to the necessity of being conquered, is the ready way to lose a conquest. The sovereignties once settled, are no longer subject to destruction; they are reciprocal counterpoizes; should only one fall under the power of another, the whole balance of Europe would be destroyed. It is long since war has afforded any of those decisive blows, which, in the time of the Romans, changed the face of the political world. A province may be mastered, but the invading of kingdoms is out of date.

“Granting, Sir, that the ardour of your troops, breaking through the common ways, had reduced Holland, it would have been a conquest not only useless, but have thrown France into fresh troubles; all Europe, in a body, would have declared war against you. The great powers, jealous of the house of Bourbon, have long been watching an opportunity of giving it a decisive blow.

“Right policy, instead of making a noise, silently takes a bye-way to its ends; let us insensibly weaken the Dutch, but never think of destroying them. They are a barrier against the great northern powers. They secure us from the incursions of the Germans, whom the Romans themselves could not check, and who at last overthrew the empire of the Cæsars.

“But a great deal is said about the easiness of our conquering, and not a word how easy it was to conquer us. What induced me, Sire, to put the finishing hand to the great work of the peace, is the disorder of the finances, the depopulation of the state, and the scarcity of provisions.

“The Comptroller-general has acquainted me that he knows not where to find any more money. The intendants of the provinces have wrote to the war-office, that it is utterly impossible to raise another militia; to which the intendant of Guienne adds, that in his province the people are starving; those, Sire, were my motives for hastening the conclusion of the peace.”

These reasons, however, did not prevail with the great men of the army, who still wanted to be fighting. They were big with hopes, which the peace seemed to quash. I remember Lewis XV. one day talking on this subject, said to me, _that he had not a general officer in his troops who cared what became of the state, if he could but get a Marshal’s staff_.

The King, who had rewarded Marshal Saxe, did not forget the Count St. Severin, making him a minister of state. This Count, though not a great genius, had good rational sense, which he made to answer as well as a superior understanding. He was slow in business, but sure; and his phlegmatic disposition was better adapted to surmount those difficulties, which ever put fervid and eager minds to a full stand. He was a stranger to agitations; his passions moved in subordination to political laws. Resentment, anger, sallies of passion, spirit of party, with all the other prepossessing foibles which ruled most ministers, were never seen in him. Those he used to call the reverse of the medal of plenipotentiaries. In a negociation he moved straight on to his drift, without stopping by the way. He had a natural love for peace, and thus the more chearfully applied himself to forward a definitive treaty.

M. de Belleisle told me, that he found one great fault in him, which was the want of a proper regard to military men, however illustrious by their rank or merit; for after all, added he, there is no making a good peace but by dint of victories; and it is the general, and not the plenipotentiary, who gains battles.

France however was quite spent; the means made use of for supporting the war had been so violent as to break all the springs of power. The ministers complained greatly of the state of France, and openly said, at the peace, that they did not know where to begin the administration.

Paris is not the place where the general distress most manifests itself. The luxury, such as it is, prevailing there conceals the public indigence. There poverty itself appears in embroidery and ribbons, whilst in all the other parts of France it goes quite bare. The court had written into the provinces for a report of the state of things. M. de Belleisle has shewn me several memoirs of those times, transmitted to Versailles by the intendants of the provinces. The tenour of the first way this:

“MY LORD,

“You ask me for a state of the finances in this province; that is
soon done: there are none. I don’t believe that the whole province
could produce a hundred thousand livres in specie: the poverty is
so general, that all distinction of ranks is at an end. The louis
d’ors are like to become scarce pieces, so as soon to be seen only
in the cabinets of the curious.”

The other is from the intendant of a province naturally very fertile, but which could not be cultivated for want of money. His report to the minister was as follows:

“MY LORD,

“There is no representing to your Excellency the present distress
of this province; the land yields little or nothing; most of the
farmers, unable to live by the produce of their farms, have quitted
them; some are gone a begging, others have lifted in the army, and
not a few have escaped into foreign countries; the gentry and
nobility are little better off, being put to the utmost difficulty
to answer the taxes and impositions on them.

