Birth of D’Eon de Beaumont and registry as a male-child—Parentage—Consecrated to the Virgin Mary and admitted to the Sisterhood—Pursues studies as a boy—Early display of abilities—As secret agent, is sent to Russia by Louis XV.—Reception at St. Petersburg—Enemies and friends—Leaves for Versailles—Invited to enter the service of Russia.
‘The deeper the search in the annals of my family,’ wrote the subject of this Memoir, ‘the purer, more stainless, and more distinguished will it prove to be. One member only, Eon de l’Étoile,[1] was condemned by the Council of Rheims in the year 1148; but how many emperors, kings, and men of letters have been condemned and proscribed by popes and councils, legally or illegally. There is a vast difference between condemnation by the priesthood for gross errors in matters of religion, and condemnation by judges for the crimes of high treason, assassination, murder, and poisoning.
‘The possession of a name and noble descent, of which the origin is lost in obscurity, has ever been considered amongst civilised nations a more respectable title than one of recent date, owed to the favour of a king—favour accorded more frequently to weakness than to courage, to vice than to virtue. We know the secret motives by which kings are guided in their public acts, since the time that they have become attended by valets, mistresses, ministers, cabinet ministers, and historiographers.’[2]
On the first page of a well-thumbed devotional pamphlet in MS., given to D’Eon de Beaumont upon his entering the Collège Mazarin, at Paris, in 1740, appears the following in that person’s own hand:—
‘I was born on the 5th, and baptised on October 7, 1728, at the parish church of Notre Dame, Tonnerre. I was confirmed in front of the high altar of the parish church of St. Sulpitius in Paris; and on Thursday, June 18, 1744, I communicated for the first time in the chapel of the Virgin at the parish church of St. Sulpitius, Paris.’[3]
The baptismal certificate is as follows:—
‘On October 7, 1728, was baptised Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Thimothée, son of the noble Louis Déon de Beaumont, director of the King’s demesnes, and of dame Françoise de Charenton, his father and mother legitimately married, born on the 5th of the present month. His godfather is M. Charles Regnard, advocate of Parliament, bailiff of Cruzy; and godmother, dame Geneviève Déon, wife of M. Mouton, wine merchant at Paris, all of whom affix their signatures:—
‘G. Déon.
‘C. Regnard.
‘Mouton.
‘Bordes, Dean of Tonnerre.’
Louis Déon de Beaumont was advocate in Parliament, King’s counsellor, sub-delegate of the Intendance of the generality of Paris, and for some time mayor of Tonnerre. His brothers were André-Thimothée Déon de Tissey, advocate in Parliament, censor-royal, chief secretary of police in Paris, and principal secretary to H.R.H. the Duke d’Orleans; Jacques Déon de Pommard, advocate in Parliament, one of the first secretaries to the Count d’Argenson, Minister of War; Michel Déon de Germigny, knight of the Royal and Military Order of St. Louis, one of the twenty-five gentlemen of the King’s Scottish Guard. They were the four sons of André Déon, advocate in Parliament, who died in 1720; whose father was Louis Déon, lord of Ramelu, esquire, captain of infantry: all of whom lie interred within the church of L’Hôpital Notre Dame de Fontenilles, at Tonnerre.[4]
In the preamble to her holograph will, headed ‘Soli Deo Honor et Gloria,’ in which she styles herself Charlotte-Geneviève-Louise-Augusta-Andrée-Timothea-Marie D’Eon de Beaumont, it is stated:—
‘Although already provided with six names, my mother having in her special devotion consecrated me in my infancy to the Virgin, the additional name of Marie was given to me at my confirmation by Panquet de Gersy, archbishop of Seurre. This name has become precious to me, because Marie has become my protectress in heaven, as Marie Antoinette was my queen protectress on earth, after my return to France.’
