UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Paul M. Powell
 
 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 OF 
 
 LEWIS XVI. 

 
 

 
 THE 
 
 POLITICAL AND CONFIDENTIAL 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 OP 
 
 LEWIS XVI. 
 
 WITH 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ON EACH LETTER. 
 
 BY 
 
 HELEN MARIA WILLIAMS. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 NEW-YORK: 
 
 PRINTED FOR H. CARITAT. 
 
 
 i8o3.
 
 
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 , 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 
 . 
 AMIDST the struggles of contending 
 
 parties, and the fury of hostile passions, 
 to which great public events give birth, 
 there is no task more difficult than to 
 observe with calmness, and appreciate 
 \\ ith impartiality, the actors in those 
 memorable scenes. Were it possible 
 to lay down any common principle, tq 
 which we might bring back those 
 heated opponents, to. ihc some sure? 
 basis on which we might build U 
 structure of reasoning, to agree on 
 some general axioms from which we
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 might draw indisputable conclusions, 
 the difficulties would be considerably 
 softened, and hope might be enter- 
 tained, that by patient investigation, 
 and good faith, we might arrive at 
 length, if not to perfect similarity of 
 sentiment, at least to that tolerant 
 state of mind, which permits us to 
 view without rancour, opinions that 
 do not accord with our own. 
 /Tig ajrtb>ro aifcf uif 
 
 Whether we have yet reached that 
 happy period; I shall not pretend to 
 determine nor can we decide if the 
 present phasis of the French revolution 
 be that in which those who call them- 
 selves the friends of Lewis the six- 
 teenth, act wisely in evoking the shade 
 of this unfortunate prince. The mo- 
 tives which have led them to make 
 this appeal to the public are consigned
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 in the preface to the intended French 
 edition of these letters. We cite the 
 words of the editors themselves. 
 
 " Many respectable writers have 
 " attempted to reconcile the memory 
 " of this good king, with the esteem 
 " of his contemporaries, which he 
 " never deserved to have lost ; their 
 " works have been read with avidity, 
 ( and their pages have been bathed 
 ' with the tears of regret. But it 
 1 never yet entered into the mind of 
 te any person, to paint the unfortu- 
 " nate monarch by his most secret 
 " thoughts, by extracts from his ma- 
 " nuscripts, by his analyses, by his 
 " public and private correspondence; 
 " this, however, is the surest way of 
 " appreciating him, to behold him, 
 " not in his court, amidst his cour-
 
 viii 
 
 <f tiers, with that kind of borrowed 
 4 , 
 
 ' soul which the habit of commanding 
 " gave him, but in the presence of 
 " his intimate friends, of nature, and 
 " of his own conscience. It is by 
 
 *' this mode of trial that we discover 
 
 ,-.-' 
 : the man without reproach, and 
 
 f that we sometimes feel disgust at 
 
 tf the great man. The end which it 
 
 ' was intended to promote in the 
 
 r publication of these letters, was to 
 
 f scatter a few flowers over the tomb 
 
 ts of a prince, the friend of mankind, 
 
 : whose apotheosis will surely be one 
 
 " day made by future generations." 
 
 . T - * 
 
 
 
 The surest way of appreciating cha- 
 racters, as the editor has observed, is 
 by viewing them stript of that bor- 
 rowed kind of soul, which the cir- 
 cumstances in which they are placed
 
 PREFACE. is 
 
 load men to assume. How often when 
 we read ancient history, do we feel 
 a restless desire to know something 
 of the domestic situation, the undis- 
 guised feelings of celebrated perso- 
 nages. We see them, like distant stars, 
 lighting up the darkness which covers 
 remote times, and wish for a mental 
 telescope capable of piercing the gloom 
 of ages, through which their beams 
 
 r T " 
 
 pass before they reach us. 
 