“Of fifteen hundred thousand acres of arable land, which used to
support this people, at present six hundred lie fallow; what a
diminution this must be to the general subsistence, your Excellency
readily sees. A village which, before the war, supported fifteen
hundred inhabitants, can now scarce support six hundred; and a
particular family, which was able to feed six children, and as many
labourers, can now provide food only for five. The cattle are
diminished no less than the men, so as not to be sufficient for
tillage; and in most of the villages men do the work of oxen.

“I have traced this calamity to its source, and I find the evil
proceeds from the general want of cash: to prevent the consequences
of this diminution, I could wish that the court would be pleased to
advance to this province, by way of loan, the sum of fifteen
hundred thousand livres, to be geometrically distributed among the
industrious poor. This, in my opinion, is the only remedy left to
avert greater evils.”

The third of these memoirs was from another intendant, who paints the depopulation in these sad colours.

“MY LORD,

“The king’s subjects are daily decreasing in this province; it will
soon be without inhabitants. Having directed the parish-priests to
bring in lists of the christenings and burials, I find that the
number of the dead exceeds that of the living; so that, should this
depopulation go on twenty years longer, and God continues my life
during that time, by my calculation, I shall be the only living
creature, of the human species, in this province. Fifteen years
before the last revolution of the finances, this district contained
fifteen hundred thousand souls, and now if there are nine hundred
thousand, it is the most. Yet how, my Lord, can it be otherwise? Of
fifty of the king’s subjects, scarce two have any thing of a
subsistence; the others must necessarily perish. A marriage is
seldom heard of; so that all the new-born children are the fruits
of debauchery.

“I cannot point out any remedy to these distresses. In the present
crisis of the monarchy, it is God alone who can rescue it out of
the abyss into which the misfortunes of the times have cast it.”

The fourth was from a sea-port, whose deputy thus delivered himself before the ministry.

“Trade, which had been declining for several years, is now fallen into a total stagnation. Our ships lie in the harbours, useless both to the state and their owners. We have little or nothing for exportation; the produce of the country scarce affords a very scanty subsistence; and our manufactures are at the lowest ebb. All our trade is in the hands of the English and Dutch.

“Most of our monied men, who fitted out privateers, have been ruined by the war; others so reduced, that instead of ten ships, which they used to have at sea, they find it difficult to have one: both seas are covered with foreign fleets, so that the white flag begins to be forgotten.

“All other nations are carriers to France, whereas France carries for none. This general stagnation animates others, and throws our marine into a fatal lethargy, &c. &c. &c.”

The navy has been utterly ruined, all the ships being taken by the English, except a few unserviceable ones in the harbours; and the funds appointed for fitting out a fleet are exhausted; but had there been no want of money, seamen were wanting; most of them had died in English prisons, and they who escaped the enemy perished by distress. It was impossible for France, being thinned of men, to furnish seamen.

M. Belleisle, who interfered in every branch of government, said one day to the King, in my hearing, _Sire, should all the powers of Europe declare war against you, I engage to raise in your dominions a hundred and fifty thousand soldiers, who should keep them all at bay; but were I to fight an English fleet of a hundred ships of the line, where I should get twenty thousand seamen, I know not_.

Another misfortune, beyond any remedy, was the necessary reduction of the troops. A hundred and fifty thousand subjects, who had fought for the crown, at the peace came to want bread: most of them, though they had been husbandmen before the war, were now no longer so. I have several times heard the Marshal de Noailles say, that a countryman, leaving the plough for the musket, is very seldom known to take to it when discharged; and he used to add, that on a hundred thousand husbandmen quitting their labour, a hundred thousand others must labour to provide them bread, otherwise a famine, and the ruin of the state, must be the consequence.

Some regulations were made to prevent the disorders to be apprehended from these reduced troops; but the remedy was more dangerous than the disease.

Of all the incumbrances, that of the military rewards were the greatest; money was required to pay the bravery of the officers in ready cash, for the military gentlemen are most impatient creditors. Formerly a St. Lewis’s cross sufficed, but it has since appeared to the officers, that a yearly sum gives a greater lustre to gallant actions.

Above ten thousand different pensions were settled on the Exchequer. A churchman who, at my desire, used sometimes to read to me the memorials on this head delivered to me for the king, would often say, that the glory accompanying fine actions must be of very little value in France, as the gentlemen of the army would not take it for a reward. The archbishop of Paris likewise used to say, that victories cost the state more than defeats.