In another place D’Eon states that when in her fourth year she was publicly consecrated to the Virgin Mary, in front of the high altar, at a solemn service held for the occasion. She wore the robe of the sisterhood of the Virgin Mary until her seventh year, when she resumed boy’s apparel by direction of her father. To her mother’s fervent devotion and enlightened piety in the protection of the Virgin Mary was attributed the safety of the ‘disguised daughter’ in all the perils she encountered in the course of her extraordinary career—by sea and by land, at foreign courts, at sieges, in combats and in battles.[5]
From the age of seven to twelve D’Eon remained in charge of M. Marceney, curé of the Church of St. Peter, and was then sent to the Collège Mazarin. He completed his studies with considerable credit, obtaining the degrees of Doctor of Civil and of Canon Law, and being subsequently called to the bar of the Parliament of Paris. He also became royal censor for works on history and belles-lettres. In 1749, whilst serving as secretary to M. Bertier de Savigny, he had the misfortune to lose in the course of five days his father, an uncle, and an income of fifteen thousand livres. Louis Déon had rendered himself so beloved by the poor in his district that for some time after his death they used to resort in crowds to his grave and weep over it, and lament the loss of their friend and benefactor. It is related of him that when on his death-bed, and after having received the last sacrament, he sent for his daughter (afterwards the Chevalier), and taking her by the hand, said tenderly, ‘Do not be uneasy, my daughter—it is as natural to die as it is to live. I am quitting a bad for a better land. I have been at much pains to teach you how to live, and I must likewise teach you how to die.’ And giving her his blessing, he expired.[6]
Although D’Eon had lost his father, he was not left friendless; for he remained under the protection of several persons of influence, who had known the relatives he had lost, there being amongst them the Prince de Conti, the Abbé de Bernis (subsequently Minister for Foreign Affairs), the Marshal de Belle-Isle (afterwards Minister for War), also the Duchess de Penthièvre and the Count d’Ons-en-Bray, whose funeral eulogiums, inserted in the ‘Année Littéraire,’ were the earliest products of his pen. These writings were succeeded by an historical essay on finance in France, and ‘Notes on the Life and Works of the celebrated Abbé Lenglet de Fresnoy,’ printed in the ‘Année Littéraire’ for 1755, literary labours which served to bring him into notice at an early age as a thoughtful and careful writer.
D’Eon was passionately fond of study, and would only quit his books for what became his sole recreation in life—the art of fencing, in which he proved a great expert, as shown by his election to the superintendence of the School of Arms. D’Eon’s tastes inclined him to a military life, rather than to what the necessities of his situation were calling him; but his destiny summoned him to take a part in the political transactions of his country, with what success it is the object of this work to show.
In his desire to renew with Russia the friendly relations interrupted since the day when the Marquis de la Chétardie was unceremoniously escorted to the frontier (June 13, 1744), Louis XV. had dispatched to St. Petersburg, in the year 1754, the Chevalier de Valcroissant on a secret mission for that purpose—a mission, however, that came to an untimely end; for the Chevalier, being unprovided with any kind of credential or letter of recommendation, was taken up on suspicion of being a French spy, and confined in the fortress of Schlusselburg, on the Ladoga, whence it was not deemed prudent, for the time being at least, to seek to liberate him.[7] The Empress Elizabeth had already made advances of a friendly nature to the French Court, and in view of her possible treaty of subsidies with England, the King resolved upon another effort towards reconciliation, taking more effectual precautions to ensure success.
The person selected for this important, secret, and even hazardous service, was a native of North Britain, named Mackenzie, but known as the Chevalier Douglas, who represented himself as having followed the fortunes of the Pretender and obliged to seek refuge in France, bringing with him ‘nothing but his nobility,’ when in reality he was a Jesuit in disguise, had lived at Liège during the late war, employed as a spy by Holland, and had afterwards entered the service of the Prince Waldeck.[8] When invited to proceed to Russia he was tutor in the family of the Intendant of Paris, and passing under the name of Michel.
The importance and delicate nature of the negotiations upon which Douglas was about to be employed—and not Douglas only, but D’Eon also, sent with the King’s approval, at the strong recommendation of the Prince de Conti (whose special protégé he was), to accompany Douglas—will best be estimated upon knowledge of the instructions—widely though they differed—supplied for their respective guidance. They show that whilst Douglas was secretly to watch and note events as an apparently indifferent observer, it was intended that D’Eon should pass his time in closest intimacy with such Russian ministers as might be favourably disposed towards France, and reach, were it possible, even the Empress herself.
Instructions to the Chevalier Douglas on proceeding to Russia.
‘June 1, 1755.
