Refusal of the British Government to deliver D’Eon—A force organised to kidnap him—Mines and garrisons his house against intrusion—De Guerchy reports to Louis XV. his failure to obtain the secret papers—D’Eon’s letter to his mother—Publication of official and private letters of ministers, ambassadors, &c.—Consternation produced in consequence—Applies to enter the service of a foreign State—Appeals to de Broglio and Tercier on his situation—A conciliatory letter the result.
In hastening to make a formal demand for the arrest of D’Eon and seizure of all his papers, the French ambassador was feeling satisfied that the days of his obnoxious subordinate were numbered, but ‘one of the qualities of a great general is the glance, in war, that reveals to him the advantages and disadvantages of the field on which the contest is about to take place. Had General de Guerchy known this, would he ever have selected the ground of liberty in London and Westminster to wage an unjust and despotic war against the Chevalier D’Eon? But this would not be matter for surprise, when it was once known that at the battle of Minden he gave the marvellous advice to place cavalry in the centre and infantry on the wings. The result of the two actions could not but be similar.’[146]
The Chevalier was perfectly safe. Lord Halifax sent the case, ‘which was of a very extraordinary kind and without any known precedent,’ for the consideration of the Advocate and Solicitor-General, and eventually had to inform the French ambassador that, ‘according to the law of the kingdom, it would be impossible to justify the seizure either of the person or of the papers’ of the Chevalier D’Eon.[147]
Since he could not be legally apprehended, the attempt was to be made, under de Guerchy’s authority, to kidnap the Chevalier, and for this purpose some twenty-five to thirty French police officers and spies, in charge of an officer, and who had already been some days in London, were watching a favourable opportunity for seizing and putting him into a six-oared boat in readiness at Westminster, whence he was to be conveyed to a small vessel, manned by twenty armed men, lying at Gravesend.
The Chevalier was fully aware of the proceedings of his enemies, and took his precautions accordingly. The security of the King’s papers being his first care, he confided a portion of them to de la Rosière, and actually sent him to France, there to remain, at least for a time. Then, to ensure himself from the abduction with which he was now threatened by an organised force, having concealed the remainder of the papers in his apartments, he converted them into a stronghold after the following manner:—His bedroom, sitting-room, and study on the first floor were mined, also the staircase, which he further intrenched. He kept a lamp burning throughout the night, and had a red-hot poker at his side during the day. His arsenal included four brace of pistols, two guns, and eight sabres. The garrison consisted of several dragoons of his old regiment, for whom he had sent, and some deserters he picked up in London, all trusty men, who occupied the basement with orders to admit the police officers should they at any time seek to enter, and then cut off their retreat while he defended the intrenchment. It was arranged that, in the event of his being worsted, he should make a preconcerted signal to intimate that they were to run for their lives, whilst he fired the mine.[148]
Thus prepared, D’Eon resolutely awaited eventualities. De Guerchy made one other advance, after failure of the demand for extradition. He sent a conciliatory letter to the Chevalier, by one of the gentlemen at the Embassy, in which he renewed application for the surrender of the King’s papers. The reception with which the attaché met may well be gathered by the nature of D’Eon’s reply:—
‘London, December 1, 1763,
‘At four o’clock in the morning.
‘Sir,—M. Prémarets fled from my house in such a hurry last night that he gave me no time, either to read the whole of your Excellency’s letter or to speak to him. I invited him, however, to dinner, and to drink some good wine from Tonnerre; but he became unnecessarily alarmed, and insisted upon running away. Although a dragoon, I am not so black a devil as people would make me, and if your Excellency could see into my heart, you would find a very pure and a very clear conscience.... With regard to the King’s papers for which you ask me, it is with an aching heart that I am obliged to tell your Excellency I cannot have the honour of delivering them without an express order from the King, and I beg that you will communicate this to those at Court. If you have such an order, be good enough to send it to me by my friend M. Monin; he has known me long, and must be fully persuaded that I will not only obey the orders of my master, but will die for him if needs be. I value my life at four sous, and those four sous I give to the poor. Your Excellency requires no length of time to obtain an order from the King, and if in the interim you should require any information in the interests of the service, I will give all it is in my power to communicate. Do not judge me hastily, and do not condemn me as yet; the future may teach you something. I repeat to you my entreaty to be thoroughly persuaded, that I have never wished to fail in my respect towards the Duke de Praslin and towards yourself; but bear in mind that I am determined to be otherwise, if you persist in continually seeking to force me to forget my duty, my sense of honour, of equity, and of liberty. Recollect, that when St. Peter was asleep on the Mount of Olives, he was thus reproached by his Master: “Spiritus quidem promptus est, caro vero infirma.” I therefore beg of you, sir, to allow me to sleep in peace in London, where I will firmly await the spies that have been sent to watch me....’[149]
The Chevalier was thus proving himself to be more than a match for the ambassador, who was finally obliged to confess to the King his complete failure in every effort he had made to execute his Majesty’s commands.