 F,hoHB;rI*Hv> b^-m* < iOirt odj ^cHI's*: 
 
 Whatever opinion may be formed 
 of the motives of the French editors^ 
 for the publication of this correspon- 
 dence, it seems doubtful if the end 
 they had in -view will be attained. 
 We live in an age, it has been ob-* 
 served, when every thing is discussed, 
 and the first impressions which we 
 have received respecting any objecf
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 are often effaced when we have exa- 
 mined it more closely. At the opening 
 of the French revolution, Lewis the 
 sixteenth was considered by the friends 
 of liberty as an hostile power. In the 
 progress of this revolution he made 
 repeated and solemn profession of his 
 adherence to the principles it had es- 
 tablished, and the reforms which had 
 taken place. He accepted the title of 
 restorer of French liberty, and bound 
 himself by the most sacred obligations, 
 to maintain and execute the constitu- 
 tional laws. In reading this corres- 
 pondence, which, according to its in- 
 tended editors, is to place him in the 
 presence of his intimate friends, of 
 nature, and his own conscience, we 
 may be led to suspect, either that we 
 have hitherto mistaken the meaning 
 ef these terms, or that conscience is a
 
 PREFACE. xi 
 
 more accommodating principle with 
 the rulers of nations than with other 
 men. And whatever disposition we 
 may have to strew flowers over the 
 tomb of the unfortunate, we may be 
 allowed to doubt whether any gene- 
 ration, even the remotest, will raise 
 Lewis the sixteenth to the honors of 
 an apotheosis. 
 
 Nor let this opinion be demcd rash 
 or severe. If time may be measured 
 by the succession of ideas, we have 
 lived centuries of the common flight 
 of years, since the reign of Lewis the 
 sixteenth ; we may, therefore, be per- 
 mitted to consider ourselves as a sort 
 of posterity with respect to him, and 
 be allowed to be capable of judging 
 him with the calm impartiality, which 
 in the ordinary course of human af-
 
 XL1 PREFACE. 
 
 fairs, is the birthright of succeeding 
 generations. But independently of 
 this consideration, whatever may be 
 the persbnal feelings or opinion of a 
 writer with respect to political cha- 
 racters or events, he surely, when he 
 presumes to seize the pen of history, 
 cannot lose sight of the dignity of his 
 occupation, or forget, to use the words 
 of Johnson, that he is charged with a 
 certain portion of truth. 
 
 
 When we first unroll the mighty 
 canvas of the revolution, the most 
 prominent figure is Lewis the six- 
 teenth. In the opening of the piece, 
 when we beheld hirn in possession of 
 absolute power, and shrinking from 
 parting with a small portion where 
 so much^\Vad left, the generous mind 
 naturally places itself on the side of
 
 PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 the oppressed multitude, and considers 
 that every weapon wrested from desr 
 potism w^as a trophy gained to justice. 
 But when we observe the progress of 
 the drama, and contemplate him who 
 was once the master of a powerful 
 empire, bending a victim beneath the 
 tempest of popular fury; when we 
 reflect on the close of the tragedy; 
 when we follow him from his throne 
 to a prison, and from the prison to 
 the scaffold ; when we witness his 
 sufferings, and his resignation ; his 
 meekness, and his wrongs; when we 
 compare his character, and his des- 
 tiny ; and balance his faults, and his 
 punishment; we then see him placed 
 in a point of view in which every 
 sympathy of our nature pleads in his 
 behalf* and.we lampnt that hi$<xnintry 
 
 spared the offence of his death. 
 
 * . ^ j .. .,, j, .,^, 4 i/^ i rj
 
 XIV PREFACE. 
 
 In examining the records which 
 treat more particularly of the history 
 of Lewis the sixteenth, we must guard 
 against the slavish panegyrist who 
 views in him no error but that of re- 
 laxing the slightest rein of authority, 
 and the intemperate demagogue who, 
 considering the kingly office as a 
 crime, deems the punishment of the 
 holder an insufficient expiation. \Yith 
 those extremes, truth holds no asso- 
 ciation. From those political rhapso- 
 dists, the impartial inquirer turns with 
 disgust; he sees passion deforming 
 every page, the calumniator usurping 
 the pen of the historian, and finds the 
 pleadings of an advocate instead of the 
 decisions of the judge. 
 
 
 i 
 
 , 
 
 T> ^>'i* > i i_ i_ 'r,ij. 
 
 But if it may hitherto have been 
 difficult to form a just estimate of the
 
 PREFACE. XV 
 
 real character of Lewis the sixteenth 
 from the disfigured documents which 
 have been laid before us, the intended 
 editors of the present correspondence 
 assert, that we have here the most sure 
 and most indisputable means of arriv- 
 ing at truth. The evidence they pre- 
 sent is the most infallible and persua- 
 sive; it is the confession of the mo- 
 narch himself. The expression of 
 his inmost sentiment, the transcrip- 
 tion of his most secret thoughts, the 
 emanation of his mind with kindred 
 affections, the transfusion of his con- 
 science into the bosom of friendship, 
 in which reserve would have been, 
 folly, and prevarication without a 
 motive. 
 
