Beginning of the Ministry of _Monsieur le Duc_--His early
popularity--Difficulties of the situation--Philippe d’Orléans
replaced by three new powers: Louis XV., Fleury, and Philip
V. of Spain--Futile negotiations between _Monsieur le Duc_
and the Orléans faction--Madame de Prie advises the prince to
take the offensive--Resumption of the proceedings against La
Jonchère and his accomplices--Indignation and alarm of the
Orléanists--Attempted assassination of La Guillonière, in
mistake for Pâris-Duverney--Conspiracy against the lives of
_Monsieur le Duc_ and his mistress--Madame de Prie insists on
prompt and energetic action, and Le Blanc and the Belle-Isles
are thrown into the Bastille--Arrest of Lempereur and other
persons--The Government is determined on the total ruin of
Le Blanc--Murder of Gazan de la Combe--La Blanc claims the
privilege of being tried by the assembled chambers of the
Parlement--Efforts of _Monsieur le Duc_ and Madame de Prie
to counteract the influence of Fleury over Louis XV.--Recall
of Villeroy--Visit of the King of Chantilly--Trial of Le
Blanc--Extraordinary proceedings--Acquittal of the accused.
Outside the faction opposed to the Condés, the elevation of _Monsieur
le Duc_ was not ill received. With the bulk of the nation Philippe
d’Orléans had never been popular. The people had been unable to forget
the horrible suspicions concerning him which the successive deaths of
the Duc and Duchesse de Bourgogne, the little Duc de Bretagne and the
Duc de Berry had aroused, and many worthy persons steadfastly refused
to see in the really touching respect and affection which he had always
shown for the young King anything but a cloak for the most sinister
designs. The middle-classes blamed him for the financial disasters
which had involved so many of them in ruin, and credited him, very
absurdly, with the intention of recalling Law. The clergy and the
devout had been alienated by his debauched life and his contempt for
religion. Thus, the very real service which he had rendered France in
maintaining peace, with the exception of a brief interval, for eight
years, was forgotten, and the advent of his successor hailed with
almost a sigh of relief.
It is true that there were not a few, such as the advocate Barbier, who
regretted the change of rulers, and predicted that it was Madame de
Prie who would govern the kingdom, and “lay her hands on as much money
as she could”;[264] but, on the whole, the possibility of a term of
petticoat government does not appear to have aroused much uneasiness.
_Monsieur le Duc_, on his side, neglected nothing to make himself
popular. Though his manners were usually somewhat brusque, he could
be charming when he chose to take the trouble, and, during the first
few weeks of his Ministry, he was so affable and so courteous, so
considerate and so obliging, that he pleased everyone who approached
him. The good impression thus created was strengthened by the
diminution of several taxes which had weighed very hardly on the
Parisians, and by the magnanimity he displayed towards those whose
hostility to him was notorious; and soon the gazettes were chanting
in unison the praises of the new Prime Minister, and declaring that
France was indeed fortunate to have so admirable a prince at the head
of affairs.
But this popularity was only momentary, for the difficulties of the
situation were immense, the task before him one of the most ungrateful
that could well be imagined; and it would have needed a far more
experienced and subtle politician than _Monsieur le Duc_ to have
steered a safe course amid the shoals and quicksands that surrounded
him. The Treasury was empty and the follies of the “System” still
unpaid for; commerce was almost annihilated; the Church rent by the
Jansenist schism; the Court a battle-ground for contending factions,
one of which regarded the new Prime Minister with the bitterest
hostility. And, in place of the Regent and Dubois, three new powers had
arisen; two close at hand, the young King and his preceptor, Fleury,
Bishop of Fréjus; the other distant, Spain, represented by Philip V.
The young Louis XV., whose majority had been proclaimed six months
before, on completing his thirteenth year, was a most perplexing factor
in the situation. D’Argenson calls him “an impenetrable personage”;
Luynes “an indefinable being”; in a word, he was a mystery to the whole
Court. Ostensibly, he cared for nothing but the chase, gambling[265]
and the pleasures of the table; but many were of opinion that this
frivolity and indifference were but assumed; that very little that
took place escaped him; and that the time was not far distant when he
would begin to assert his authority in no uncertain manner. Morose,
uncommunicative, egotistical, he repulsed all the efforts of the
courtiers of both sexes to ingratiate themselves with him, and reserved
his confidence, and the little affection of which he seemed capable,
for one person--his preceptor, the Bishop of Fréjus.