The claimants would set forth their services with an arrogant modesty, which gave great offence to the court; especially they who had lost a limb were quite insupportable. One of these gentlemen (it was indeed after several journies to court to obtain a pension) said to me before several foreign ministers, _Madam, since the King cannot give me an arm, which I have lost in his service, he should at least give me money_.

Once an officer being come express with the news of the loss of a battle in Germany, the king said, _Thank God, this time I shan’t be teazed about rewards_. He was mistaken; for fifteen hundred officers, who had escaped the slaughter, came to Versailles, clamouring to be paid only for the great service of their being present at that action.

A lieutenant of grenadiers, to whom the secretary at war had procured a Saint Lewis’s cross without a pension, said to him, _Sir, your Excellency has tied to my button-hole the sign of my courage, but you have forgot the reality of my bravery_, meaning that he wanted a pension.

Some military men in France enjoy considerable incomes only for having been in five or six battles, whilst the subjects of the state have ruined themselves in defraying the expences of the war. Thus do abuses creep into the best foundations.

After settling the pensions, the next thing taken in hand was to retrieve the finances from the terrible disorder into which they were fallen. They who understood the history of France affirmed, that for twenty reigns past the kingdom had never been so distressed; and the national debt being immense, a plan for the discharge of them became absolutely necessary. A sinking fund was projected, but when funds were to be appointed for the sinking-fund, those of the crown were found to be all mortgaged. I myself was a witness to his majesty’s great uneasiness, when the ministers and counsellors of state laid open to him the condition of things. _Gentlemen_, said he to them, _you had better have advised me against the war, than to make it on such burthensome conditions_. Some taxes were taken off; but several imposts, created for the charges of the war, were continued after the peace, &c. &c.

Such was the situation of France after the definitive treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. The domestic affairs of the crown were in no better condition. The ministers had, during the war, assumed an unlimited authority, made themselves despotic in their offices, and behaved towards the subjects with that austerity which is the result of uncontrouled power.

Whilst all Europe was congratulating itself on the general peace, advice came to Versailles that the English were very angry with George the Second, for having agreed to the French proposals. The parliament addressed him for a copy of the overtures for a general pacification, to be laid before the house.

Marshal Saxe being present when this was related to the king, said, _Sir, those Englishmen must be very quarrelsome; they have made a peace with us, and having now no enemy, they are for quarrelling with their King_. I have heard very knowing politicians say, that the divisions in Great Britain between the subjects and the Prince, are the basis of the general tranquillity of Europe.

However, on the peace, the face of Versailles was quite changed; that solicitous look which throws a shade even on diversions was quite vanished; the hurry of business had ceased, and the king was now come to himself. This tranquility of the court caused a great agitation in the city; several women began to form designs on the King’s heart.

Among these was one Madame la Poupeliniere, married to a financier, who had raised her from the dirt, from whence he himself likewise sprung. They had a most delightful and splendid seat at Passy, which was always crowded with the worst company.

I have been often told, that this woman would faint away whenever my name happened to be mentioned. She used to say, that I had thrust myself into her rank at court, that I held her place about the king, and that all the honours paid to me at Versailles, of right belonged to her. She would, at any rate, be Lewis the Fifteenth’s mistress.

This was a scheme put into her head by the Duke de Richelieu; mean time he practised on her heart, to give it a turn for tenderness. This intrigue was carried on with an air of mystery. The Duke used, at nights, to convey himself into the lady’s chamber through an opening contrived in the chimney; and this opening Richelieu assured her should, in no long time, conduct her to the little apartments of Versailles. In the interim, this creature, to make herself more worthy of the Sovereign, prostituted herself to one of his subjects; but a chambermaid, in a fit of resentment, discovered the whole mystery. The financier, who had for some time wanted to get rid of his wife, gladly embraced this opportunity; he made the public witness to his infamy, so that all Paris flocked to see the ungrateful perfidy of this ambitious woman.