 It must be admitted that this kind 
 of evidence is the least liable to dial-
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 lengc from any quarter, when the only 
 question to be decided is the real opi- 
 nion of the party, without any refe- 
 rence to the propriety or impropriety 
 of holding such opinion. This is a 
 separate question, of which every one 
 will judge according to the opinion or 
 prejudices hq may have previously 
 formed. The advocates of the king, 
 in the confidence of victory, exult at 
 the universal suffrage they have ob- 
 tained. "This collection," say they, "is 
 i( a monument erected to the glory of 
 "Lewis the sixteenth, and which must 
 " appear more worthy of eternal du- 
 " ration, than those magnificent mau- 
 te soleums raised with splendid extrava- 
 gance, than those statues of marble 
 " and bronze which time silently im- 
 <f pairs> prj w^ich great Catastrophes 
 ''ov5rctur*and destroy." Whatever be 
 f the
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 the duration of tins monument,, some 
 doubts, after examining it "with atten- 
 tion, may remain, whether the consent 
 of the present generation or posterity 
 will ratify this fond prediction with 
 respect to its glory. p 
 
 It was the intention of the king's 
 friends to have published those papers 
 in two volumes. The first contained 
 simply his letters, and were destined 
 * a nous montrer Louis XVI homme 
 " prive," to portray the private cha- 
 racter of the king. The second vo- 
 lume contained all th"at could portray 
 him " comme homme public," as a 
 public character; and consisted of his 
 discourses, memorials, observations, 
 writings, the analysis of a few of his 
 v\nrks, all which objects united were 
 to present us " the last king of France, 
 
 b
 
 XV111 PREFACE. 
 
 " as a prince really enlightened, 
 " made to govern men in the soli-. 
 " tude of the cabinet, fitted to become 
 " the counsellor of a king worthy of 
 " executing, capable of judging men, 
 " and transmitting his judgments to 
 " posterity." This work was supposed 
 by the editors, to offer a "full justi- 
 " fication to men who were pre- 
 " judiced ; to awaken in generous 
 " minds grateful recollections; to ex- 
 " cite remorse in the hearts of the 
 <e king's persecutors; to offer to states- 
 " men useful instructions, and teach 
 se crowned heads that it is not suffi- 
 <f cient to possess the virtues of Trajan 
 " and Antoninus; that the courage of 
 ( heroes and the policy of great kings 
 1 are equally necessary, joined to the 
 ef wisdom of a Sully, and the firm- 
 " ness of a Richelieu."
 
 PREFACE. XIX. 
 
 The purposes of the intended French 
 editors have been religiously observed 
 with respect to the king's letters, and 
 also with respect to such of his other 
 papers as have never yet appeared; but 
 it seemed to me unnecessary to swell 
 these volumes with the mass of papers 
 that have been already published, and 
 which are to be found in the journals 
 of the times, and in most of the me- 
 moirs or annals of the French revo- 
 lution. The chief merit which these 
 papers possess in the eyes of the edi- 
 tors, is that they were written by 
 Lewis the sixteenth, and as such, con- 
 tain the faithful expression of his 
 sentiments. A very few of those pa- 
 pers which were little known, are 
 preserved; but the insertion of die 
 rest was deemed unnecessary for the 
 reasons already mentioned : the titles 
 
 b* 

 
 XX VH.EF-ACE. 
 
 of the papers which are omitted will 
 be mentioned in the tahle of contents. 
 
 The materials for this monument 
 to the glory of Lewis the sixteenth 
 have been for some time prepared. 
 The French editors state that they 
 have it in their power to enlarge this 
 collection, but that a choice was ne- 
 cessary. We are, therefore, in posses- 
 sion of those which are most favorable 
 to the cause which the friends of the 
 late king were most anxious to sup- 
 port, deeming the evidence sufficient 
 to gain every suffrage in its favor. 
 