The rise of André Hercule Fleury had been remarkable. Though without
great talents or high connexions--he was the son of a collector of
taxes at his native town of Lodève--he had understood so well the art
of insinuating himself into the good graces of every one who was in a
position to advance his fortunes, that obstacles disappeared before him
as snow melts in the sun. “He was what one might call a true wheedler,”
writes Saint-Simon, who allows us to perceive in the portrait which
he has drawn of him something of the jealousy which his extraordinary
good fortune had inspired. He wheedled himself into the favour of the
Cardinal de Bonzy, who brought him to Court and obtained for him the
post of almoner to Queen Maria Theresa; he wheedled himself into that
of his royal mistress, of the Duchesse de Bourgogne, of the Duc and
Duchesse du Maine, and, finally, into that of Louis XIV., who a few
months before his death nominated him preceptor to the Dauphin.
[Illustration: ANDRÉ HERCULE, CARDINAL DE FLEURY
FROM AN ENGRAVING BY P. DREVET, AFTER THE PAINTING BY HYACINTHE
RIGAUD]
If he failed to cultivate the good qualities which Louis XV. showed as
a child, and cannot therefore escape some of the responsibility for
the scandals and the disasters of that unfortunate reign, he succeeded
little by little in gaining the entire confidence of his pupil.
Jealous of his influence, Philippe d’Orléans endeavoured to separate
him from the boy by the offer of the archbishopric of Rheims, the
first episcopal dignity in the realm. But Fleury knew where his true
interests lay, and declined it. Nothing, he declared, should distract
him from the duty which he owed to his young Sovereign. When, in 1722,
Louis XV.’s _gouverneur_, the Maréchal de Villeroy, was banished
by the Regent from Court, Fleury, deeming that his honour obliged
him to share the disgrace of his superior and protector, followed
him into exile. But his departure occasioned the young King such
distress that he lost no time in recalling him, by a letter in his own
hand--an action upon which it is probable the astute old gentleman had
confidently counted.
At the time of the death of Philippe d’Orléans, Fleury was in his
seventy-first year, an age at which most men have renounced ambition
and are thinking only of repose. The Bishop of Fréjus, however,
felt that he had some years of activity yet before him, and he was
resolved to climb to the very pinnacle of fortune. He might easily have
persuaded Louis XV. to make him Prime Minister, but he counselled the
young King to entrust the direction of affairs to the Duc de Bourbon;
perhaps, because he hoped to govern through him; more probably, because
he foresaw that _Monsieur le Duc’s_ Ministry must be of brief
duration, and that his own elevation would be far better received after
the prince had been allowed his chance.
_Monsieur le Duc_ and Madame de Prie were not blind to the danger
which threatened from this quarter. In his quality of priest, Fleury
could not fail to disapprove of the relations existing between them,
and that he had communicated his sentiments to his royal pupil was
very evident from the coldness with which his Majesty treated the
marchioness. Nor could it be said that the King regarded _Monsieur
le Duc_ with any marked degree of favour; indeed, he appeared to
avoid him, and not infrequently when the Prime Minister had requested
an audience, he was informed that M. de Fréjus would receive any
communication that he might wish to make.
Encouraged by this, the Orléans party began to make overtures to Fleury
with a view to an alliance. But the preceptor preferred to retain his
liberty of action, and their advances met with no formal response. It
was, however, impossible to say how long he would continue to remain
neutral, and the possibility of so powerful a coalition being formed
against them occasioned the Duc de Bourbon and his mistress profound
uneasiness.
The third power was Philip V. of Spain.
After the conclusion of peace between France and Spain at the beginning
of 1720, the Regent and Dubois, anxious to re-establish friendly
relations between the two great branches of the House of Bourbon,
proposed a triple matrimonial alliance, to which Philip V. and Isabella
Farnese readily consented. In accordance with this arrangement, the
Infanta Isabella Luisa, then in her fifth year, was sent to the Court
of France, to be brought up until she had reached a marriageable
age, when she was to become the wife of Louis XV.; the fourth of the
Regent’s six daughters, Mlle. de Montpensier, was married to the Prince
of the Asturias, heir to the Crown of Spain; while the fifth of the
Orléans princesses, Mlle. de Beaujolais, who was only six years old,
was sent to Madrid, where it was proposed that, in due course, she
should wed Don Carlos, the eldest son of Philip V. and his second wife,
Isabella Farnese.