The gallant perhaps, now no less satiated than the husband, made very light of the discovery; and came to Versailles, not imagining that the court as yet knew any thing of the matter; but I had intelligence of his adventure an hour before it was made public. The King was alone in my apartment when he came in; _Sir_, (said I to him) _there is not in all Europe a more close agent in amorous intrigues than his Grace of Richelieu there before you; for to be the more secret with the ladies whom he would bring acquainted with your Majesty, he visits them through the chimney_. The King asked me what I meant; I immediately unfolded the riddle to him, which set us a laughing, and Richelieu himself laughed as much as any.

Other women likewise laid out for the little apartments at Versailles, and got into them without going under ground. Lewis XV. was very fond of these flighty amours, of which possession is both the beginning and end. But his humours did not in the least abate the affection with which he honoured me, always returning to me more constant than ever.

Since the peace, the Count de Maurepas took a pleasure in censuring every thing that was done at court, and giving it a ridiculous turn. This minister had his private suppers like the King himself; and here it was where, every night, the crown was turned into drollery.

Several disputes had passed between us since my living at Versailles, and in which he had used me with much pride and haughtiness; his passion made him forget his rank, and use words quite unbecoming such a man as he. I slightly intimated it to the King, being unwilling to hurt a man who was of use to the state.

It has been given out, that my very first design on my coming to Versailles was to supplant this minister. Now that such a thought should have come into my mind, is not possible. The King, in giving me a character of his chief ministers, spoke with great approbation of the Count de Maurepas, which alone was sufficient to make me take a liking to him. But a close assiduity in dry and difficult affairs, for above thirty years successively, had extremely soured his temper, so that at times no body durst go near him. M. le Guai, his first clerk, told me, that in those moments he was bristled like a porcupine; his harshness infected his correspondence, scolding those who were a thousand leagues from him, and treating them without any regard to their rank and character. He wrote to the French consul, at one of the Levant ports, in the following manner:

“I order you, Sir, to write to me no more, but repair to France in
the first ship; and come to Paris, where you are to wait my orders,
without appearing at court.

I am, &c.”

His caustic temper mingled itself even with his feasts, and would break out even in the midst of pleasure and sociality. It was in these parties that he was most fluent and licentious in satire. I was one day informed, that he had spoken against me in very indecent terms, and had even brought in the King. I at first determined flatly to complain to his Majesty, but on reflection I chose to write to himself.

“_Sir, I am informed of your scandalous speeches concerning me, and
even the King your master. As for what you say of me, it gives me
no manner of concern; but I cannot overlook any scurrility on the
King. I value his reputation; and be assured, that if you do not
alter your behaviour toward him, I shall lay it before him, and you
must expect the punishment which such an offence deserves._

_I am, &c._”

All the effect of this letter was, that it increased his malignity towards me, saying to those who were at supper with him; _Now, Gentlemen, my disgrace is surely at hand, Pompadour threatens me_: then, reassuming his gravity, he added, by way of reflection, _See what Versailles is come to_; _the very women of pleasure pretend to domineer there_. These words were precisely reported to me; however, I took no notice of them; but some time after, this minister, amidst his cups, sang some scandalous couplets against the King himself, and before a great deal of company. Of this insolence I informed his Majesty, and he was ordered to quit the court.

His exile making a great noise in the world, and a construction being put on it which affected his probity and character, I begged of the King to declare in public, that he was satisfied with his conduct. His Majesty did so; and let this serve as a specimen of his temper; a prince, after being insolently ridiculed by a subject who owed him great obligations, still vouchsafed to shew tenderness for him.

The government was at a loss for a person fit to succeed M. Maurepas at the head of the marine, as now it was become a state mystery. It had been under Maurepas’s sole management during thirty years. M. Rouillé was pitched on, though no great genius; but he had formed specious plans, and assured the King that within three years he should have a navy of fourscore ships of the line. _I wish_, said the King, _he may make his words good, but I much fear he will fall very short_.

Italy was perfectly at ease; the infant Don Philip had made his entrance into Parma: we heard at Versailles that he lived very gaily there amid concerts, plays, and balls. _I am afraid_, said the King, _that young Prince is too fond of balls, and my daughter will be perpetually dancing_.

M. de Noailles used to say, that _every country dance of Don Philip, in Italy, cost Spain a hundred thousand livres; and his mother had paid the fiddlers before-hand_.