 It is unnecessary to mention the 
 reasons which produced the delay of 
 their publication,, and still less the- 
 means by which these manuscript 
 volumes fell into my hands. The
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 only important point to be ascertained 
 was that of their authenticity. The 
 French editor, in the note which pre- 
 cedes his preface, states, that the ori- 
 ginals are deposited in the hands of a 
 personage, "who will think it a plea- 
 " sure and a duty to communicate them 
 " to such as arc curious or incredulous." 
 This observation is true. But inde- 
 pendent of this external proof, which 
 is conclusive to those who are ac- 
 quainted with the handwriting of the 
 king, such measures have been tak 
 as appeared to me fully satisfactory, to 
 arrive at the greatest collateral secu- 
 rity, by consulting such as were most 
 likely to be informed on the subject. 
 The proofs which L have obtained 
 from persona who fill eminent oflicrs 
 under the republic, and from 
 who exercised the higher*
 
 ,\\!l PREFACE. 
 
 under Lc\vis the sixteenth, and who 
 Ave.ro consequently instructed both as 
 to the spirit and the letter, leave no 
 doubt whatever with respect to the 
 authenticity of these papers. While 
 they present the king alternately as a 
 private and public man, by his corres- 
 pondence with individuals and his 
 discourses to the national representa- 
 tion, and to sections of the people, it 
 appears singular, that no suspicions 
 entered the minds of the French edi- 
 tors, that the public, who are called 
 only to admire, would sometimes 
 pause to compare and to reason. The 
 editors, it is true, in their preface ha- 
 zard certain animadversions, which 
 wear the air of impartiality, and to 
 which they would limit those of their 
 readers. " We dare, at present, 
 " publish without fear in books, what
 
 PHEFACE. xxiii: 
 
 " is already in every heart ; to declare, 
 " in the name of future generations, 
 " that Lewis the sixteenth on the 
 " throne of the Bourbons had no other 
 " reproach to make himself in thedif- 
 " ficult art of governing men, than 
 " that irresolution which neutralises 
 t( every thing, that want of selfcon- 
 " fidence which renders the monarch 
 " null, and that weakness which des- 
 " troys. " 
 
 These are, no doubt, blemishes in 
 the princely character; and if nothing 
 further had been intended in this jus- 
 tification of Lewis the sixteenth than 
 tlic display of his private virtues, res- 
 pect for his misfortunes would ha 
 left his faults unnoticed. But to de- 
 fend I lie memory of Lewis the six- 
 1 "filth appears less the aim of his 
 friends, thua to -ealumniatethe memory
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 of those who have rendered themselves 
 illustrious, by rescuing their country 
 from the ignoble servitude under 
 which it was oppressed. This gene- 
 rous effort is stigmatised in the pre- 
 fatory address as a " scries of useless 
 " crimes producing only useless dis- 
 " asters; " the revolution, by changing 
 all the elements of social order, -is 
 stated " to have caused the most en-- 
 " lightened nation of Europe to make 
 " a retrograde step towards barba- 
 <c rism ; " and what is still more disas- 
 trous, " to have rendered indocile to 
 " the yoke the people whom the 
 <f king's birth had condemned him to 
 " govern. r 
 
 The defence of Lewis the sixteenth 
 is, therefore, no longer the point at is- 
 sue, or at least becomes only a point of 
 secondary consideration. His friends
 
 PREFACE. XXV 
 
 have shifted the ground on which 
 they might have remained secure, and, 
 by enlarging their means of defence, 
 have left themselves and the object of 
 their idolatry open to attack. It is 
 no longer the king they mean to de- 
 fend; it is the revolution they are 
 earnest to criminate: let them not be 
 displeased, therefore, if in the observa- 
 tions which have suggested themselves 
 on reading these letters, they some- 
 times discover a partiality in favor of 
 that barbarism, towards which the 
 most enlightened country of Europe 
 has made a retrograde step. 
 
 And what period in the annals of 
 mankind more calculated to awaken 
 solemn rapt attention, to seize every 
 faculty of the soul, to cull forth every 
 it-cling excited by the sublime and the-
 
 XXVI PREFACE. 
 
 / v 
 
 terrible, than the epocha of that revo- 
 lution, which in its effects will change 
 the condition and almost the destinies 
 of man ? How long will posterity 
 pause on the solemn page which marks 
 its mighty records? In reading histo- 
 ry, we pass rapidly over the common 
 flight of years and ages, like the tra- 
 veller who diligently pursues his w 7 ay 
 through a country which presents only 
 ordinary objects ; but when this asto- 
 nishing era unfolds itself to the in- 
 tellectual view, the reader will feel a 
 sensation similar to that of the same 
 traveller, when suddenly bursting on 
 his sight, he beholds scenes of over- 
 whelming majesty, and finds himself 
 surrounded by images of nature, the 
 beautiful, the sublime, the terrific, the 
 stupendous, which fill his mind with 
 astonishment, and swell his bosom 
 with enthusiastic emotion.
 