‘The general situation of Europe, the troubles in Poland during the past year, others apprehended in the same quarter, the part taken in them by the Court of Petersburg, the probability that it is about to conclude, shortly, a treaty of subsidies with England through the Chevalier Williams, appointed Ambassador by his Britannic Majesty to the Emperor of Russia; everything points to the necessity for watching the proceedings and attitude of that Court with the closest attention.
‘His Majesty has not been represented there by any ambassador, minister, or even a consul, for a long time past, so that its condition is almost entirely unknown, especially as the character of the people, and the jealous and suspicious despotism of their ministers, disallows such correspondence as is customary in other countries.
‘It is considered desirable to despatch a competent person, with the view of obtaining reliable information on what is passing at the Court of Russia; he will not let it appear that he is in any public or private capacity, and will return immediately to make his report. A Frenchman would not answer the purpose. Notwithstanding the friendship which the Empress of Russia is supposed to entertain towards his Majesty, and her partiality towards the French nation, a subject of the King would be watched too closely by the ministry in Russia to be of any service, under whatsoever pretext he might cloak the object of his journey. It is on this account that —— has been chosen, who, being a subject of the King of Great Britain, will not excite suspicion. The favourable reports that have been received of his intelligence and zeal give reason to hope that he will execute this commission with success.
‘It is intended that he should take his departure in the quietest manner possible, as a gentleman travelling solely for his health and amusement. Such is the custom amongst many of his countrymen, so that he will not attract attention. He must not appear to have any relations with his Majesty’s ministers, whether in France or in the course of his travels, and he must not see any of them at the several places through which he will pass. He will be supplied with an ordinary passport. To avoid being interrogated at any of the great courts in Germany, his presence perhaps exciting curiosity, it is desirable that he should enter Germany through Swabia, whence he will pass into Bohemia under pretext of visiting for his own instruction the several mines in that kingdom. His acquaintance with mineralogy will afford a pretext for this journey. From Bohemia he will pass into Saxony, visiting the mines at Freiberg for similar reasons. Having there satisfied his curiosity, he will go on to Dantzig, either by way of Silesia, Warsaw, and Thorn, or by Brandenburghian Pomerania, proceeding to Frankfort-on-the-Oder, and thence to Dantzig by such route as may best suit him. He will make a stay of some days in this city for the purpose of thoroughly examining the causes that have led for some years past to the continued strife between the chief magistrate and the burgesses, and to discover, if possible, the cause of these dissensions, what it is that foments them, and if they are encouraged by any foreign power. Thence he will continue his journey through Prussia and Courland, where he will also make a stay under pretext of needing rest; but for the purpose of learning the state of that duchy, what the nobles think of the exile and deposition of the Prince of Courland, and the views of the Russian Ministry for the government of that principality. He will also make himself acquainted with the manner in which justice and the revenues are there administered, and the number of Russian troops in occupation. From Courland he will pass into Livonia, and follow the high road to St. Petersburg. His first care on arrival will be to make known, without any affectation, the reasons for undertaking his journey, which is one of pure curiosity. He will endeavour to make the acquaintance of those able to supply him with the information of which he is in search. He cannot observe too great caution in his mode of procedure to obtain information; he must not evince partiality for any one nation more than for another. Although the causes that have necessitated his departure from England would appear to prevent him from making the acquaintance of the Chevalier Williams; still, if as he asserts, he is quite unknown, he might make it a point to see him as every Englishman would his minister. He will make himself acquainted as secretly as possible with the success of that minister’s negotiations for the troops with which England is to be supplied, and with the number of troops that Russia has actually at command; with the condition of her fleets, her ships and galleys; with the state of her finance, commerce, and the disposition of the nation towards the present ministry; the degree of Count Bestoujeff’s influence; that of Count Woronzoff; of the Empress’ favourites, whether in affairs of State or in the pursuit of pleasure; their probable influence on ministers; the concord or jealousy that exists