The Duke of Modena was restored to his dominions, and had all Don Philip’s passion for splendour and entertainments; but the war had ruined him: the Duchess used to say openly, in the palace, _his Highness has not wherewith to make one single minuet step_. She came to court without shoes, to shew the King the indigence to which the war had reduced their duchy. _Madam_, said his Majesty to her, _I am not in a much better condition myself; but I have a shoe-maker, who, if you please, shall wait on you_.

Genoa was free, subject only to its own government, now re-established on its ancient footing. The ambassador from the court of Vienna, meeting that senate’s envoy in the great gallery of Versailles, said to him; _Sir, the house of Austria forgives your republic its revolution, only intends to be up with it_.

Rome was at rest, the foreign armies which, during the war, had been such a burden and terror to it, being withdrawn.

Naples, now no longer under a necessity of exhausting itself of men and money, was beginning to recover: all it stood in need of, was only quiet enjoyment of its fertile soil and climate. Concerning this small state, I remember a foreign minister once said to me, that _if ever he had been so ambitious as to aim at a sovereignty, it would not be that of Germany, France, or Spain, but to be King of Naples_. His reason was, that _there the power was derived directly from heaven; and is the immediate gift of God the Father himself_.

The nobility still complained at court of having greatly hurt their fortunes in the war, and were continually solliciting compensations and rewards.

The Prince of Conti, lately created Grand Prior of France, said openly, that his horses had no hay. _I wonder_, said Marshal Belleisle, _they are not yet dead, for so long ago as when we were at Coni, his Highness used to complain of the scarcity of forage_.

Lewis XV. did all he could to repair the fortunes of the great by posts, pensions, or governments; but he had a greater concern on his hands, which was to repair that of the nation.

I remember once he mildly said to some, who were unbecomingly urgent, that he would take care of them; _Have a little patience, I will provide for all as far as possible; but before I attend to private houses, the great family of the state must be provided for_. Another time he said, before the whole court, to a groupe of officers who talked much of their campaigns, and asked rewards: _Gentlemen, you have indeed done me great services in the war, but it is my desire you will do me still a greater in peace, which is to allow me first to ease those who have borne the whole weight of the war. You only lent a hand_, _but they have exhausted their whole substance in it_, &c. &c.

Marshal Belleisle was not overlooked; besides pensions, ranks, and honours heaped on him, all the bodies of the state, as it were, strove which should pay him the greatest marks of respect. The French Academy itself, on his leaving Paris to go to his government, composed a formal harangue, proving him the deliverer of France. A man of wit has called the members of the French academy _the most elegant liars in Europe_.

The new naval minister was busily searching for timber, seamen, and money, all over the provinces; but he looked for what was not to be found. On his return to Versailles, appeared the following memorial, by an unknown hand.

MEMORIAL on the MARINE.

“FRANCE should not think of forming a navy gradually; such a plan is impracticable; for the English, who have an eye to the building of every ship we put on the stocks, and build additional ships in proportion, thereby always secure a superiority.

“Thus Great Britain having, at present, a hundred ships of the line more than France, will consequently always exceed us by that number, were we to build three hundred ships of war within ten years.

“We have often set about forming a navy, but our endeavours have always been defeated by the Britons. They have taken our ships in times of profound peace, and declared themselves our enemies by sea, before any war had commenced; their vigilance in preventing any thing which might affect the superiority of their navy, pays no regard to justice or good faith. A King of England would be immediately dethroned by his subjects, should he be for adhering to the treaties made with France. It is a tacit maxim with that nation, that a treaty is to subsist only whilst France builds no ships.

“Time, which to all other disorders of government brings a remedy, here renders the disease incurable: building therefore is too slow a way; they know at London the very day when any ship of war is finished, and when to be launched.

“This part of political strength must be formed at once, and unknown to the admiralty of England. We should without delay apply to Holland, Denmark, the republic of Genoa, and Venice; and there, at once, purchase a proper number of ships; and if those states cannot fully supply us, there is Malta, Algiers, Tripoli, Constantinople, &c. No matter from what nation we have ships, or how they are built, if they will but hold men and guns.