 PREFACE. XXVll 
 
 Considering the revolution as the 
 most important event of modern his- 
 tory, every thing that tends to throw 
 .any light on that momentous epocha 
 has some portion of interest; and it. 
 is with this persuasion, that I presume 
 to offer to the public the observations 
 which accompany the subsequent let- 
 ters. If I have not concealed my ad- 
 miration of the great principles in 
 favor of the human race which the 
 revolution was destined to establish, 
 I hope, also, that in commenting on 
 the character and conduct of Lewis 
 the sixteenth, I shall not be accused 
 of insensibility or injustice, while I 
 have sought nothing but truth. Some 
 of the observations subjoined, trivial 
 perhaps in themselves, may derive 
 value from their connection with the 
 mighty event of the revolution ; in
 
 XXVlll PREFACE. 
 
 the same manner as the obscure in- 
 dividual may be remembered, who 
 carves his name upon an immortal 
 monument, which mocks the destruc- 
 tion of time.
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 . i. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 Page. 
 LEWIS XFI to M. de Vergennes . . 7 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 to M. de P^ergennes . . 23 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 to M. de St. Gennain . 27 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 to M. de Males?ierbes , 4i 
 c
 
 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Page. 
 Lewis XFI to M. de Turgot .... 58 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 - to M. de Malesherbes . 72 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 to M. de Malesherles . 83 
 
 \ 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 to M. de Maurepas . . 88 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 to M. de Forbonais . . 96 
 \p . i\ > . - 
 
 > 
 
 .LETTER X. 
 
 T- - to the duke de Charost, io5
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. iii 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 Page. 
 M. Necker to Lewis XFI 108 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 Lewis XFI to M. de Vergennes . . 111 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 to M. de fergtnnes . , 116 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 to M. de Vergennes . . 121 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 to M. de Malesherbes . 128 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 to M. de Makshcrbes . l53 
 c 2
 
 IV TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 Page. 
 Lewis Xfl to M. de Berthier . . . 161 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 to M. de Lavoisier . . 166 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 to the count d'Artois. . 170 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 to the archbishop of 
 
 Aries ......... 181 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 to the count d'Artois. . 197 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 - to the count d'Estaing. 206
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. y 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 Page. 
 Lewis XFI to the count de Brissac. 217 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 to M. de Baument . . . 222 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 to the grand master of 
 
 Malta a32 
 
 LETTER XXVL 
 
 to M. de Mirdbeau . . 23$ 
 
 LETTER XXVII. 
 
 to M. de Malesherbes . 246 
 
 LETTER XXVIII. 
 
 to M. Duval Depres- 
 menil 2-67
 
 TABLE OF CONTENT*. 
 
 CONTENTS OF FOL. If. 
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 Page. 
 Lewis XVI to pope Pius VI . ... 4 
 
 LETTER XXX. 
 
 -'- to M. de Rivarol . ... 21 
 
 LETTER XXXI. 
 
 to the duke of Orleans. 28 
 
 LETTER XXXII. 
 
 > , 
 
 to pope Pius VI . ... 57 
 
 LETTER XXXIIL 
 
 x W* : . to the duke of Polignac. 66
 
 TABI^E OF CONTENTS. vil 
 
 * 
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 Page. 
 Letvis Xf^f to the king of England. 7 5 
 
 LETTER XXXV. 
 
 to the princess of Lam-, 
 balle 85 
 
 LETTER XXXVI. 
 
 to M. de Malesherbes . 90 
 
 LETTER XXXVII. 
 
 to abbe Maury 96 
 
 LETTER XXXVIII. 
 
 to pope Pius VI . . . . lo5 
 
 LETTER XXXIX. 
 
 to the count d'Artois.
 
 Viii TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 * 
 
 LETTER XL. 
 
 Page. 
 Lewis XF'I to M. de Montmorin . . i5o 
 
 LETTER XLI. 
 
 to the archbishop of 
 Aries l45 
 
 LETTER XLII. T 
 
 to M. de Bouille .... 166 
 
 LETTER XLIII. 
 
 to Monsieur iy3 
 
 LETTER XLIV. 
 
