Imatges de pàgina
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After this affair, I continued, from time to time, to fee the cardinal de Rohan, from whom I received very great civilities. He foon placed fo much confidence in me as to speak to me with the utmoft confidence upon all his concerns, and particular ly about his fituation at court. I faw that he was fincerely attached to the king, and very grateful for the concern which his majefty had deigned to fhow at the clamour that had been raised against him, respect ing the adminiftration of the Quinze Vingts but the queen was far from treating him with equal goodness, which gave him great uneafinefs. I did not know, nor did he ever tell me, in what he had difpleafed her majefty but the abbé Georgel, with whom I converfed about it, informed me, That the cardinal, during his embefly at Vienna, had written to the duc d'Aiguillon, then minifter of foreign affairs, a confidential letter, in which he had paffed fome jefts upon the empress (Maria Therefe :) that the minifter had been fo indifcreet as to give the letter to madame Dubarry, who did not fcruple to read it aloud at a fupper the gave to a party, with whom the indecently made a laugh at it: that, as he told nobody that the letter was written to the minifter, it was generally fuppof ed to be written to herfelf; that it was fo reported in the account which was given to the queen of what paffed at the fupper: and that her majefty, highly difpleafed that the em prefs, her mother, fhould have been

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made the fubject of laughter for madame Dubarry and her guests, had never forgiven the cardinal that letter.'

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I faw but little hopes of an offence of this nature being either repaired or forgotten; and, however concern. ed I felt for the cardinal's uneafinefs, of which he was conftantly talking to me, I did not know how to advise him. One day I called upon him just as he returned from Verfailles this was about three months before his arreft; as he appeared unufually gay and fatisfied, I asked if he had any good news to tell me? Yes, yes,' replied he, excellent, and such as I hope will give you great pleafure; but first give me your word that you will keep what I am going to tell you a profound fecret. Certainly.' I think (continued he) that you have felt a real concern for the queen's difpleasure against me,-let me tell you then, that a change is taking place.' I give you joy with all my heart: but you do not flatter yourfelf? Have you feen the queen ? or has fhe written to you ?—' No ; but I am to fee her on Wednesday next.

I fhall return on Thursday evening, and if you will be here about nine o'clock, you shall know all: I can tell you no more about it at prefent.? I was very punctual, and was forry to find that the cardinal's appointment with the queen, which he expected on Wednesday, had not. been kept. He had been told that her majefty had, on account of the noife that her reconciliation with him would make, and of the alterations that must take place, thought it proper to wait till the king of Sweden's departure, which was fxed for the beginning of the next week, and tỏ poftpone the appointment that had been made for Wednesday of the ceding week, till the Friday of the one following. This delay gave the cardinal the lefs uneafinefs, as at the time he was informed of it, he was

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alfo affured, in the moft pofitive manner, that the queen's difpofition to ward him became every day more and more favourable. "And have thefe affurances (faid I) been given to you by any one on whom you can perfectly rely?"` "Yes, perfectly; and if I could but tell you who, you would not be lefs fatisfied than I am. A woman, formed to poffefs the complete confidence of the queen, who frequently spends whole hours alone with her, and, being much attached to me, has both with zeal and addrefs feized every opportunity of weakening the prejudices her majefty had conceived against me; and fhe has happily fucceeded in conquering them. The affair of the QuinzeVingts, or rather the manner in which the king mentioned it before the queen, had prepared the way, and convinced her, that I was not a worthlefs fellow. Her friend, who knows her better than any one elfe, finding this favourable difpofition in her, has very ably kept it up, and increased it: fometimes by mingling in her conversation flight expreffions, which produce great effects; fometimes by fpeaking, though always with an air of indifference, of fome unhappy families whom I have relieved. You do not know how much any thing of a beneficent nature affects the queen it is inconceivable what he gives away: it is immenfe, and yet not equal to what he would give, as he has a fixed fum for her monthly expences, and when that is expended, fhe is under the neceffity of poftponing her bounties till the month following. The lady I allude to has done me the fervice of pointing out to me, very opportunely, perfons patronifed by her majefty, and who were experiencing great embarrafsments while waiting her relief: you may believe that I was eager to fupply them, and largely.”. "But are you fure the queen heard of it?" Certainly for my money went Ed. Mag. Jan. 1800.

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through her friend's hands. This is the cause of her majesty's esteeming me gradually more and more, and to fuch a degree, as to give me, in preference to all devoted to her, the greatest mark of public confidence poffible. You will be very much furprised when I can tell you what it is."-" and when will that be?" "On Saturday next, about this time, as probably the affair will be then all over :-do not ask me any thing more about it now."

On Saturday, the cardinal return. ed from Verfailles, without having feen the queen; having been told that he was fuddenly taken ill with a violent headach, and obliged to go to bed: but at the fame time a paper was given to him, from her, "which (faid be) feals the confidence her majefty has in me."