Connected thus closely with the Orléans, Philip V. had everything to
lose by events which excluded his allies from power. In January, 1724,
he had abdicated in favour of the Prince of the Asturias, though the
new king’s authority was merely nominal, and on the son’s death, some
months later, the father resumed the Crown. Some writers maintain that
this abdication was in fulfilment of a vow that he had made in 1720;
others believe that it was intended to facilitate his designs on the
French throne; and this is far from improbable. For it is certain that
Philip had not abandoned the hopes which he had cherished since the
death of his grandfather, and which the feeble health of Louis XV.,
the well-known incapacity of the new Duc d’Orléans, and the false
reports of his partisans concerning the popularity which he enjoyed in
Paris, served to sustain. But _Monsieur le Duc_ was determined
to resist to the uttermost any such pretensions, if only from jealousy
of the Orléans. Hence, Philip detested the new Prime Minister, who was
well aware that his Catholic Majesty would employ all the influence he
possessed at the Court of France to effect his overthrow.
In the face of these dangers and embarrassments, it was only natural
that _Monsieur le Duc_ should have proceeded at first with caution
and moderation, and have gone as far as he could reasonably be expected
to go to disarm the malice of his foes. Such a course, indeed, was
dictated by the most elementary prudence. It served, however, no useful
purpose beyond proving to him the futility of attempting to conciliate
those whom nothing but a virtual renunciation of his authority would be
likely to satisfy. The Duc d’Orléans, it is true, declared himself, in
his own name and that of his party, perfectly willing for an immediate
reconciliation, and offered to marry Mlle. de Sens, the youngest sister
of his rival. But the conditions he desired to impose--the recall of
Le Blanc and his restoration to the Ministry for War, and his own
admission to every audience which _Monsieur le Duc_ had with the
King--were quite impossible for the other to accept.
However, the Prime Minster, on the advice of his mistress, begged to
be excused from giving an immediate answer and demanded a few weeks
for reflection. A brief truce followed, during which _Monsieur le
Duc_ still further strengthened his reputation for impartiality by
including a number of combatants from the opposite camp in an important
promotion to the Ordre du Saint-Esprit. The new _cordons bleus_
also included the husband and personal friends of Madame de Prie, who,
at the same time, obtained for herself a lodging in the Château of
Versailles. This was a move of the first importance, since it enabled
_Monsieur le Duc_ to have close at hand in every emergency the
woman who was not only his mistress, but his most trusted counsellor.
In these early days of the new _régime_, the favourite appeared
to be taking little or no interest in politics and to be absorbed
wholly in pleasure. Never had Chantilly received so many visitors;
while, when _Monsieur le Duc_ was in Paris or at Versailles,
the Hôtel de Condé or the Hôtel of the Grand Master was always the
centre of animation. The latter hôtel, which the King had lately
purchased from the Dowager-Princess de Conti and presented to the
prince, was transformed by _Monsieur le Duc_ and his mistress,
whose good taste was indisputable, into the most charming residence
imaginable. The two Coypels, Jean François de Troy, Louis de Boulogne,
Lemoine, Verdier, Restout, Cazes--all the best painters and sculptors
of the day--were employed in the decoration of its salons; splendid
tapestries, exquisite porcelain, costly _objets d’art_ were to be
seen on every side.
The favourite possessed a beautiful voice and a wonderful talent of
interpretation. During her residence at Turin she had conceived a
passion for the works of the Italian composers, up to this time very
little known in France. With the aid of Crozat, a wealthy banker of
the Rue des Petits-Champs, who shared her enthusiasm, she proceeded
to organize a company of amateurs, who gave concerts at the houses of
several persons of distinction. These artistic reunions soon became
popular and undoubtedly contributed to form the taste of the nation.