 
 
 to Monsieur 181 
 
 LETTER XLV. 
 
 to the prince of Conde. 189
 
 TABLE OP CONTENTS. ix 
 
 LETTER XLVL 
 
 Page, 
 Lewis XFI to M. de St. Priest . . 200 
 
 LETTER XLVIL 
 
 to M. de N 207 
 
 LETTER XLVIII. 
 
 to M. Vergniaud .... 217 
 
 LETTER XLIX. 
 
 to M. de N 224 
 
 LETTER L, 
 
 to M. Pethion, mayor 
 of Paris 235 
 
 LETTER LI. 
 
 to Madame Adelaide. . 209
 
 X TABX.E OF CONTJEJSTS. 
 
 LETTER LII.M 
 
 P.ge: 
 Lewis XFI to Mesdames ....... 244" 
 
 LETTER 
 
 &.. _ to M. de N --. . '.". .-a'55 
 
 LETTER LIV. 
 
 to Monsieur . ...... 262 
 
 LETTER LV. 
 
 to M. Dumourler. . . . 278 
 
 LETTER LVI. 
 
 to M. ; Roland . . a8G 
 
 to the duke of Brissac.
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. XI 
 
 LETTER LVIII. 
 
 Page. 
 XP^I to Monsieur ....... 3oo 
 
 LETTER LIX. 
 
 to M. de Montmorin . . 5oy 
 
 LETTER LX. 
 
 to M. de Montmorin . . 3i6 
 
 LETTER LXI. 
 
 - to Mesdames ....... oai 
 
 LETTER LXII. 
 
 to Monsieur ....... 3a5 
 
 LETTER LXIII. 
 
 to Monsieur . ... 354
 
 xil TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CONTENTS OF VOL. III. 
 
 LETTER LXIV. 
 
 Page. 
 Lewis X/ 7 "/ to Monsieur 4 
 
 LETTER LXV. 
 
 to M. de Montmoj'in . . 2 5 
 
 LETTER LXVI. 
 
 to the president of the 
 
 National Assembly . 53 
 
 LETTER LXVII. 
 
 to the duchess of Gram- 
 mont * 38
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER LXVIII. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Lewis "XVI to Monsieur ....... 4i 
 
 LETTER LXIX. 
 
 * 
 
 to Monsieur ....... 45 
 
 LETTER LXX. 
 
 Monsieur de Malesherbes to the Na- 
 tional Convention ........... ^54 
 
 LETTER LXXI. 
 
 Lewis Xyi to M. de Malesherbes. . 69 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY LETTERS. 
 
 Le&is X/7 to the baron of Breteuil. 63 
 to the ling of Prussia. Si
 
 XIV TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 The brothers of Lewis XFI to M. de 
 Breteuil 90 
 
 Lewis XFI to the abbe .... 116 
 
 * 
 
 Maxims of Lewis XFI ........ i45 
 
 Thoughts of Lewis XJ^I on a few 
 authors, ancient and modern. . . . i55 
 
 Manuscript thoughts of Lewis 
 
 extracted from the works of the 
 king of Poland his grandfather. . 179 
 
 On the Great .............. 187 
 
 Of Politics. \ \ . ' . ...... ? 
 
 Of Justice and the Laws ....... 1 98
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. XV 
 
 Page. 
 
 Of Financed. ... '. '. '''?'. *>"*-'^. \ . '. 2o4 
 
 Of Employments and Conditions. . . 509 
 Of Irreligion ............... 2 1 5 
 
 Of Conscience .............. 220 
 
 Of Virtue ................. 224 
 
 Of Praise ................ 226 
 
 Of Eloquence .............. 228 
 
 Marginal Observations of Lewis 
 
 on a memoir of M. Turgot, relative 
 
 to administration ........... 24a 
 
 Observations of Lewis XFI, relative 
 to a ManifestOf published against 
 his opinion by his Council in 1776^ 
 against England during the Ame- 
 rican war ............... 275
 
 XVI TABLE OP CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Personal Observations of Lewis 
 on the system of provincial Admi- 
 nistration, etc ............. 3o6 
 
 END OP THE TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 f PAPERS
 
 PAPERS OMITTED, 
 
 HAVING, AS IS NOTICED IN THE PRE- 
 FACE, BEEN PUBLISHED IN VARIOUS 
 OTHER WORKS. 
 
 SPEECH of the king to the Stales-General '^ 
 . 5 May, 1789. 
 
 Speech of the king at the sitting of 
 a 3 June, 1789. 
 
 Letter from the king to the cardinal de 
 la ftjchefaucault , and the duke of 
 Luxembourgh, ( A circular letter. ) 
 
 The king to the archbishop of Paris. 
 