The Count de Guerchy to Louis XV.
‘London, December 6, 1763.
‘Sire,—I have been expecting to execute the orders contained in the letter your Majesty did me the honour to address to me from Fontainebleau on November 4, before replying to it; but I have found it quite impracticable to do so, notwithstanding the various means employed. Your Majesty will have been informed, by my despatch, of the obstacles with which I meet in my endeavours to possess myself of D’Eon’s papers, for he persistently refuses to deliver them to me, in spite of the order he has received from M. de Praslin in the name of your Majesty.[150] This is one of the peculiarities of his insanity, which, however, does not affect him on all points. Your Majesty will also have been informed that the Court of London has authoritatively refused my request, in saying that it was against the laws of the country. At any rate, the King of England and his ministers are very anxious to get rid of this individual. I have not been able to seize upon his person, either by force or by stratagem, because he is no longer with me, nor has he been here since going to such extremes. I have communicated to Monin your Majesty’s commands as directed; he tells me he has good reason for believing, as the result of several questions he has put to D’Eon, that no papers concerning your Majesty, personally, have been brought to London, and he thinks it more probable that they have been left in Paris.... I deem it expedient to send this letter by M. le Bel. I am deeply grieved, Sire, at not being able to furnish your Majesty upon this occasion with proofs of the fervent zeal by which I will be actuated through life.’
Enclosure.
Memorandum from M. Monin to the King.
‘In consequence of his Majesty’s commands signified to Monin, he has been doubly diligent in devising means for recovering the papers his Majesty desires to possess. The glimmers of hope he has sometimes entertained, warranted as they were by a certain air of confidence and openness of heart on the part of M. D’Eon, have vanished, and all those means to which the ambassador has had recourse have proved unavailing. Monin has restricted himself to seeking to discover where the papers are kept or concealed. M. D’Eon has admitted to having deposited them in different places without naming them, but of one fact Monin is certain, and it is this. Previous to M. de Guerchy’s departure for England, M. D’Eon lodged a box, containing papers, with M. Tercier, where he, Monin, saw it; and so soon as he had learnt of M. D’Eon’s recall, he deemed it his duty, as a faithful and zealous subject, to recommend to M. Tercier that he should obtain his Majesty’s instructions as to its contents. I have no doubt [sic] that M. Tercier, who considered the recommendation as expedient and important, has acted accordingly; this portion of his Majesty’s secrets should therefore be in his hands.’[151]
We have been obliged to reproduce, almost at length, the communications received by the King from de Guerchy, because they show how successfully D’Eon was keeping at bay, or misleading all those, whose hands he considered were lifted against him. ‘I have at last received a letter from M. de Guerchy with Monin’s memorandum enclosed, which I send to you,’ wrote Louis XV. to Tercier; and then the King betrays his uneasiness and restless anxiety for the safety of his papers, and yet his objection to having them in his own possession or anywhere about him, fearing perhaps a repetition of the scene in the month of June. ‘Take care of the Sieur de la Rosière, or rather of his papers, for it is known that he is here, and if he were visited all might be discovered.’[152]
De Guerchy’s next step was to submit to Lord Halifax, so far as the wording was concerned, and with the desire that it should be inserted in the official newspaper, a paragraph to the effect that the Chevalier was to be excluded, in the future, from the British Court.[153] His request was complied with, and an exact translation of the notice, under date of the ambassador’s letter, appeared in an early number of the Gazette:—
‘St. James’, December 6.
