Part 32 (1/2)
CHAPTER XXVII
The comte de la Marche and the comtesse du Barry-The countess and the prince de Conde-The duc de la Vauguyon and the countess-Provisional minister-Refusal of the secretaryshi+p of war-Displeasure of the king-The marechale de Mirepoix-Unpublished letter from Voltaire to Madame du Barry-Her reply
The coard for ht, on the present occasion, to be repaid for his attachment Both he and the prince de Conde had their ae of ministers; and both fancied, that because their relation, the duke, had governed during the king's ht to the several appointed as a matter of course to their family The count had already sent to solicit h the mediation of madame de Monaco, mistress to the prince de Conde; and, as I shrewdly suspect, the occasional chere aood he expected, he came, without further preface, to speak toto come to an open rupture with him, I endeavoured to n would never per any of the administrative power in the hands of the princes of his fa thee more
The couments; he replied,
”Well, ive upto bestow his favours in the shape of a little pecuniary aid Things look ill at present; they may take a worse turn, but he may confidently rely on my loyalty and devotion: the supreme courts, driven to the last extree themselves under the banners We well kno e myself never to forsake your cause, but to defend it withnecessity for money be satisfied How say you, madam; can you procure it for me?”
”Very probably I may be enabled to assist you,” replied I; ”but you must first inform me how much will satisfy you”
”Oh,” answered he, carelessly, ”so less than the ant, and merely ask for so much as is absolutely necessary In the first place 60,000 livres paid down, and secondly, a yearly payment of 200,000 more”
This demand did not appear to e the matter to the prince's satisfaction, well pleased on my own side to secure so illustrious an ally at so cheap a rate, I procured the assent of the king and the coeneral; the 60,000 livres were bestowed on the comte de la Marche in two separate payments, the pension settled on him, and, still further, an annuity of 30,000 livres was secured to madame de Monaco; and I must do the count the justice to say, that he reer and difficulty; braving alike insults, opprobriuraood reason for congratulating ourselves upon securing such devotion and zeal at so poor a price
The prince de Conde, surrounded by a greater degree of worldly state and consideration, was equally iree co himself to me from the commencement of my court favour, and the reception he bestowed on race in the eyes of nobility He visited at ; and whenever he found me, he would turn the conversation upon politics, the state of affairs, and the great desire he felt to undertake the direction of theht play the part of madame de Po to do so; you are satisfied with possessing influence when you ht exercise power and command Your alliance with a prince of the blood would render you sole h your means, to the rank of prime minister, it would be s to you, and fro could weaken”
I listened in silence, and, for once, my natural frankness received a check; for I durst not tell hi's senti any regard for the prince de Conde; and, not to mince the matter, had unequivocally expressed his conte of him, ”He is a conceited felloould fain induce persons to believe him somebody of vast importance” Louis XV had prejudices, from which no power on earth could have weaned hist his strongest antipathies: he knew a score of scandalous anecdotes relating to the
However, all the arguments of the prince de Conde were useless, and produced hih he procured the nomination of another to the ministry, as you will hear in its proper place; but this was not sufficient to allay the cravings of his ae and disappoint and his parliaed himself on the side of the latter He soon, however, beca hiuidance of interest, he rejoined our party Well did M de Maupeou know reat as may be the rank and title of princes, with plenty of st all the candidates for the reatest trouble was the duc de la Vauguyon, who insisted upon it that he had done much for me, and co bestowed race of the des Choiseuls, he had been ast the most bitter of the malcontents; but no sooner were they banished fro, and hastened to me with every mark of the warmest friendshi+p
”Ah!” exclaiive you all your past misdeeds, if you will perform your promise to ly to style hinated the bishop of Orleans gros pere), ”are you, indeed displeased with hty: for you know I love you with all ard for me, why have you evinced so little towardsministers? Why, then, have you never procured my appointment to any of the vacant situations?”
”Stay, stay, my dear father,” cried I, ”how you run on! To hear you talk, any person would suppose that places and appointments rained down upon me, and that I had only to say to you, ht complain with justice; but you know very well, that all these delightful things are in the hands of the king, who alone has a right to bestow thees best, whilst I am wholly powerless in the business”
”Say, rather,” replied the duke, quickly, ”that you find it suits your present purpose to put on this want of power We all know, that your veto is absolute with hismore to obtain whatsoever you desire”
The duc de la Vauguyon was powerful, and represented the whole of a party-that of the religionists, which was still further supported by the princesses; but for this very reason the triuuillon, de Maupeou, and the abbe Terre, would not have accepted his services at any price
The good duke returned several tientle intreaties and, at others, holding out threats and ood and bad words flowed froall, but when he found that both were equally throay upon e and disappoint both the dauphin and dauphiness against er of a bigot!
I think I have detained you long enough with the relation of the intrigues by which I was surrounded upon the dismissal of the des Choiseuls, and I will now return to theof the 24th of Dece found himself not a little embarrassed in the choice of a prime minister Those ould have suited our purposes did not 's approbation, and he had not yet sufficient courage to venture upon electing one who should be disagreeable to us; he therefore hit upon a curious provisional election; the abbe Terray, for instance, was placed at the head of the war department This measure was excused by the assertion, that it would require the head of a financier to look into and settle the accounts, which the late minister had, no doubt, left in a very confused state Upon the same principle, M Bertin was appointed to the direction of foreign affairs, and M de Boynes was invested solely with the ement of naval affairs This man, as counsellor of state, and first president of the parliament of Besancon, knew not a letter of the office thus bestowed upon him, but then he was bound body and soul to the chancellor; and it orth soht be relied on, would offer no opposition to the important reforms which were to be set on foot immediately We required merely automata, and M de Boynes answered our purpose perfectly well; for a provisionalhad at length (in his own opinion), hit upon a very excellent minister of war; and the person selected was the chevalier, afterwards comte de Muy, formerly usher to the late dauphin: he was avirtues and qualities We were in the utmost terror when his majesty communicated to us his election of a nifying his pleasure to M de Muy Such a bloould have overthrown all our projects Happily chance befriended us; the modern Cato declared that he should esteen by every possible endeavour, but that he could never be induced to enter eness of this refusal puzzled Louis XV not a little He said to me ”Can you make out the real motive of this silly conduct? I had a better opinion of the ht him possessed of sense, but I see now that he is only fit for the cowl of awas mistaken; M de Muy became one under the auspices of his successor
Immediately that the prince de Conde was informed of what had passed, he reco he could not be minister himself, he determined, at least, to be principally concerned in the appointment of one; he therefore proposed the ative qualities, that the best that could be said of hiood action; and, for want of a better, he was elected Such were the colleagues given to M de Maupeou to conduct the hich was about to be declared against the parliaments I should tell you, en passant, that the discontent of the istracy had only increased, and that the parlia to decide the suits which were referred to theants for their quarrel with the eneral interest expressed for the duc de Choiseul greatly irritated the king