The comte de la Marche and the comtesse du Barry--The countess and the
prince de Condé--The duc de la Vauguyon and the countess--Provisional
minister--Refusal of the secretaryship of war--Displeasure of the
king--The maréchale de Mirepoix--Unpublished letter from Voltaire to
Madame du Barry--Her reply
The comte de la Marche had always evinced the warmest regard for me,
and he sought, on the present occasion, to be repaid for his attachment.
Both he and the prince de Condé had their ambitious speculations in
the present change of ministers; and both fancied, that because their
relation, the duke, had governed during the king's minority, the right
to the several appointments now vacant, belonged as a matter of course
to their family. The count had already sent to solicit my interest,
through the mediation of madame de Monaco, mistress to the prince
de Condé; and, as I shrewdly suspect, the occasional _chère amie_ of
himself. Finding this measure did not produce all the good he expected,
he came, without further preface, to speak to me himself about it.
Unwilling to come to an open rupture with him, I endeavoured to make
him comprehend, that the policy of the sovereign would never permit his
placing any of the administrative power in the hands of the princes of
his family; that he had consented, most reluctantly, to investing them
with military command, and that it would be fruitless to urge more.
The comte de la Marche appeared struck by the justness of my arguments;
he replied,
"Well, madam, since I cannot be a minister, I must e'en give up my
wishes; but, for the love of heaven intreat of the king to 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 extremity,
will make a stand, and princes and peers will range themselves under
the banners. We well know how much this resistance will displease his
majesty; I pledge myself never to forsake your cause, but to defend it
with my life; that is, if my present pressing necessity 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, "something less than the mines of Peru
will suffice; I am not extravagant, 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 me unreasonable, and I undertook to
arrange 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 comptroller-general; 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 remained faithful to our cause amidst every danger and
difficulty; braving alike insults, opprobrium, and the torrent of
pamphlets and epigrams of which he was the object; in fact, we had good
reason for congratulating ourselves upon securing such devotion and zeal
at so poor a price.
The prince de Condé, surrounded by a greater degree of worldly state and
consideration, was equally important to us, although in another way.
He had in some degree compromised popularity by attaching himself to me
from the commencement of my court favour, and the reception he bestowed
on me at Chantilly had completed his disgrace in the eyes of nobility.
He visited at my house upon the most friendly footing; 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 them
in concert with me; he would add, "You might play the part of madame de
Pompadour, and yet you content yourself with merely attempting to do
so; you are satisfied with possessing influence when you might exercise
power and command. Your alliance with a prince of the blood would render
you sole mistress in this kingdom; and should I ever arrive, through
your means, to the rank of prime minister, it would be my pleasure and
pride to submit all things to you, and from this accord would spring an
authority which nothing could weaken."
I listened in silence, and, for once, my natural frankness received
a check; for I durst not tell him all I knew of the king's sentiments
towards him. The fact was, Louis XV was far from feeling any regard for
the prince de Condé; and, not to mince the matter, had unequivocally
expressed his contempt for him. He often said to me, when speaking of
him, "He is a conceited fellow, who would fain induce persons to believe
him somebody of vast importance." Louis XV had prejudices, from which
no power on earth could have weaned him; and the princes of the house
of Condé were amongst his strongest antipathies: he knew a score of
scandalous anecdotes relating to them, which he took no small pleasure
in repeating.
However, all the arguments of the prince de Condé were useless, and
produced him nothing, or, at least, nothing for himself, although 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 ambition; and, in his rage and disappointment, when open war was
proclaimed between the king and his parliament, he ranged himself on the
side of the latter. He soon, however, became weary of his new allies;
and, once more abandoning himself to the guidance of interest, he
rejoined our party. Well did M. de Maupeou know men, when he said they
all had their price; and great as may be the rank and title of princes,
with plenty of money, they too may be had.
But amongst all the candidates for the ministry, the one who occasioned
me the greatest trouble was the duc de la Vauguyon, who insisted upon it
that he had done much for me, and complained bitterly of his unrequited
services, and of my having bestowed my confidence on others. Up to the
moment of the disgrace of the des Choiseuls, he had been amongst the
most bitter of the malcontents; but no sooner were they banished from
court than M. de la Vauguyon forgot every thing, and hastened to me with
every mark of the warmest friendship.