But while Madame de Prie, all smiles and gaiety, seemed to have no
thought beyond the enjoyment of life, she was in secret carefully
maturing her plans. Since the hostile faction refused to be placated,
save at a price which would entail the virtual sacrifice of all that
the Condés had gained, she was determined to continue the struggle; and
she had persuaded _Monsieur le Duc_ that the wiser course was not
to wait to be attacked, but to take the offensive themselves.
Towards the middle of February, 1724, no small sensation was aroused
by the news that Ravot d’Ombreval had been appointed Lieutenant of
Police in place of d’Argenson, whom the Duc de Chartres had persuaded
to resign his office, and that Pâris-Duverney had become Guardian of
the Royal Treasure. These appointments were very significant, for
d’Ombreval, besides being a devoted adherent of _Monsieur le Duc_
and Madame de Prie, had acted as prosecuting counsel before the
Commission, while Duverney and his brothers were the most implacable
of all the enemies of Le Blanc; and little surprise was expressed at
the announcement, a few days later, that the proceedings against La
Jonchère were to be resumed forthwith.
The indignation and alarm of the Orléanists knew no bounds, for those
already summoned before the Commission were not the only persons who
had had interesting financial transactions with the treasurer of the
Emergency War Fund, and, now that the Condés were in power, there was
no saying how far the net might not be cast, added to which there
was the murder of Sandrier, which would without doubt be closely
investigated.
From several quarters warnings reached _Monsieur le Duc_ and
Madame de Prie that the lives of Duverney and d’Ombreval, if not their
own, were in danger. They refused to attach any importance to them,
for, though they were aware of the unscrupulous character of some of
their adversaries, they could not bring themselves to believe that they
would carry their enmity to such lengths. However, they had soon cause
to alter their opinion.
One evening, at the end of February, 1724, a M. de la Guillonière, a
cousin of the Pâris brothers, had just alighted from his coach at the
door of Duverney’s hôtel in the Rue Saint-Antoine, when he was set
upon by masked men, who stabbed him in several places, and then took
to flight, leaving him apparently dead upon the ground. Happily his
wounds, though dangerous, were not mortal, and eventually he recovered.
Now, La Guillonière, both in build and gait, bore a strong resemblance
to Duverney, and no reasonable doubt existed that the blows aimed
at him had been intended for his cousin, for the would-be assassins
had been observed loitering round the banker’s hôtel for some time
previously.
A warning which _Monsieur le Duc_ received a day or two later made
it equally clear that, Duverney disposed of, the scoundrels intended to
turn their attentions to more exalted personages.
The Cardinal de Noailles, Archbishop of Paris, demanded an audience
of the Prime Minister on a matter of the most urgent importance, and,
when admitted, told him, in great agitation, that he had just learned
from one of his priests that, in a confession which had been made to
him, the penitent had spoken of a plot to murder both _Monsieur le
Duc_ and Madame de Prie. The prelate had hesitated before violating
the secret of the confessional, but reasons of State had prevailed.
Almost at the same time, a letter which the Chevalier de Belle-Isle had
endeavoured to pass into the Bastille to La Jonchère was intercepted.
This letter, among other pressing recommendations to the prisoner,
contained that of maintaining silence in all circumstances in regard
to his relations with Le Blanc, and promised that, if he did this, the
friends of the latter would undertake to save him.
So astounded were _Monsieur le Duc_ and the majority of his
counsellors at such tactics on the part of their enemies that, for a
moment, they were at a loss how to proceed. Madame de Prie, however,
retained her presence of mind and insisted on prompt and energetic
action, pointing out that it was now a case of war to the knife in the
most literal sense of the expression, and that, if they did not hasten
to crush their adversaries, they would certainly be crushed themselves.
It was ultimately decided to follow her counsels. The Chevalier de
Belle-Isle was forthwith arrested and conveyed to the Château of
Vincennes. On 5 March, Du Val, commandant of the mounted police,
furnished with a _lettre de cachet_, proceeded to Doué, where
he arrested the late Minister for War and conducted him to Paris and
the Bastille. The same night, the police surrounded the hôtel of the
Comte de Belle-Isle, with orders to apprehend both the count and his
friend the Marquis de Conches, who was staying with him. They secured
Belle-Isle and escorted him to the Bastille, whither his younger
brother had been transferred a few hours previously; but Conches
disguised himself and succeeded in effecting his escape by a secret
door. He did not, however, remain long at large, for he was captured
the following day at a house in the Rue Tavannes, where he had taken
refuge, and sent to join his friends in misfortune. Numerous other
arrests followed, including that of Moreau de Séchelles, a high
official at the Ministry of War and an intimate friend of Le Blanc. But
what aroused the most sensation was the apprehension of a man named
Lempereur and his two sons and of two brothers called Mestre, sons of a
soldier in the Cent-Suisses.