“Herein the strictest secrecy must be observed, and the purchases all punctually made at one and the same appointed time; for should the English get any intelligence of our design, they would either by open force, or negotiation, prevent any such purchase.

“The want of seamen still remains; but here again we may supply ourselves by the same method. In time of peace, the Maritime powers have a great many more seamen than they want; it is only making good offers to those men; for the sailor, like the soldier, is for the best bidder; his natural Prince is money, &c. &c.”

M. Rouillé, on reading this memorial, said, _The author has forgot the main thing, money. He would have us purchase a navy all at once, but does not provide wherewith to pay for it at once_.

A statesman has often observed, that most of the projects offered at the court of France are deficient in the very foundation. The schemer writes on in prosecution of his notions, till meeting a rock, when all his specious reasonings are wrecked.

M. de Belleisle told me that, in his closet, he had hundreds of memoirs for increasing the revenue and the national wealth, inscribed to him by the finest genius’s of the kingdom; and that he might perhaps publish them with this title, _A collection of very fine, and very useless projects_. “Idle people, said he, often have thoughts which the business of placemen does not allow them to have:” and added, “that though memorial writers do not always make good their points, yet their strictures often put others on effectual improvements.”

After the peace, the King had sent the Duke de Mirepoix to London: on which Marshal Saxe said, that this nobleman was perfectly fit for the embassy, having a very handsome leg, and dancing prettily, which might be of good consequence in a court which delighted in balls. The reasons which induced the King to this choice, have always been unknown to me. He never so much as mentioned it to me till it was done. A very intelligent man, whom the king had often employed in state affairs, said to me, at that time, “that M. de Mirepoix was neither supple nor complaisant enough for the English; neither was he sufficiently acquainted with the respective interests of the two nations: besides, continued he, he has a great defect for an ambassador, he is too honest, so that the English will impose on him.” He might perhaps have added, with equal truth, that he had not a capacity equal to that employment. M. de Mirepoix had spent his youth in diversions, and the latter part of his life in war; now the science of negotiation is not learnt either at the play-house or in the camp.

This minister’s constant note was, that the court of St. James’s was perfectly pleased with the peace, and all its thoughts turned on the enjoyment of it. He indeed wrote no more than he believed; for George the Second made him believe whatever he pleased.

The English minister at Paris was my Lord Albemarle, like ours, no great negociator. He had been taught his lesson by heart before he left London, and when at Versailles only repeated it. On any representation of the court of France being informed that the British court was making military preparations, he answered, that it was a mistake. This M. de Puisieux was continually saying to him, and his answer was ever the same. English policy is much more easy than the French, having but one path; so that when once a British minister has got into it, he need but go straight on.

I saw this minister sometimes; he spoke our language better than common, and expressed himself even with energy. He loved expence, and lived nobleman-like, but he appeared to me to have one fault, though indeed it is common to all the English; his very prodigalities had somthing of parsimony in them. George the Second, who had a great kindness for him, supplied his expences; for though he lived so high, he was very poor: an Englishman, who had known him at London, speaking of his arrival at Paris, said, “My Lord will get a mistress there, run in debt, and die by some accident.” The prophecy was fully accomplished: He lived with a girl, borrowed large sums, and died suddenly.

Lewis XV. was more constantly with me than ever; I had brought him to a custom of seeing me every day, and never spending less than five or six hours in my apartment: I accompanied him in all the journies, and had my apartments in all the royal seats. The more I became acquainted with his Majesty, the more I perceived the exceeding goodness of his heart.

My husband loudly complained of my living at Versailles, and wrote to me a very passionate letter, full of reproaches against me, and still more against the King; amidst other indiscreet terms, calling him tyrant. As I was reading this letter, the King came into my apartment; I immediately thrust it into my pocket; the emotion with which I received his Majesty, shewed me to be under some disorder; I was for concealing the cause, but on his repeated instances, I put my husband’s letter into his hands. He read it through without the least sign of resentment: I assured him that I had no share in his temerity; and the better to convince him of it, desired that he would punish the writer severely. _No, Madam_, said he to me, with that air of goodness which is so natural to him, _your husband is unhappy, and should rather be pitied_. History does not afford a like passage of moderation in an injured King. My spouse, on being informed of it, left the kingdom to travel.