amongst ministers, and their bearing towards the favourites; with the fate of Prince Ivan, the late Tzar, and of the Duke of Brunswick, his father; the affection of the nation towards the Grand Duke of Russia, and especially since the birth of his son; whether Prince Ivan has secret partisans, and if they are supported by England; the desire of the Russians to live in peace, and of their disinclination for war, more especially in Germany; the views of Russia in regard to Poland, for the present, and in whatsoever eventuality in the future; with her projects on Sweden; with the impression produced by the death of the Sultan Mahmoud, and Osman’s accession to the throne; with her conduct in regard to the Porte; with the causes that have led to the recall from the Ukraine of Count Razoumoffsky, hetman of Cossacks; with what is thought of the loyalty of those people, and the manner in which they are treated by the Court of Petersburg; with the Empress’ sentiments towards France, and those with which she is in all probability inspired by her ministry, to prevent her from renewing correspondence with his Majesty; with the factions by which the Court may be divided; with those of her subjects, male or female, in whom the Empress is able to confide; with her sentiments and those of her ministers towards the Courts of Vienna and London; with all, in short, that can be of interest to his Majesty’s service, and satisfy his curiosity. He will obtain all this information so far as such an uncommunicative country will allow him to. He will take notes on all these subjects to serve for a memoir which he will draw up, and send to France only after he will have quitted Russia, unless the Swedish minister at Petersburg, who will receive instructions to forward despatches to Stockholm by courier, should send any to Sweden. He must never risk anything through the ordinary post except notice of his arrival, and a report of the progress he is making in obtaining information as required above; and to do this he must employ, in a few words, figurative language, agreed upon beforehand, and send his letters to addresses with which he will be furnished.
‘So soon as he feels that he has fairly well obtained all the required information, he will make a report to that effect, and will then receive orders to return to France, either by the same route or through Sweden, again under pretext of visiting mines, that he may continue to conceal the real object of his journey. On the manner in which he will execute so important and delicate a commission, will depend the prospect of his Majesty again making use of his talents and zeal, as also the favours with which his Majesty will mark his appreciation of his services.’
Figurative language to be employed by the Chevalier Douglas in his correspondence committed to the ordinary post.
‘The basis of the figurative language will be the purchase of furs. The “black fox” will signify the Chevalier Williams; if he succeeds, the “black fox” will be dear, because orders to purchase have been received from England.
‘The words “ermine is in demand,” will signify that the Russian party dominates, and that consequently no foreigners are in favour. If, on the contrary, the Austrian party, at the head of which is M. de Bestucheff, preponderates, word must be sent that the “lynx” is also in demand.
‘To designate the waning influence of M. de Bestucheff, this phrase is to be employed: “the price of sobols or sables is falling;” or “they stand at the same price,” to indicate that his influence continues the same. “Squirrel skins” are to signify troops in the pay of England. To understand this clearly, the number of skins to be sent will always be augmented by two-thirds to signify the number of troops, so that ten skins will signify thirty thousand men, and twenty, sixty or seventy.
‘—— will not write to say that he will send the furs, but he will simply advise that he will bring them with him upon his return.
‘In passing through Dantzig —— will send one of his servants to Graudenz, a small town in Polish Prussia, there to post a letter, in which he will advise as to what he may have learnt at Dantzig on the subject of the existing dissensions between the chief magistrate and the burgesses. This letter to be addressed to ——.
‘These letters will be in the form of bills of exchange, and according to the greater or less success in the inquiries made, upon which will depend the length of stay; notice should be given whether or no remittances are needed. If nothing can be done, —— will report that the climate is injurious to his health, and that he is in want of a remittance to enable him to go elsewhere.
‘If —— is not to go to Sweden, he will receive for answer that since his health suffers, it is considered to his advantage that he should return directly. If, on the contrary, it is deemed expedient that he should proceed, the same will be intimated to him in the form of advice. If it is considered necessary that he should return, the remark will be made to him that a muff has been obtained here, and that consequently he is requested not to purchase one.