This Lempereur, who lived in an isolated house near the wood of Rueil,
had formerly been a gardener at the Château of La Jonchère, and he
was suspected of having murdered Sandrier, with the assistance of his
sons and the Mestres. He was also suspected of being concerned in
another crime, which the police believed to be closely connected with
the first. One evening in September, 1722--that is to say, about five
months after the discovery of Sandrier’s body--a carter in the employ
of the tenant of La Malmaison, a farm upon the La Jonchère estate,
afterwards celebrated as the residence of the Empress Josephine,
had been murdered close to his master’s door. As nothing upon him
had been touched, and he was not known to have any private enemies,
the inference was that he had been in possession of certain facts
concerning the death of Sandrier which had made his removal necessary
to the safety of the assassins.
It was the intention of the new Government to concentrate all their
efforts to secure the total ruin of Le Blanc, the very life and soul
of the hostile faction. He was to be brought to trial on two charges:
the old one of embezzlement of public funds, the new one of homicide.
The first would be easy to prove; in fact, his culpability, if not the
exact extent of it, had been clearly revealed by the examination of La
Jonchère’s papers. The second presented much greater difficulties, but
it was obvious that a conviction on the charge of embezzlement would
greatly facilitate the task of the prosecution.
The Orléanists, on their side, made the most desperate efforts to
intimidate their adversaries into abandoning their designs against the
ex-Secretary of State. Insults and menaces rained upon _Monsieur
le Duc_, upon Madame de Prie, upon the Pâris brothers, upon
d’Ombreval, and upon all their most prominent supporters; the most
disgusting effusions concerning the Prime Minister and his favourite
were scattered about in the gallery and salons of Versailles and even
in the bedchamber of the young King; the most biting _chansons_
circulated in Paris; almost every day came warnings that their lives
were in danger; and a relative and staunch adherent of Madame de Prie
died suddenly, in circumstances which left little doubt that he had
been poisoned.
The Government, however, refused to be diverted from its course. The
proceedings against La Jonchère were continued, and on 15 April, 1724,
the Commission _censured_ him, declared him incapable of holding
any office under the Crown, and condemned him to restore to the King
2,100,000 livres--a very small part of the amount of which the State
had been defrauded.[266] The Comte de Belle-Isle was to be surety for
600,000 livres of this sum.
This mitigated condemnation was intended to convey the impression that
La Jonchère had only been acting under the orders of the late Minister
for War, and that the latter was the real culprit.
In the meanwhile, the Government had decided to endeavour to bring home
to Le Blanc yet another mysterious crime. In the spring of 1718, a
certain Gazan de la Combe, of whom very little is known, had been found
dead, strangled by a cord attached to the foot of his bed, at the house
of La Barre, lieutenant of the constabulary, in the Rue Notre-Dame de
Bonne-Nouvelle. Le Blanc and other Ministers had, it appeared, been in
the habit of consigning to the care of La Barre certain persons who had
incurred their displeasure, and it was given out that the dead man had
been confined there on account of intrigues on behalf of the Spanish
Ambassador, the Duc and Duchesse du Maine, and their accomplices, and
that, knowing that it was the intention of the Government to bring him
to trial, he had, in his despair, committed suicide. Now, however, an
officer in the Army came forward who informed the police that, at the
time of the death of La Combe, he happened to be detained in the same
house, by orders of Le Blanc; that one morning, attracted by cries of
terror from the wife of La Barre, he had hurried to La Combe’s room,
where he found him lying dead, but that, from the position of the body,
he was of opinion that it was impossible for him to have taken his own
life. He added that, while he was in the room, Le Blanc had entered,
accompanied by La Barre; that the Minister, on perceiving him, had
appeared very agitated, and had demanded of La Barre why he had not set
him at liberty two days before, in accordance with his instructions,
and had then ordered him to leave the house. This evidence was
subsequently confirmed by one of La Barre’s servants.