‘The Most Christian King having, upon his Ambassador Count de Guerchy’s arrival here, sent to the Chevalier D’Eon de Beaumont, who had the character of Minister Plenipotentiary to this Court, his revocation from hence, with a letter addressed to his Britannic Majesty; and having been informed that M. D’Eon persisted in refusing to pay obedience to his orders, and to present the King his master’s letter; his said Most Christian Majesty therefore wrote a second letter to the King, and commanded his Ambassador to present the same immediately, which, having been accordingly done, his Majesty has been pleased to declare that the said M. D’Eon has no longer any character here, and has forbid him the Court.’[154]
Thus divested of his dignity, the Chevalier was also declared guilty of high treason, and all arrears of emoluments due to him were forfeited to the Crown—a pitiful situation naturally evoking very warm sympathy on the part of his old chief and well-wisher, the Count de Broglio, who himself had long been paying the penalty of his devotion to their mystery-loving royal master.[155] But, apart from personal considerations for D’Eon, the dangers to be apprehended from such limitless persecution were considerable, as the count took immediate occasion to remind the King.
‘It is an incontestable fact that the Sieur D’Eon is driven to despair; that without your Majesty’s favour he will meet with a miserable fate in France, and that he possesses sure means of making a large fortune in England.... If, in revenge for the bad treatment he is experiencing, and impelled by the necessity of obtaining a living, he should publish your Majesty’s instructions, which he holds, were he even to communicate them to English ministers, what might not be the unfortunate results? Should we not have to apprehend that the sacred person of your Majesty would be compromised, and that a declaration of war on the part of England would be inevitable?’
The count concluded his letter by enjoining that the ambassador should leave D’Eon in peace, and that one of his friends should be sent with an order signed by the King, requiring him, in warm-hearted terms, to return to France, with the special assurance that royal protection should not fail him.[156]
The calamity which befell the Chevalier did not visit him alone; it encompassed his mother and other relatives, and even their dependants at home. He was tenderly attached to his only parent, upon whom he had long since settled his little property, yet to her solicitude and gentle warnings he replied with all the vehemence of his strong and stormy nature.
To Madame D’Eon de Beaumont, Tonnerre.
‘London, December 30, 1763.
‘I have received, my dear mother, all the woeful and piteous letters you have taken the trouble to write to me. Why weepest thou, woman of little faith? as it is said in Scripture. Remember that our Lord, in the famed Temple of Jerusalem, said to his mother: Woman, what have I to do with thee? yet the mother was older than the Son. How this word woman, &c., caused the Scribes and Pharisees to laugh, and has shocked all the Doctors of the New Law, even those of Sorbonne! I will say to you with greater tenderness: my mother, what is there in common between your affairs at Tonnerre, and my political affairs in London? Do go on planting your cabbages in peace, weeding your garden and enjoying its fruit; drink the milk of your cows and the wine of your vines, and leave me in peace to the foolish sayings at Paris and Versailles. Dry up your tears, which grieve without comforting me. I am not in need of consolation, because I am not in the least sad.... I do my duty, and my adversaries, who call themselves great men, do not perform theirs—being guided in their actions by caprice and personal interests, and not in the least degree in the interests of justice, and for the welfare of the King and country. Let them do as they please, I will do as I think proper.... I do not fear the thunderbolts of these little Jupiters, be they far or near. This is all I have to say, therefore have your mind at ease, as is mine, and if you come to see me in London I shall be delighted, and I will take as good care of you as I do of the Court papers, which M. de Guerchy will not have except on good grounds, with colours flying, match alight, ammunition at hand, and drums beating. He shall not even have the envelopes of the letters, I swear it to you by all that is sacred, unless he brings to me an authentic order from the King, my master and his, and this is what he has not been able to effect hitherto.