‘The whole of this, written in small characters and epitomised, will be placed by —— in the false bottom of a tortoise-shell snuff-box, which will not induce any suspicion.’[9]
The duties confided to D’Eon were entirely distinct and of a more intimate nature. He was supplied by M. Tercier, chief clerk at the Foreign Office and in charge of the King’s secret correspondence, with a quarto copy of Montesquieu’s ‘Esprit des Lois,’ the binding, in double boards, being cunningly devised to hold papers. The documents thus concealed and entrusted to D’Eon included private letters from the King to the Empress Elizabeth; a cypher for the intelligence of her Imperial Majesty and Count Woronzoff, the Vice-Chancellor, in their correspondence with Louis XV.;[10] a cypher for D’Eon’s own correspondence with the King and Tercier, and another cypher for D’Eon’s use in communicating with the Prince de Conti, Tercier, and M. Monin. He received strict injunctions that none of the King’s ministers, not even any ambassador his Majesty might have at St. Petersburg, should be allowed to entertain the slightest suspicion of this secret intercourse; he was ordered to furnish the King with copies of all letters received from the Minister for Foreign Affairs, together with the Ambassador’s replies, noting thereon his own observations, and he was further required to thwart clandestinely any transactions on the part of the King’s ministers, so long as they were in opposition to the secretly known royal will and pleasure.[11]
Douglas then left Paris in the summer of 1755 as a British tourist, an amateur geologist travelling in search of health and amusement, and having got to Anhalt, he there waited until D’Eon joined him. Proceeding on his journey, Douglas strictly followed the route traced out in his instructions, and when at Dantzig, where as at Amsterdam and Leipzig he had large credits, he announced his intention to visit the mines in Sweden; but suddenly changing his mind, he started for St. Petersburg, where he arrived in the earliest days of October. He lost no time in making his appearance at the British embassy, and introducing himself as a subject of the King and a relative of the Earl of Morton, requested Sir Hanbury Williams to present him at Court. This the British Ambassador refused to do unless he was properly assured of his identity. Scarcely was Douglas gone, than the Swedish minister called to ask Sir Hanbury whether he objected to his presenting the Chevalier Douglas at Court. Sir Hanbury promptly replied that he did not see what business the Swedish minister had to present the King’s subjects, and if he ever attempted such a thing, he would take it very ill; upon which the Swedish minister said that he should no longer meddle in the affair. Douglas then went to see Count Esterhazy, the Ambassador from Vienna, whose suspicions he immediately awakened by explaining his presence at St. Petersburg as due to the advice of his physicians that he should seek a cold climate for the benefit of his health. Finding all access to the Russian Court thus closed against him, Douglas precipitately left the capital and returned to France, bitterly complaining of Sir Hanbury’s treatment in every town through which he passed.[12]
We are left quite in the dark as to the means by which D’Eon succeeded in obtaining admission at Court, but the matter was doubtless arranged by the Vice-Chancellor Woronzoff, friendly to France, through the Swedish minister, to whom Douglas had brought letters of introduction from the Swedish minister at Paris, or possibly through Michel, a French banker, as stated by La Messalière. There is good evidence in support of the tradition that D’Eon was received by the Empress in female habiliments, that in this disguise she ingratiated herself with her Majesty, gained her confidence, and interesting her in the object of his mission, had succeeded in reviving her old feelings of attachment towards France and towards Louis XV., her suitor of days gone by.[13] It is certain that the ill-humour and coldness of the Russian Court towards England in the course of the year 1756, was of much earlier date than the Neutrality Convention between Prussia and England (January 16, 1756), and this was attributed by Sir Hanbury, together with the Empress’s delay in signing the ratifications to her Treaty of Subsidies with Great Britain, entirely to the success of French influence after Douglas had first made his appearance;[14] but Douglas not being at all in Russia between the end of October 1755, and the end of April 1756, such exercise of French influence could only have been due to elaborate intrigues on the part of D’Eon during the several months he spent at Court as reader (lecteur) to the Empress,[15] an appointment conferred upon him, perhaps, with the design of cloaking his real profession.
In early life D’Eon was of peculiarly prepossessing appearance; his manners were gentle and engaging, his disposition soft and amiable, all of which, with his general physique, eminently adapted him to personify a female; and if there is no direct proof in substantiation of the oft-told tale that D’Eon appeared at the Court of Elizabeth in female attire, there is at least valuable evidence in support of it.