In the opinion of the police, there was little doubt that the
unfortunate La Combe had, like Sandrier, been in possession of certain
facts concerning the Emergency War Fund which made his removal
advisable; and La Barre and his wife were promptly arrested and
conducted to the Bastille.
Matters now began to look very black indeed for Le Blanc, and there
were not a few who declared that he might consider himself very
fortunate if he did not terminate his career on the gibbet. But,
fortunately for the ex-Minister for War, he was, through his title
of honorary _maître des requêtes_, a member of the Parlement of
Paris, and had therefore the right to demand to be judged by all the
Chambers sitting together; and just as he was about to be brought to
trial, he presented to the Parlement a petition to that effect, which
was immediately granted.
This move on the part of the accused was a serious check to _Monsieur
le Duc_ and Madame de Prie, who for a moment had imagined that they
had their enemy in their power, and that they were on the point of
dealing, through his condemnation, an overwhelming blow to the hostile
faction. For the Parlement was not unnaturally inclined to indulgence
when the misdeeds of one of its own members was in question, and Le
Blanc had had the good fortune to ingratiate himself with it during
the Regency. Moreover, the Orléans counted many friends among the
magistracy, the Condés comparatively few.
However, as the trial was not to come on for several months, they
hoped, in the interval, so to strengthen their position that, even
if the issue were unfavourable to them, the consequences would be of
comparatively small importance. Their great object was to ingratiate
themselves with Louis XV. and to combat the increasing influence of
Fleury over the young monarch’s mind, in which they perceived an even
greater danger than the enmity of the Orléans.
“The Prime Minister governs certainly,” writes that shrewd observer,
the Venetian Ambassador, Morosini, “and directs the affairs of the
kingdom, as well as its foreign policy. The bishop appears to court
effacement and to be reluctant to meddle with anything. But nothing
is concluded without the King’s consent, and the King decides nothing
without the bishop’s approval. A few days ago, for example, _Monsieur
le Duc_ presented himself to beg him to name an hour which would be
convenient to him for work. The King was playing cards with the Duc
de Noailles, and, not seeing the Bishop of Fréjus, gave orders that
he should be summoned immediately. After which he continued to play
until the arrival of the bishop, whom he then caused to enter into his
cabinet with _Monsieur le Duc_. What passed on this occasion is
constantly happening.... I hear that the Prime Minister has never had a
conversation with the King alone, while the bishop speaks to him when
and where he pleases.
“Moreover, it is continually being said in public that, if an
ecclesiastic is to continue the traditions of the Dubois, the Mazarins,
and the Richelieus, it will be without doubt the Bishop of Fréjus....
“_Monsieur le Duc_ and his _entourage_ perceive with mortification the
continual encroachments of the bishop. They fear and detest him, but
they dare not attack him openly, finding his position too strong.”
However, if Fleury’s position were too strong to be carried by a
direct attack, it was not too strong to be undermined, and the idea
occurred to Madame de Prie to draw the aged Maréchal de Villeroy, Louis
XV.’s former _gouverneur_, from his retirement and oppose him
to the Bishop of Fréjus. The marshal, it will be remembered, had been
banished from Court by the Regent in 1722, since which time he had
been vegetating in his government of Lyons. The young King had been
attached to Villeroy and had shed bitter tears when he learned of his
disgrace, and if, in the interval, his sentiments had not changed, the
ex-_gouverneur_ might easily become a formidable rival to the
bishop.
Louis XV. seemed quite delighted at the prospect of seeing his old
friend again, and the hopes of the conspirators ran high. But they
were fated never to materialize, for, though his Majesty received the
marshal graciously enough, he subsequently took so little notice of
him, that the old man, deeply mortified, almost immediately quitted the
Court and never appeared there again. Thus, the influence of Fleury
remained as potent as ever, and, since he had not failed to penetrate
this little manœuvre, the antipathy which he had always felt for
_Monsieur le Duc_ and the favourite was not lessened.
But Madame de Prie was a young woman of infinite resource and she had
many cards in her hands. Every day _Monsieur le Duc_ relied more
on her counsels, not only because he had formed the highest opinion of
her intelligence, but because, as he explained after his disgrace, he
felt that she was devoted to his interests, “up to the annihilation of
every other sentiment.”