‘Do not believe I am insane, because reports to that effect have reached Paris. I can assure you that my acts, in my supposed state of madness, would be acts of wisdom on the part of certain ambassadors. I am, and shall continue to be, the faithful servant of the King, but I am not, nor do I wish to be, the sordid servant of certain nobles, his worthless varlets. To those who tell you that your son is a wild animal reared in the forests of Burgundy or of Champagne (M. de Guerchy has already said this to me), reply as I and my friend Jean Jacques do, that nature treats all animals abandoned to her care with a certain predilection that seems to show how jealous she is of this right. The horse, the cat, the bull, and even the ass, should they become ambassadors, are usually taller, of a more robust constitution, more vigorous, stronger, and more courageous in forest-land than when living amongst us; they lose half these advantages in becoming domesticated; and it might be said that all our concern in well treating and feeding those animals, only tends to degenerate them. It is the same with man; in becoming social and the slave of the great, or of those who ape to be so, he becomes weak, timid, servile, and his inactive and effeminate style of living suffices to unnerve his strength and courage.... As to my huge brother-in-law, Mr. Gorman,[157] let him attend to his own affairs in Paris, I do not need his advice or that of any other person.... Let everybody mind his own business. I know my own affairs, not a soul in the world shall poke his nose into them, or I will singe his moustache.... Since you cannot voler as birds do, as great ladies and great gentlemen do, I will turn over to you, with great pleasure, my pension of 2,000 livres on the privy purse, which, in addition to what you possess, will enable you to live comfortably in some convent near Paris.... If you wish to do what is best, remain quietly in your charming retreat at Tonnerre, and do not return to Paris unless the Court pays your travelling expenses in some surer way than it has mine, and remember, that whether men praise or blame you, you are none the better or the worse. The glory of the righteous is in their conscience, and not in the praise of man. I embrace you tenderly.... If you continue to weep, I shall have to supply you with some of the English East India Company’s pocket-handkerchiefs, and you will no longer be my mother if you are not the virtuous woman spoken of by Solomon, and which I have not as yet been able to find anywhere.... Be at ease—these enemies are harmless as sheep; they are mischievous rather than dangerous.’[158]
D’Eon’s determination not to deliver any of the papers in his possession, left no alternative to de Guerchy other than to obtain from him an official statement in writing of his refusal to obey the King’s orders. This was effected at the residence of the Chevalier, who, ever apprehensive of treachery on the part of the ambassador’s emissaries, whenever and wherever he met them, held himself in readiness armed, and levelling his gun at the witnesses, cried, ‘It is at the end of this that you will find the King’s papers; come and take them.’[159]
Mention has been made of the publication of a couple of pamphlets by direction of de Guerchy, as being one of the measures to which his Excellency resorted for bringing the Chevalier into disrepute.[160] They had reference to the scene at Lord Halifax’s house on the evening of October 26, and to the minister plenipotentiary’s intercourse with Treyssac de Vergy. D’Eon never missed the opportunity for committing pen to paper, and in his turn published a lengthened statement, likewise in the form of a pamphlet.[161] It was a faithful recital of facts, and as such, he immediately forwarded a copy to his good friend the Duke de Choiseul, who, not being one of the executive triumvirate engaged in doing the will of the Marquise de Pompadour, had but a few weeks previously offered the Chevalier his protection and restoration to the army.[162] On issuing the ‘Note,’ he wrote to the King and to his secret confidants that he was avenging his honour thus infamously attacked, and hoped to receive orders which he had no desire to see nullified by any precipitate conduct on his part.... Great was his dismay at the nature of Tercier’s communication in reply.
‘Versailles, December 27, 1763.
‘Your enemies have become all-powerful; far from diminishing, their influence over the King has increased, and they rule him completely. You are not unaware that Madame de Pompadour is the cause of all your troubles. You and the Count de Broglio are lost, if you do not avail yourself of all the courage and all the prudence with which you are endowed by Heaven, to save yourself from being compromised, or from having your person seized and your papers carried off. You and the Count de Broglio have only to rely, but in secret, upon the King who cannot abandon you, but whose policy would sacrifice you entirely, perhaps, to his mistress and to his ministers, notwithstanding his great regard for you. Rely upon my unalterable devotion.’