It may be mentioned in regard to D’Eon’s looks, that during his second stay at St. Petersburg, when secretary of Embassy, a Russian officer one day observed to him that with his hair so neatly powdered he greatly resembled the infant Jesus. D’Eon, who throughout his career showed the greatest aversion to any kind of remark on his feminine appearance, and disliked, besides, all that was Russian, very pertly replied: ‘Yes, you are right, for I happen to be in a very dirty manger.’[16]
During Douglas’ absence D’Eon was putting his intelligence and tact to the best use in the service of his master, his task being rendered somewhat easier by Elizabeth’s kindly feelings towards France and the French, which had never entirely changed,[17] even though her two favourites, the Marquis de la Chétardie and the Count Lestocq, had long since been disposed of; the first, as already stated, by being thrust out of the empire, the latter—of whom in allusion to his treachery her Majesty said: ‘If Lestocq could have poisoned all Russia with one dose, he would assuredly have done so’—by being tortured and exiled to Oustouk. D’Eon had wisely commenced by insinuating himself in the good graces of the Vice-Chancellor, whose predilections were completely French, and who being married to the Countess Skavronsky, a cousin of the Empress, proved his powerful support and shield against the Grand Chancellor Bestoujeff Riumin, the known leader of the Prussian party hostile to France.
But five years before this Bestoujeff had so effectually prejudiced the mind of Elizabeth against Prussia, that her ambassador, Gross, very hastily and unceremoniously took his departure one morning from Berlin, without in the least troubling himself to announce his intentions to anybody. Since that time, Bestoujeff fancied he saw good cause for changing his views.
Peter, the son of Anna Petrovna, by her marriage with Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, could never forget his German birth and parentage, and even after being created a Grand Duke of Russia, he continued to attach far greater importance to his title of Holstein-Gottorp, remaining perfectly indifferent to the interests of the Russian people, and maintaining about him a suite and retinue consisting entirely of Germans. His consort, Catherine of Anhalt-Zerbst (afterwards Catherine II.), sought, on the contrary, to identify herself with the country of her adoption, embracing the religion, and following the manners and customs of the people. Politically, she desired a good understanding with England, entirely deprecating alliance with France and Austria; and when the report of the probable arrival of a French ambassador was gaining ground, she expressed her uneasiness to Sir Hanbury, saying she should act up to anything he might suggest to prevent such a thing. Sir Hanbury reminded Catherine that her known confidence in Bestoujeff had made the Schouvaloffs her secret enemies; but that the latter, in themselves, had neither sense, courage, nor money enough to do any harm to her succession, although the arrival of a French ambassador might change the scene, for he would do all in his power, sparing neither pains nor money, to injure her. Catherine’s feelings were perfectly well known to Elizabeth, who used to say of her that ‘she was a clever woman, only she prided herself on being more clever than anybody else.’ The most powerful man at Court because the greatest favourite was Ivan Schouvaloff. He was fond of everything that was French, understood their language, followed all their fashions, and was known to have always wished that a French ambassador might arrive at St. Petersburg. Small causes produce great effects, and the reconciliation proceeding between Russia and France was partly owing to the caprice of that young man.[18]
Bestoujeff, foreseeing the more probable course of events, seized the opportunity for turning his coat, and assuring the grand-duchess of his devotion to her person and to her views, and for expressing to the grand-duke, her husband, his own desire for the maintenance of good relations with Prussia. English, French, Austrian, and even Prussian gold was being freely scattered at St. Petersburg,[19] but in the end D’Eon, Schouvaloff, and Woronzoff obtained every advantage over the grand-ducal party. Consenting to receive a French representative at her Court, Elizabeth wrote privately to Louis XV. to that effect, the letter being carried to its destination by D’Eon, in his volume ‘Esprit des Lois,’ after Douglas’ return from Versailles. We cannot undertake to fix the date of D’Eon’s departure from St. Petersburg nearer than that a letter of June 12, 1756, from Sir Hanbury Williams to the Earl of Holdernesse, announces ‘a creature of the Vice-Chancellor is soon to set out from hence to Paris to negotiate this affair.’ In parting with D’Eon, the Empress invited him to enter her service, promising honourable and lucrative employment; but D’Eon was too deeply attached to his own country to entertain such a proposal; and resisting the offer, said that the renewal of friendly relations between the two countries, the advantages of which he had already pointed out, would afford him the opportunity for serving the interests of Russia without neglecting those of the Court of France; a reply which served to increase the esteem already entertained for him by Elizabeth.