"Ah!" exclaimed he, "I have much to scold you for, but I will forgive
you all your past misdeeds, if you will perform your promise to me."
"My dear father," cried I (for I used jestingly to style him so, in the
same manner as I designated the bishop of Orleans _gros père_), "are
you, indeed displeased with me? That is very naughty: for you know I
love you with all my heart."
"If it be true that you entertain any regard for me, why have you
evinced so little towards me? Am I not of the right materials for making
ministers? 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, my dear duke, choose which
you please; then, indeed, you might 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 them as he judges 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 his majesty, and it requires nothing more 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 triumvirate, consisting
of messieurs d' Aiguillon, de Maupeou, and the abbé Terre, would not
have accepted his services at any price.
The good duke returned several times to the charge; sometimes
endeavouring to move me by gentle intreaties and, at others, holding
out threats and menaces; good and bad words flowed from his lips like
a mixture of honey and gall, but when he found that both were equally
thrown away upon me, he retired offended; and by the expression of his
rage and disappointment, succeeded in incensing both the dauphin and
dauphiness against me. May heaven preserve you, my friend, from the
anger 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 the morning of the 24th of December.
When the exiles were fairly out of Paris, the king found himself not a
little embarrassed in the choice of a prime minister. Those who would
have suited our purposes did not meet with the king'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 abbé 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 management of naval affairs. This man, who was 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 was worth something to have a person who, it
might 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 provisional
minister nothing could have been better.
The king had 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 a man of the
old school, possessing many sterling virtues and qualities. We were in
the utmost terror when his majesty communicated to us his election of
a minister of war, and declared his intention of immediately signifying
his pleasure to M. de Muy. Such a blow would have overthrown all our
projects. Happily chance befriended us; the modern Cato declared that
he should esteem himself most honored to serve his sovereign by every
possible endeavour, but that he could never be induced to enter my
service upon any pretext whatever. The strangeness 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 man;
I thought him possessed of sense, but I see now that he is only fit for
the cowl of a monk; he will never be a minister." The king was mistaken;
M. de Muy became one under the auspices of his successor.
Immediately that the prince de Condé was informed of what had passed, he
recommenced his attack; and finding he could not be minister himself, he
determined, at least, to be principally concerned in the appointment
of one; he therefore proposed the marquis de Monteynard, a man of such
negative qualities, that the best that could be said of him was, that
he was as incapable of a bad as of a good action; and, for want of a
better, he was elected. Such were the colleagues given to M. de
Maupeou to conduct the war which was about to be declared against the
parliaments. I should tell you, _en passant_, that the discontent of the
magistracy had only increased, and that the parliament of Paris had even
finished by refusing to decide the suits which were referred to them;
thus punishing the poor litigants for their quarrel with the minister.
Meanwhile, the general interest expressed for the duc de Choiseul
greatly irritated the king.
"Who would have thought," said he to me, "that a disgraced minister
could have been so idolized by a whole court? Would you believe that I
receive a hundred petitions a day for leave to visit at Chanteloup? This
is something new indeed! I cannot understand it."
"Sire," replied I, "that only proves how much danger you incurred by
keeping such a man in your employment."
"Why, yes," answered Louis XV; "it really seem as though, had he chosen
some fine morning to propose my abdicating the throne in favour of the
dauphin, he would only have needed to utter the suggestion to have it
carried into execution. Fortunately for me, my grandson is by no means
partial to him, and will most certainly never recall him after my
death. The dauphin possesses all the obstinacy of persons of confined
understanding: he has but slender judgment, and will see with no eye but
his own."
Louis XV augured ill of his successor's reign, and imagined that the
cabinet of Vienna would direct that of Versailles at pleasure. His late
majesty was mistaken; Louis XVI is endowed with many rare virtues,
but they are unfortunately clouded over by his timidity and want of
self-confidence.
The open and undisguised censure passed by the whole court upon the
conduct of Louis XV was not the only thing which annoyed his majesty,
who perpetually tormented himself with conjectures of what the rest of
Europe would say and think of his late determinations.
"I will engage," said he, "that I am finely pulled to pieces at Potsdam.