‘Such is the language of one of those in whose words it is his Majesty’s pleasure that I should place the most implicit confidence!’ observes D’Eon. ‘I weigh it with all the respect due to the throne. The safety of the King’s correspondence, of that of the Count de Broglio, and of my own, is entrusted to me, to my prudence and to my courage. Secretly, my King will support me if I escape out of the hands of his ministers, who will exact from him, though to his regret, the sacrifice of my person. What could be more outrageous! No matter, my mind is made up. My enemies invite me into the arena; I will rush upon them and overwhelm them if I can; but I will not contend except with my own weapons, and I will not expose my sovereign. I am recommended to be bold and prudent. My answer to the Count de Guerchy’s “Contre-Note” will be the publication of my “Letters and Memoirs.” I avenge every imputation and crush my adversary; so much for courage. My chiefs, my relatives, my protectors and my friends speak in my favour by their letters and by mine, and if the base and ridiculous character of my adversary becomes thus revealed, he will only owe the exposure to the pure and simple publication of his friends’ and his own letters; so much for prudence.’
The ‘Contre-Note’[163] was a third pamphlet de Guerchy had the weakness to employ Goudard to write, in vindication of himself and in severe condemnation of D’Eon; it was a retort to the ‘Note’ that had been addressed to him. D’Eon kept his word. The ‘Lettres, Mémoires,’ &c., which made their appearance, in quarto and octavo editions, are frequently referred to in this work. The volume, divided into three parts, opens with a violent and virulent attack on the French ambassador, giving rise, in due course, to an action for libel, and is followed by the Chevalier’s correspondence with the Dukes de Praslin and de Nivernois, M. de Sainte-Foy, the Count de Guerchy, and others. Part II. relates to D’Eon’s personal interests during his residence in London, and Part III. gives some particulars of his services, with copies of certificates, despatches, and letters, all favourable to himself. The epigraph consists of three lines borrowed from Voltaire:—
The motto is Vita sine litteris mors est, and the post face at the end of Part II. is inscribed:—
‘If the precious selection that forms this little correspondence greatly offends the authors of the injustice from which I am suffering, I will give a second edition of Letters, without extracts and without blanks; the text will be as genuine as the book of Genesis, where the points of the Massorets will not be employed.’
The Chevalier was at no loss to justify himself for having thus exposed the private correspondence of French ministers. When he saw that de Guerchy and de Praslin made it their business to despatch courier after courier to each other, and secretly spread reports upon the subject of his affairs, he made up his mind to publish what disconcerted their measures. Nobody was able to conceive how a young captain of dragoons could have the temerity to be the first to impugn an old lieutenant-general, Knight of the King’s Orders, his Majesty’s Ambassador Extraordinary, a friend of thirty years’ standing of the Ministers of France, a favourite of the King, and allied to several powerful houses; but everybody was able to perceive, without any difficulty, that it was the lieutenant-general and favourite ambassador who had commenced the attack, and that the captain, minister plenipotentiary, was obliged to defend himself. Was there cause for libel in writing against a poisoner, an assassin, who commenced by hiring scribblers to tarnish his reputation? Was there cause for libel in publicly defending, when openly and publicly assailed, one’s honour, life, and liberty? Every law, human and divine, justifies such defence. In every suit, in every contention, in every quarrel, the aggressor is specially to be distinguished from the aggressed, the oppressor from the oppressed! Offensive war is the act of a tyrant; he who defends himself is justified. Had the count given the Chevalier good wine at his table, in the place of poison, there never would have been any dissension between them. The chief cause of the Chevalier’s falling into disgrace with the French ambassador, lay in the former’s evil or good luck, in seeing the latter take to flight on the right bank of the Weser, when, being under fire of the English and Hanoverians at the passage of that river, the Marshal de Broglio’s order was delivered, directing him to give his support and distribute ammunition to the troops. The recollection of that incident must have been exceedingly disagreeable to the count, for when the Chevalier reminded him, upon the memorable evening at Lord Halifax’s, that they had served together during the war, de Guerchy told Lord Halifax, in the presence of the other English ministers, that he had never met D’Eon, nor was he at all concerned to know who were the aides-de-camp to the Count and the Duke de Broglio. In reply, D’Eon maintained that he might perhaps remember having entertained him at his head-quarters upon more than one occasion, to discuss the hot pastry for which his cook was famous, and that when retreating from Einbeck, his column having missed its way, he had put it on the right road to Northeim.[164]
The giving his volume to the world produced the greatest consternation amongst those of the ruling powers whose private letters, several of an exceedingly delicate nature, had thus been made public, and in exposing the secrets of ministers, D’Eon spared his friends as little as he did his bitterest enemies, the King only, in whom his faith was implicit, being held sacred by his daring spirit. The publication was no leap in the dark, but an ill-considered act, an irreparable blunder which brought upon him the extreme of gratuitous misery, and desertion by all those in authority.