Though the peace had diffused quiet through Europe, it caused violent agitations in the political bodies of France. The parliament of Paris, amidst its many remonstrances to Lewis XV. exhorted him in a very fine speech, to take off the _twentieth denier_. The deputies of that body expressed themselves in this manner:

_So many millions of men now in indigence, stand in need of immediate ease and relief; whereas, should they be still obliged to pay the twentieth denier, they will be quite unable to lift up their heads again, and repair their shattered fortune, and hence a general despondency._

_Whole families will be reduced to the most dreadful distress, and thus be afraid of leaving behind them a numerous issue, which would be a burden to them whilst living, and to whom they can transmit no other inheritance than their wretchedness._

_The number of children, who are the hope and support of the state, will be continually decreasing, the villages will be thinned, trade languish, and the culture of land in a great measure at a stand. The ruin of the farmers will necessarily be followed by that of the nobility, as their estates will suffer a very considerable diminution; and thus these people, and that brave nobility, whose valour is their soul and chief resource, will be involved in one common ruin._

Count Saxe used to call the deputies of the parliament the great-chamber pedants. _They are for teaching the administration_, says he, _what it knows better than themselves. They are always harping on the distempers of the state, without any word of a remedy._ Once, as the first president was delivering a pathetic harangue before the King, proving the necessity of lessening the weight of the taxes, his Majesty cut him short with these words: _Mr. President, let but the parliament enable me to pay off the state debts, and defray the present expences of the Monarchy, and very readily will I abolish every, tax, duty, and impost._

A man of wit, and who knows the French temper, used to say, that these useless representations were become necessary, as keeping up the people’s spirits, who, without a declared Protector, would think themselves for ever undone.

In Cardinal de Fleury’s indolent ministry, and the subsequent wars, the government had not been able to take into consideration an abuse which manifestly tended to dispeople the monarchy. Religion, in all wise governments, a source of population, was thinning the human species. All France was mouldering away in convents: every town and village had numerous communities of girls, who made vows against having children. The following letter, which I received from a nun at Lyons, and communicated to the King, occasioned deliberations for reforming this abuse.

“MADAM,

“I was at first for writing to the Pope, but, on farther
reflection, I thought it would be full as well to apply to you. The
point is this: when I was but seven years of age, my parents shut
me up in the convent where I now am; and on my entering into my
fifteenth year, two nuns signified to me an order to take the veil.
I deferred complying for some time; for though quite a stranger to
every thing but the house I was in, yet I suspected there must be
another kind of world than the convent, and another state than that
of a nun; but the sister of _Jesus’s heart_, our mother, in order
to fix my call, said to me, that all women who married were damned,
because they lie with a man, and bore children: this set me
a-crying most bitterly for my poor mother, as burning eternally in
hell for having brought me into the world.

“I took the veil; but now that I am twenty years of age, and my
constitution formed, I daily feel that I am not made for this
state, and think I want something; and that something, or I am much
mistaken, is a husband.

“My talking continually of matrimony sets the community a-madding;
the sister of the _Holy Ghost_ tells me, that I am Jesus Christ’s
spouse; but, for my part, I feel myself much inclined to a second
marriage with a man.

“On a young girl’s coming into a convent, half a dozen wheedlers
get about her, and never leave her till they have persuaded her to
take the veil. Children are buried every day in monasteries, whilst
their early age does not admit of any solid reflections on the vows
they are drawn to make.

“Let me intreat you, Madam, to persuade the King to reform this
abuse; it is a reformation which both religion and the prosperity
of the state call for. The sacrificing so many victims to the
avarice of parents, is a great loss of people to the state, and the
kingdom of heaven is not the fuller. God requires voluntary
sacrifices, and these are the fruit of reflection. It is
surprising, that the laws, in settling the age for our sex’s
passing a civil contract, should forget the age for making vows:
is reason less necessary for contracting with God, than with men?
This I submit to yours and his Majesty’s reflections: in the mean
time, give me leave to be,

Madam,

Your most humble servant,

Sister JOSEPH.”