My dear brother Frederick is about as sweet-tempered as a bear, and I
must not dismiss a minister who is displeasing to me without his passing
a hundred comments and sarcastic remarks. Still, as he is absolute
as the Medes and Persians, surely he can Have no objection to us poor
monarchs imitating him; and allow me the same privilege in mine. After
all, why should I need his or any other person's opinion; let the whole
world applaud or condemn, I shall still act according to my own best
judgment."
On my side I was far from feeling quite satisfied with the accounts I
continued to receive from Chanteloup; above all I felt irritated at the
parade of attachment made by the prince de Beauvau for the exiles, and I
complained bitterly of it to the maréchale de Mirepoix.
"What can I do to help it," said she; "my sister-in-law is a simpleton;
who, after having ruined her brother, will certainly cause the downfall
of her husband. I beseech you, my dear, out of regard for me, to put up
with the unthinking conduct of the prince de Beauvau for a little while;
he will soon see his error and amend it." He did indeed return to our
party, but his obedience was purchased at a heavy price.
Some days after the disgrace of the duc de Choiseul, I received a
letter from M. de Voltaire. This writer, who carped at and attacked
all subjects, whether sacred or profane, and from whose satires neither
great nor small were exempt, had continual need of some powerful friend
at court. When his protector, M. de Choiseul, was dismissed, he saw
clearly enough that the only person on whom he could henceforward depend
to aid and support him, was she who had been chiefly instrumental in
removing his first patron. With these ideas he addressed to me
the following letter of condolence or, to speak more correctly, of
congratulation. It was as follows:--
"MADAME LA COMTESSE,--Fame, with her hundred tongues, has announced to,
me in my retreat the fall of M. de Choiseul and your triumph. This piece
of news has not occasioned me much surprise, I always believed in the
potency of beauty to carry all before it; but, shall I confess it? I
scarcely know whether I ought to congratulate myself on the success you
have obtained over your enemies. M, de Choiseul was one of my kindest
friends, and his all-powerful protection sufficed to sustain me against
the malice of my numerous enemies. May a humble creature like me flatter
himself with the hope of finding in you the same generous support? for
when the god Mars is no longer to be found, what can be more natural
than to seek the aid of Pallas, the goddess of the line arts? Will she
refuse to protect with her aegis the most humble of her adorers?
"Permit me, madam, to avail myself of this opportunity to lay at your
feet the assurance of my most respectful devotion. I dare not give
utterance to all my prayers in your behalf, because I am open to a
charge of infidelity from some, yet none shall ever detect me unfaithful
in my present professions; at my age, 'tis time our choice was made,
and our affections fixed. Be assured, lovely countess, that I shall
ever remain your attached friend; and that no day will pass without my
teaching the echoes of the Alps to repeat your much-esteemed name.
"I have the honour to remain, malady, yours, etc., etc."
You may be quite sure, my friend, that I did not allow so singular an
epistle to remain long unanswered. I replied to it in the following
words:--
"SIR,--The perusal of your agreeable letter made me almost grieve
for the disgrace of the duc de Choiseul. Be assured, that to his own
conduct, and that of his family, may be alone attributed the misfortune
you deplore.
"The regrets you so feelingly express for the calamity which has
befallen your late protector do honour to your generous heart; but
recollect that your old friends were not the only persons who could
appreciate and value your fine talents; to be esteemed worthy the
honourable appellation of your patron is a glory which the proudest
might envy; and, although I cannot boast of being a Minerva, who, after
all, was possibly no wiser than the rest of us, I shall always feel
proud and happy to serve you with my utmost credit and influence.
"I return you my best thanks for the wishes you express, and the
attachment you so kindly profess. You honour me too much by repeating
my name amidst the bosom of the Alps! be assured, that I shall not be
behindhand in making the saloons of Paris and Versailles resound with
yours. Had I leisure for the undertaking, I would go and teach it to the
only mountain worthy of re-echoing it--at the foot of Parnassus.
"I am, sir, yours, etc., etc."
You perceive, my friend, that I intended this reply should be couched in
the wittiest style imaginable, yet, upon reading it over at this lapse
of time, it appears to me the silliest thing ever penned; nevertheless,
I flattered myself I had caught the tone and manner in which M. de
Voltaire had addressed me: he perceived my intention, and was delighted
with the flattering deference it expressed. You know the vanity of
men of letters; and M. de Voltaire, as the first writer of the age,
possessed, in proportion, the largest portion of conceit.