No sooner was this book out of the printer’s hands than the Count de Guerchy secured a copy, and sat for several hours with his wife poring over its contents. Some satirical passages on their love of economy having led to a quarrel between the two, they threw the volume at each other’s heads. ‘Could I have foreseen such a thing,’ said the Chevalier upon being informed of the circumstance, ‘I should have issued the book in a wooden binding!’[165]
As the publication caused a panic at Versailles, so was the sensation in London enormous. This is what Walpole had to say about it:—
‘D’Eon has published (but to be sure you have already heard so) a most scandalous quarto, abusing Monsieur de Guerchy outrageously, and most offensive to Messieurs de Praslin and Nivernois. In truth I think he will have made all three irreconcilable enemies. The Duke de Praslin must be enraged as to the Duke’s carelessness and partiality to D’Eon, and will certainly grow to hate Guerchy, concluding the latter can never forgive him. D’Eon, even by his own account, is as culpable as possible, mad with pride, insolent, abusive, ungrateful, and dishonest—in short, a complication of abominations, yet originally ill-used by his Court, afterwards too well; above all, he has great malice, and great parts to put that malice in play. Though there are even many bad puns in his book, a very uncommon fault in a French book, yet there is much wit too. Monsieur de Guerchy is extremely hurt.... I could write pages to you upon this subject, for I am full of it—but I will send you the book. The Council have met to-day to consider what to do upon it. Most people think it difficult for them to do anything. Lord Mansfield thinks they can’—Walpole disliked the judge, and adds—‘but I fear he has a little alacrity on the severe side in such cases.’[166]
As I shall have occasion to return to Walpole, or rather to his letters, I would limit myself in the interests of this history, seeing that the opinions to which he gave expression were immatured except by his own specious judgment, hastily and prematurely formed, to quoting Macaulay’s estimate of that gentleman usher at heart. ‘He sneered at everybody, put on every action the worst construction which it could bear,’ and we are told, further, that he ‘spelt every man backward.’
A painful sense of oppression was produced on D’Eon by Tercier’s letter of December 27, and nothing, not even his vigorous mind, could rouse him out of the state of despondency into which he had fallen. To his kindest of protectors, the Duke de Nivernois, he said, ‘... all my trust is in your tender friendship for me, and all my fear lies in your weakness for your friends.’ If the power of his enemies was too great, he continued, to enable the duke to break asunder the chain of error, of falsehood, and of iniquity, he should only ask permission, for himself and his two cousins, to enter the service of a foreign State, a request they made with their hearts plunged in the bitterest grief; for there were none more ready than they to shed the last drop of their blood for the King they adored, and their native land which they cherished.
‘... Since my zeal, my services, and my disinterestedness have incriminated me in my own country, I must, in spite of myself, seek a country where I shall be at liberty to lead the life of a good citizen. That country is found for me, Monsieur le Duc, this you know, and I will not hide it from you....’