No longer did she make any pretence of being absorbed in pleasure, as
in the first weeks of her lover’s Ministry. She had become a politician
of the most ardent kind, and the greater part of her time was passed
in her cabinet, dictating to the two secretaries she employed for her
immense correspondence, discussing with the Ministers, who, by their
chief’s desire, invariably consulted her, the most difficult questions,
and making notes on the _placets_ presented to _Monsieur le
Duc_, every one of which was submitted to her. All who approached
her were astonished at her industry, at the shrewdness of her judgment,
and at her grasp of matters which are usually considered quite beyond
the comprehension of a young woman. “She was,” wrote the Abbé Legendre,
“a heroine capable of regulating the affairs of a vast empire.”
The immense patronage which _Monsieur le Duc_ exercised in both
his private and official capacities was almost entirely directed
by her, and, though she was, of course, guided chiefly by party
considerations, some of her selections showed sound judgment. Thus, her
choice of the Duc de Richelieu, in 1725, for the Embassy at Vienna,
though ridiculed at the time, was really a very happy one; and this
is admitted even by historians so little favourable to Madame de Prie
as Lemontey.[267] Without allowing herself to be discouraged by the
failure of the Villeroy affair, the marchioness promptly proceeded to
make another and more important move.
The surest way to gain the good graces of the young King was to exploit
his passion for the chase. Well, no one was better able to procure him
this diversion than _Monsieur le Duc_. His forests of Chantilly
and Halatte abounded in big game, already beginning to fail in those in
the vicinity of Versailles, owing to their being too constantly hunted.
The hunting establishment of the prince, moreover, enjoyed an almost
European reputation, while he himself was a famous man when hounds were
running.
At the suggestion of his mistress, _Monsieur le Duc_ proposed to
the King that he should honour him by hunting his forests and spend the
months of July and August at Chantilly, by which means not only would
they have every opportunity of gaining the young monarch’s favour by
gratifying his taste for sport and amusement, but he would be removed
for a time from the influence of Fleury, and also from that of the
Orléans’ faction, which was continually bombarding him with petitions
on behalf of Le Blanc and complaints as to the alleged ill-treatment to
which the ex-Minister and his fellow-prisoners were being subjected in
the Bastille.
Louis XV. received the proposal with delight, and on the last
day of June he set out for Chantilly, accompanied by a splendid
_entourage_, from which _Monsieur le Duc_ and Madame de Prie
had taken care that every one avowedly hostile to their cause should
be excluded, although they had decided to admit several of the more
moderate partisans of the Orléans, whom they hoped to win over. The
weather was magnificent, and Chantilly had never looked more beautiful.
The King “indulged every day in the amusement of the chase, either of
the stag or the boar, and appeared very satisfied with the cares which
_Monsieur le Duc_ took without ceasing to render his stay at this
superb château agreeable.” His Majesty dined daily with the princes
and nobles whom he did the honour to select, and in the evening supped
with _Madame la Duchesse_, Mlle. de Clermont, and a few ladies
and nobles, whom he named in rotation, his table being served with
extreme magnificence. After supper, the company adjourned to a gallery
adjoining the King’s apartments, where high play went on until a late
hour, to the accompaniment of _Monsieur le Duc’s_ private band.
Thus the days went by, and his Majesty was so delighted with the
splendid sport provided for him, and the unceasing efforts of
_Monsieur le Duc_ and Madame de Prie to keep him amused, that his
former prejudice against them seemed to have disappeared entirely. He
laughed and jested with his host, invited the marchioness to sup at his
own table and to ride in his carriage to the chase, and, indeed, was so
gracious to that lady that a rumour circulated in Paris that she and
her fair friends had designs upon the virtue of the young monarch. In
short, everything was proceeding as well as could possibly be desired,
and the King had even decided to prolong his visit beyond the time he
had originally fixed, when a most unexpected and unfortunate event
brought it to an abrupt conclusion, and with it all the calculations of
Madame de Prie.