The King thought that sister _Jesus’s heart_, and sister _Holy Ghost_, had done wrong in drawing sister Joseph into the state of celibacy, as with such happy dispositions for marriage, she bid fair to have been a fruitful mother, and thus have benefited the state.

To suppress the aforesaid abuse, his Majesty issued an arret, forbidding all religious communities to admit a novice under twenty-four years of age and a day.

Other bodies, besides the parliament, continued setting forth to the court the impossibility the people were under of paying the _twentieth denier_. The states of Languedoc, with a peremptory kind of humility, represented that it was a load the province could by no means bear: the bishops, who usually employ their pens only in mandates, now wrote memorials on the public distress. The King ordered them not to meddle with money matters, and dissolved the assembly. The Duke de Richelieu, who was then at Montpellier, seconded the court’s injunctions, and restrained the bishops pens as much as he could.

On being thus debarred from writing or meeting, they appointed an extraordinary deputation to lay before the King the condition of the kingdom. They were admitted to audience; they made their speech, returned home, and the _twentieth denier_ was levied.

A minister of state used frequently to say, that these representations only increased the public charges. Were the provinces to pay at first, they would save themselves the no small expences of journies, correspondencies, and deputations, not to mention monopolies, which, on these occasions, are unavoidable.

The states of Bretagne likewise offered their difficulties; but all the effect of the representations of both was, that the court appointed two intendants of the finances to go and settle the levying of that tax on those refractory provinces.

These dictatorial proceedings of the states led the council to take their meetings into consideration; and, for some days, it was deliberated, whether they should not be totally laid aside. A counsellor of state, who was for the dissolution, drew up a memorial, which the King was pleased to communicate to me. This piece having never been printed, consequently not known to the public, I shall give it a place here.

“The provincial states are of no use to France; such assemblies might have been necessary in those times, when each province formed a separate kingdom; but France being now united under one single government, can regulate its concerns sufficiently for itself, without any need of assemblies.

“These provincial states only keep a division between the Prince and the subject, and are an obstacle to the expeditious levying and collecting of the imposts.

“On his Majesty’s ordering a tax, however necessary it be, to defray the extraordinary expences, these states are sure to oppose it; and immediately the court is deluged with remonstrances, and Versailles crowded with deputies: the general affairs must be delayed to issue fresh orders, and answer those sent by the states, for their writings are rather orders than memorials.

“This suspension of ordinances has other very bad effects; the subjects, become accustomed not to obey, look on the wants of the state with the coldest indifference, and the public affairs go on heavily.

“The members of these assemblies are like so many petty sovereigns; their ascendency over the minds of the people being without bounds. An Archbishop of Narbonne, on his coming to Montpellier to open the states, is received with greater pomp than if Lewis XV. was to make his public entry.

“In a monarchical state, where the whole authority should proceed only from one centre, it is dangerous to divide it by subordinate bodies.

“These provincial states likewise affect morality and religion; those of Languedoc consist of twenty-four bishops, or archbishops, who thus are absent from their dioceses three months out of the twelve; leaving in their stead their vicars, who have neither the like regard or zeal for their flock; and in this interval, a relaxation in discipline and manners spreads every where.

“The luxury of these assemblies is equally scandalous, every bishop there having his court and courtiers, and keeping open table. Today the bishop of Alaix has thirty covers on his table; and to-morrow my Lord of Nismes gives an entertainment, to which fifty persons of distinction are invited; and so on.

“The dissolution of the states will be attended with no diminution in the finances. The free gift, which is the principal business of these assemblies, may be regulated like a common tax levied from year to year.”

The door of the provincial states being thus shut up, that of the assembly of the clergy immediately burst open: it was still the same object, but here discussed in great.

The business, as in the other assemblies, was the _twentieth denier_, and the free gift: though this body, whenever called on by the King, pleads indigence, yet it knows that it is so far accounted rich, that all its studied speeches, on those occasions, cannot bring the public to think it poor.

It endeavours therefore to compound with the King, and this time offered seven millions and a half to be exempted from the impost. I have heard a person, very well skilled in such affairs, say, that the clergy should not be allowed to compound for taxes; but that if any composition were to be admitted, it ought to be with the commonalty; which, as being most burthened, should be preferred before all the other bodies put together.