In an enclosure, under flying seal, addressed to his other good friend the Duke de Choiseul, he thus expressed himself:—
‘... Your cousinship to the Duke de Praslin, and private reasons, will no doubt have prevented you from rendering to me that justice which is my due, and which exists in your heart.... Forced as I am, by the revolting injustice I am experiencing, by the suppression of my pension out of the privy purse, and by the numerous enemies that my zeal, blind no doubt in the cause of my country, or that the envy of traitors to that same country have excited against me; I find myself under the grievous necessity of entreating you to do me the favour, to send the King’s permission that I, and two of my cousins, may enter the service of a foreign Power....’[167]
To D’Eon’s surprise, these letters remained unnoticed. He appealed to the King, to the Count de Broglio, to Tercier, for support in his perplexing situation, but nothing came. All were silent. Yet, for his own sake, the count had never been callous to the cries of the Chevalier, nor was he so now, for D’Eon’s doom, were the designs against him carried to a successful issue, would be the harbinger of his own fate. He followed up his suggestion of December 6 to the King, by proposing that his secretary, the Chevalier Nort, should be sent to England to conciliate D’Eon. The King approved, but with his customary dilatoriness nothing was done. Then were brought the news of the recall from exile of the de Broglios, and of the moribund condition of the Marquise de Pompadour, and wearisome darkness, the poor proscribed one thought, would give place to light, and relief be at hand! Still nothing came, though weeks had passed; to remain thus disregarded and treated with silent contempt was more than the Chevalier’s nature could endure. He again addressed himself to Tercier, this time openly throwing the gauntlet, with what results will be known hereafter.
To the Solicitor.[168]
‘London, March 23, 1764.
‘Sir,—Although the recall of the Marshal and of the Count de Broglio should be as useful and as necessary to the King’s service as to the ends of justice, in the settlement of my affairs, I cannot conceal from you my surprise at the complete silence of yourself and of the Count de Broglio, in the cruel position into which the wickedness, to say nothing more, of the Count de Guerchy has plunged me, and his enmity, particularly to the house of Broglio, which is the real origin of my misfortunes.
‘Your silence and my position are such, that I send M. Nardin[169] to Paris, to his friend la Rosière; he will relate to him, in person, all that has taken place since his departure, and the latter will deliver to you this letter, to request urgently that you will give me a categorical reply as to what I am or am not to expect, so that I may be guided accordingly. It is very sad, that after having sacrificed myself so willingly for the benefit and honour of the King’s service, I should have recourse to such explanations, or rather to such extremities. You must feel all the force of what I wish to say. I will never be the first to desert the King or my country, but if, unhappily, the King and my country should think proper to sacrifice me by deserting me, I shall be obliged, in spite of myself, to abandon the latter, and in doing so, I will justify myself before the whole of Europe, and nothing will be easier to me, as you are well aware. I admit that such a sacrifice will be hard for me, but it will also cost France dearly, and the very idea of this makes me shed tears. Yet, such are the extremes and the fatal resolutions which might be engendered by the ingratitude and intrigue that sustains an ambassador, so unworthy of the title as is the Count de Guerchy.
‘I will not conceal from you, sir, that the enemies of France, believing they may be able to take advantage of the cruel position in which I find myself, have invited me to enter their service. Whatever the benefits they offer, I cannot be influenced, and I shall be guided under these circumstances by my honour only; I have answered as became me, and have said that I could not enter into any engagement, as I still considered myself in the service of the King; and my King abandons me! And yet, from the very first, I have only acted in conformity with his great secret project, and his written orders which I will defend with my life.
‘You ought to know that scarcely had the Count de Guerchy superseded me here, than the subject was broached to him of the second demolition of the lunette and other works at Dunkirk, and that this second demolition, which I had successfully averted and set aside during the period of five months, was accomplished to the shame and prejudice of France.[170] I am truly ashamed for my country.