On the afternoon of 31 August, the young Duc de Melun, one of the
few of his courtiers for whom Louis XV. had shown any partiality,
was charged by a stag which he was pursuing, and so badly gored that
he died in the early hours of the following morning. This tragedy
produced so painful an impression upon the young King that it was
only with great difficulty that he could be prevented from returning
to Versailles that very evening, and, though he consented to postpone
his departure until 3 September, he scarcely left his apartments and
refused to share in any amusement. He quitted the splendid residence of
_Monsieur le Duc_ with very different feelings from those which he
had shown a few days previously, and there could be little doubt that
the death of the Duc de Melun had effaced the good impression which the
prince and his mistress had been at such infinite pains to create, and
that it would be many a long day ere he consented to return to a spot
which possessed such dolorous associations.
And so, like the recall of Villeroy, the Chantilly visit had failed
to produce the desired effect, though through no fault of those who
had planned it; and at the beginning of 1725 the Condé party sustained
another check.
On 7 January, the late Minister for War, Le Blanc, was arraigned before
the assembled Chambers, charged with being an accomplice of the murders
of Gazan de la Combe, Sandrier, and the carter of La Malmaison, and
of the attempted assassination of La Guillonière. The trial, into the
details of which it is impossible to enter here, lasted a fortnight,
but almost from the first day it was evident that the result was a
foregone conclusion. The entry of the Duc d’Orléans, the Prince de
Conti and their suites into the Grande Chambre was greeted with loud
murmurs of approbation; that of the peers of the Condé party, the Ducs
de la Feuillade, de Brancas, and de Richelieu, with derisive laughter.
The Bishops of Sarlat and Avranches, Le Blanc’s brothers, the Maréchal
de Bézons, his brother-in-law, the Chevalier Le Blanc, his son, and
other relatives and intimate friends of the accused, sat together in a
body and displayed so much emotion that many of the judges could hardly
restrain their tears. And the line taken by the defence--that Le Blanc
was a victim of party rancour and that the charges against him had been
manufactured by the Government--was admirably calculated to appeal to
the prejudice of a magistracy which almost invariably found itself in
opposition to the Ministry of the day.
[Illustration: CLAUDE LE BLANC
FROM AN ENGRAVING BY P. DREVET, AFTER THE PAINTING BY A. LE
PRIEUR]
The proceedings, contrary to custom, were conducted with closed doors,
the public being rigorously excluded; a great part of the evidence
for the prosecution was ruled out, while everything that was likely to
tell in favour of the accused was at once admitted. On the third day,
the Ducs de la Feuillade, de Brancas, and de Richelieu withdrew, and
were followed by all the counsellors of the Condé party; but the Duc
d’Orléans and the Prince de Conti continued to encourage the defence
by their presence for some days longer. Finally, on 21 January, the
Parlement, by the unanimous vote of sixty-nine judges, acquitted Le
Blanc on all four changes--a verdict which was received with applause
by the public, with whom, owing to various reasons, of which we shall
speak hereafter, the Ministry of _Monsieur le Duc_ was fast
losing what popularity it had once possessed, and who, ignorant of the
strength of the evidence against Le Blanc, saw in him only a victim of
the hatred of the Pâris brothers and Madame de Prie. Notwithstanding
what certain historians, who were unacquainted with the facts as they
are known to-day, have asserted to the contrary, there can be very
little doubt that the ex-Minister for War had benefited by one of
those scandalous miscarriages of justice of which the records of the
Parlement of Paris afford only too many examples. Before an impartial
tribunal he would have been almost certainly found guilty on the
charges relating to Gazan de la Combe and La Guillonière, and probably
on the others also; and, whatever may be thought of the motives of
Madame de Prie, she had rendered a public service by her efforts to run
to earth this highly-placed criminal.
Le Blanc, although, as a wag remarked, “after being very black, he had
been made white (_blanc_) again,” was not immediately released,
but remained in the Bastille until the following 12 May, when he was
set at liberty and exiled to Lisieux. On the same day, the Comte de
Belle-Isle was also liberated, and exiled to Carcassonne. Two months
later, La Jonchère also found himself a free man.
The ex-Minister’s accomplices were brought to trial before the
Tournelle,[268] and were all acquitted, with the exception of La
Jonchère’s gardener Lempereur, who was found guilty of the La Malmaison
murder and broken on the wheel. He paid for all.