A third appointment failed in like manner, under pretence of the queen's being with the Dauphin, who was indisposed: but, on putting him off for another week, he was told that her majefty had the greatest plans in view for him, and was thinking of nothing less than having him made prime minister. So far was he from not believing it, that he was alarmed by anticipation, at the burden and difficulties of fo important an office. I too, from this moment, became uncafy; but from very different motives, I was afraid that this affair, ftill enveloped in fo much mystery, might prove to be fome court intrigue, some abominable fnare laid for the cardinal.

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I told him my fears, which he turned into ridicule. "What! (faid he) do you take me for a child or an idiot?" No, certainly but without being the one or the other, you may be too fanguine, too easily impofed upon.'" Well! well! come, in fpite of all your incredulity, I will convince you :-but give me your word, not to speak to any foul alive of what I am going to tell you."E

"You

"You may depend upon me."-"Let us go into my clofet."

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You know that the queen is very fond of fine diamonds. Sometime ago, a magnificent necklace was fhewn to her, which the immediately longed to have but the king thought it too dear, and would not buy it. Still fhe longed to have it. As he could not pay for it but by inftalments, and with frequent delays, of which the jewellers would not run the risk, it was neceffary to find fome perfon, very fecure in every refpect, who would fecretly make the purchase for her majefty, and who was in a fituation to answer to the tradefmen for the payments. The friend, of whom I have spoken to you, pointed me out, and undertook to make the propofal to me. I embraced it without hefitation, as you will readily imagine and this is the ftate of things. Well! Mr Incredulous, what say you now? I fay that I cannot comprehend it at all. How can the queen, who has all the diamonds of the crown at her command, have fo great a defire for this necklace? How? because, perhaps, in all the diamonds of the crown, fo perfect an affortment could not be made: I tell you there cannot be finer feen. Be it fo but what can fhe do with the necklace? for, as the king thought it too dear, she certainly will not think of wearing it in his prefence, and in his prefence she is, or may be, every moment.' I cannot tell you whether fhe will wear it or not: perhaps fhe may wish to make a prefent of it, or to keep it locked up till the has a favourable moment of gaining the king's approbation of the purchafe. I cannot fay, and it does not become me to queflion her on those topics.' Certainly not; but I hope, at leaft, that you will not conclude this affair without having feen the queen.' - Doubtless not fee her I muft, to deliver the necklace to her.' Is every thing already fettled with the jewel

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lers?-O yes! I will show you the agreement figned by her majefty, and all the articles approved in the margin by her; for I fee you do not believe a word of what I am telling you.'Pardon me, but in affairs fo nice as this, I am fond of having things upon paper. Do you kno w the queen's writing? faid he to me, as he fhewed me a flight paper book which he took out of his defk. I do not,' I replied,

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but your eminence ought to know it well.'- Oh, perfectly: read: read!' I ran my eyes haftily over the conditions of this agreement, which was figned Marie Antoinette de France, and I certainly faw in the margin, oppofite each article, the word approved, written in a small regular hand like the fignature. 'Well!' faid he, with a fatisfied air, do you begin to fee clear?' I fee,' faid I,

if this be the queen's writing, that the writes a pretty little hand: but I think you have undertaken here a very ticklish commiffion. You will change your opinion, when you fee the fequel: have patience till this day eight days, for I am pofitive to fee the queen next week.'

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This certainly had no other foun-dation than the fame promises with which the cardinal had been kept in fufpenfe for fix weeks before. went to Verfailles, and returned without feeing her majefty: the reafon. given was, that the king had paffed the whole evening with her and the cardinal admitted this account with an cafe and confidence that aftonish. ed me. I expreffed to him great uncafinefs at his fituation. And has not the queen even written to you?' faid 1, have you not a fingle letter from her on this bufinefs? No : but he has made her friend write to me, and that is the fame thing. I will fhow you a letter that will fatisfy you.' He opened a fmall prefs in an angle between the fire-place and the window, and, taking out a handful of letters, read me one of

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them, about a page and a half long. It was an inexplicable piece of ambiguity, which I had no fooner read, than I faid to the cardinal with warmth If it be not, my lord, the moft refpectable woman in the kingdom, who has written this letter, you are fhamefully played upon. What does all this fignify? There are expreffions in it which may apply to fome circumstances relative to the necklace, when we know them, but they may as well, and better, be ap plied to a hundred other ftories: in fhort, this letter is fo inapplicable, that, happen what will, you can make no ule of it and I am convinced that the person who wrote it had this in view.' Fie! do not take it in that manner: you would fpeak very differently, if you knew how much that perfon is in every respect above all fufpicion : befides, have you not feen the agreement figned, and approved by the queen? Yes; but, as I am unacquainted with her majesty's writing, which may very well have been forged, and alfo with the lady so estimable, and who may be much less fo than you imagine,

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more apprehenfive than ever, that this affair may turn out very troublesome to you. There is but one thing that can remove my fears; and that is, as you have not yet delivered the necklace, that you promise me, and I conjure you, not to part with it, but to the queen her felf.' I do promise you, and fo you may be eafy; indeed you would be perfectly fo, if you knew the name of the perfon; all I can tell you is, that there is not a more diftinguithed one in the kingdom.