‘The leaders of the opposition have offered me any money I require, on condition that I deliver to them my papers and letters, under seal, promising to return them to me in exactly the same state when the money is brought to me.[171] I unbosom myself to you, and you must feel how repugnant to me must be such an expedient. And yet, if I am forsaken, what would you have me do? As to the papers of the Counsellor and of his deputy, I guard them more jealously than ever; I have them all, also Rosière’s. The cypher alone I burnt in his presence, and the whole are so well concealed in my study, that by means of a mine I have myself contrived, and several trains that lead to it from different parts of my room, I can in an instant blow my little study, the would-be rescuers, the papers and my own self, fifty feet into the air. But, if I am entirely forsaken, and if, between this and April 22, Easter Sunday, I do not receive a promise, signed by the King or by the Count de Broglio, to the effect that reparation will be made to me for all the ills I have endured at the hands of M. de Guerchy, then, sir, I declare to you formally and authentically, I shall lose all hope, and in forcing me to embrace the cause of the King of England, of his ministry and of the Houses of the Lords and Commons, you must make up your mind to a war at no distant period, of which I shall surely be but the innocent cause, and this war will be inevitable. The King of England will be driven into it by the nature of circumstances, by the voice of the nation, and by the opposition which is gaining, rather than losing, in strength. Here, sir, is my confession, and here are all the evils that will have been prepared by M. de Guerchy and his gang. Behold your great project, so glorious for the King and so advantageous to France, turning against you. Your reply, sir, fully authentic, and signed by the Counsellor, or at least by his deputy, will inform me if, by next Easter at the latest, I am to remain an honest Frenchman, or become, in spite of myself, an honest Englishman.’[172]
The King took the matter coolly enough. He knew his man, and must have been full well persuaded that he could safely rely upon his loyalty and attachment to his person, and that there was consequently no immediate cause for alarm. When informed for the first time of the tempting offers made to the Chevalier in England, he merely said: ‘I do not believe that D’Eon will become an Englishman, for he has nothing to gain from the ministry, and what will he do if he joins the opposition? Send him two hundred ducats ...’ and then he wrote word to Tercier, ‘... I have nothing to say as regards the Sieur D’Eon. I doubt that we should have war, no matter what he were to say; but we must prevent such an exposure.’ Still, as if impressed with the obvious necessity for being wise in time, his Majesty added, ‘I approve of the despatch of the Sieur de Nort; make every necessary arrangement accordingly.’[173]
It is possible that Tercier, who was in the habit of keeping D’Eon informed of all that was passing at Court, so far as he was concerned, had told him before their correspondence was interrupted that the King ‘did not at all care to see the “Mémoires” in print.’[174] At any rate, in a second letter in which he pressed his case, and which quickly followed the first, we find the Chevalier offering some passing words of explanation on the course he had pursued.
‘London, March 27, 1764.[175]
‘Sir,—I hope that M. Nardin, whom I despatched on the morning of the 23rd to rejoin his friend La Rosière, and to cause to be remitted to you through him a very urgent letter from myself, is actually with you, and in a position to relate to La Rosière all that has occurred here during the last four months. The Count de Guerchy having thought proper to publish a lying apology for his conduct, or what is rather a libel against myself, full of wickedness and slander, I patiently waited awhile, and was then obliged to reply to it by unanswerable statements and letters. I have consequently published what I had to say, and have expressly made a bulky volume of it, that the project of our great secret affair may be the more completely screened.
‘Our poor ambassador, quite at his wit’s ends, has no idea beyond that of blind vengeance; he has been to his friend the Duke of Bedford, a man even more violent than himself; he has been to all the other ministers to get them to see the book; but all this has only turned to my advantage. He is at present moving heaven and earth, together with the Duke of Bedford, to have me seized by force or by stratagem, that I may be sent to France. I was warned last night by a friend of the Duke of Bedford, that the Count de Guerchy has not left a stone unturned to excite the duke’s wrath against me. This same person also warned me yesterday morning that at a council held at St. James’, the ministers had deliberated upon the means to be employed for arresting me and handing me over to France; but he could not tell me to what decision they had arrived. This, sir, is of the greatest consequence, and it is important that his Majesty should be good enough to order the Count de Guerchy to leave me in peace. I give you notice, most earnestly, that the first person who comes to my house, or attacks me in the street, will at once fall, no matter who he is, and I am quite indifferent as to the consequences. I again give you notice, that several leaders of the opposition send daily to see whether I am safe, and at the first attempt at violence against me, the embassy and all that it contains will be torn to pieces by what is here known as the mob, that is to say, the mariners and rabble from the city, who are at the call of the opposition. You are sensible of all the disasters about to take place. The Count de Guerchy ignores the whole of this; he is not bright enough to apprehend all that is going on, and even if he were, he would not report, but rather conceal from the King what he knew. You are aware that I have never deceived you; I should be loth to do so under such important and pressing circumstances, and I must not conceal from you, that if I am once taken, after having so long and carefully cautioned you, and the King affords no relief, in such a case I will no longer consider myself bound to preserve the secret, and shall be obliged, thus driven to extremities, to justify my conduct; a still greater misfortune than the firing of the French embassy by the people.’