Two days after this I went into Brittany, where I had not been fix weeks, before I learned, by the pub. lic papers, that the cardinal was arreted, without any particulars of the caufe of fo extraordinary an event, but it was not difficult for me to guefs it.

The circumstances given in evidence are all that have been certainly known. What I have here related, could not be proved, but by my testimony, which was not taken, or by Madame La Mothe's correfpondence, and that was burnt an hour after the cardinal's arreft. He was fo thorough. ly convinced, that that correfpondence contained the queen's fecret, and that the feverity with which her majefty had treated him before the king, was a proof of the implicit confidence fhe had in his difcretion, that, inftead of attempting to juftify himfelf to the king. he only thought of not exfing the queen. After confirming, fometimes by his filence, fometimes by the embarrassment of his replies to their majefties queftions, a charge that could not but excite their indignation against him, his firft care, the moment he was arrefted, was to difpatch one of his people poft to Paris, with an order to open the prefs in his clofet, which contained all Madame La Mothe's letters, and to burn them. This order he delivered to his man in German, that he might not be understood by the officer, who went with him from the king's chamber to the apartments occupied by the high almoner, in the palace. An adjutant of the gardesdes corps was charged to take him, firft to Paris, to feize his papers, and then to the Bastille.

By deftroying this correfpondenee, the cardinal loft the most important papers for his juftification: for they would have fhewn the manœuvres, the profound and ftudied fubtilty practifed by the moft intriguing of women, to convince him of the kindnefs, extreme confidence, and friendfhip which the queen bestowed upon her; of the effential fervice it was in her power to render him with her majesty, and the like. Had this point been cleared up, the obscurity in which the affair remained enveloped would have been difpelled. It E 2

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would have been evident to all, that the cardinal, far from being feduced by the ambitious and criminal hopes of which he was accused, had no other object in view, than to gain the queen's good opinion, by lending her his credit for the purchafe of a necklace, which he could not but believe the very much wifhed to poffefs, as the fact was attefted to him, not only by a person who he thought had received the commiffion exprefsly from her majefty, but by a writing, which he imagined to be igned and approved by the queen.

It has been very inconfiderately fuppofed, that the cardinal was too well acquainted with the queen's writing, and particularly her fignature, to be fo grofsly deceived in it. He had never received a letter from her majefty, and could never have feen her writing, or rather, her fignature, but twice or thrice in a hurry, on the registers of baptifm; and does it, therefore follow that he could have preferved fo accurate a remembrance of it, as to know it long after, though written in a different manner, or vith different pens? It was faid, that at least he knew that the queen's fignature was Marie Antoinette, and not Marie Antoinette de France. It was, doubtlefs, poffible for him to have obferved this from the registers of baptifm: but it was alfo poffible for him not to have attended to it, or, if he did, to have imagined that the queen might fign differently in public registers and private deeds. Nay, how could he fufpect it, when he had in his hands a deed that he must as firmly have believed to have been figned by the queen, as if he had feen her write her name to it because a part of the first inftallment, to which the inftrument bound her ma jelly, was paid on her account into the cardinal's own hands by Madame La Mothe?

The most moderate cenfurer of the cardinal's conduct must have

blamed the excefs of his credulity; but to judge in what degree he deferved this cenfure, it would have been neceffary to know all the art practifed by Madame La Mothe to make herfelf miftrefs of his confidence, which, unfortunately for him, it was but too eafy, both to gain and to keep.

Being abfent from the court, and from Paris, a great part of the year, he knew Madame La Mothe only from her genealogy, by the patronage she had received from the king and queen, and by the favourable accounts given of her to him by all perfons whofe good offices the had managed to fecure. Finding her fprightly and amiable, the cardinal was naturally led to believe, that these qualities, which the name of Valois muft render ftill more interefting in the eyes of the queen, had gained Madame La Mothe her majesty's affection and implicit confidence. Moft of those who have caft the greatest blame on the cardinal, would perhaps have fallen as blindly into the fame fault, had the fame fnares been laid for them.

The feverity, as unmerited as impolitic, with which this error was punished, would be a ftain upon the memory of Louis XVI. had he not been entirely ignorant of all the facts I am relating: had not the minifter (the baron de Bretuil) who was the informer, or reporter of the information against the cardinal, no doubt. more induced by his zeal than by his former enmity to the high almoner, reprefented this affair to their majesties in all the odious lights in which it could be placed: and had he not painted it as fo ferious an offence against the honour of the queen, or at leaft fo calculated to implicate her, that the flightest indulgence might caft a fufpicion of connivance on her majefty. The king confidered the cardinal, and could do no otherwife, as guilty of high treafon :

for,

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