 Answer of the king to the demand made 
 by the National Assembly, to sanction 
 the rights of man. 
 
 D
 
 XV111 PAPERS OMITTED. 
 
 The king to the National 
 8 Nov. 1789. 
 
 Proclamation of the king. 
 
 Letter from the king to M. Necker. 
 
 Letter from the king to the president of 
 
 the National Assembly, 9 June, 1790. 
 
 i 
 
 [Answer of the king to the National As- 
 sembly, relative to the civil list and the 
 queen's dowry. 
 
 Speech of the king to the Federates. 
 The king to the bishop of Clermgnt. 
 
 The king to the National Assembly 
 18 Aug. 1791. 
 
 Letter from the king to the archbishop of 
 Bourdeaux, M. de la Luzerne, Guinard 
 He St. Priest, and de La Tour du Pin,, 
 his ministers.
 
 PAPERS OMITTED. 
 
 Letter from the Icing to the National 
 Assembly, Sept. 1791. 
 
 The king to the president of fhe National 
 Assembly, 1790. 
 
 The king to the National Assembly, 
 7 Feb. 1790. 
 
 The king to the planters of St. Domingo. 
 The king to the French. 
 
 The king to the National Assembly, 
 27 Aug. 1790. 
 
 The king to the National Assembly, 
 The king to M. de la Luzerne. 
 The king to the mayor of Paris. 
 The king to the National Assembly. 
 The k'uig to the mayor of Paris, 26 Sep.
 
 XX PAPERS OMITTED. 
 
 The king to M. de Rochambeau, 25 Sept, 
 
 TJie king to the general officers and com- 
 manders of the land troops. 
 
 Memorial of the king, or declaration of 
 his majesty, addressed to the French 
 on his quitting Paris.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 OF 
 
 LEWIS XVI. 
 
 LETTRE PREMIERE. 
 
 A M. de Fergennes, 
 
 17 Octobre 1774.' 
 
 J'AI lu, monsieur, la depeche secrete et 
 tres-importante de M. le chevalier de Saint- 
 Priest. Je n'ignore pas les services du sieur 
 Thugut, mais je n'en connois pas les details. 
 Je tiendrai les paroles que le feu roi lui 
 avoit donnees. Mais la maniere ne peut 
 s'executer lorsqu'il sera en France, comme 
 M. de Saint-Priest le propose. Quel incon-* 
 y^nient y auroit-il a le laisser a Viennc? Je 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 sais bien qu'il y repugne; mais je crois etre 
 sur qu'on n'a a Vienna aucune notice sur 
 lui. Quand il y sera arrive , peut-etre ne le 
 remployeroit-on pas dans la politique ; mais 
 alors il pourra voyager et venir s'etablir 
 en France ou il sera tranquille. Et comme 
 d'ailleurs je ne le crois pas Autrichien , ni 
 meme sujet de Fimperatrice , cela lui sera 
 aise. 
 
 Je ne crois pas que M. de Kaunitz le tour- 
 meiite sur ses ne^ociations des declarations 
 moins fortes; si on le savoit, il pouri^oit les 
 rejeter sur la faute des drogmaiis qui n'ont 
 pas bien entendu ce qu'il vouloit dire. II 
 n'y a nulle bonne raison a donner pour son 
 retour par la iner ; quand il sera arrive en 
 France, si la reine demande une place pour 
 lui, n'etaiit pas du secret, elle ne pourra 
 pas donner des raisons a 1'iinperatrice, sur- 
 tout pour 1'empecher de retourner a Vienne ? 
 que de se fixer en France; et par-la on verra 
 que c'est le cabinet qui le pousse, et s'il y 
 cut jamais eu des soupcons centre lui, ils se 
 reuouveleroni
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 5 
 
 JLe prince de Kaunitz coinparerales ordres 
 qu'il a donnes, a la maniere dont il Jes a 
 executes. Je me souvieiis que M.d'Aiguillon, 
 en me rendant compte , me dit que le feu roi 
 avoit fait dire a 1'internonce, (M. deThugut) 
 que si Fintrigue etoit decouverte, qu'il ne 
 luidonneroitpasde retraite en France, mais 
 une pension pour vivre ou il pourroit. La 
 trame decouverte, le roi de Prusse ne maii- 
 queroit pas de nous brouiller avec Vienne j 
 et ce sera avec raison qu'il parlera des pe- 
 tites intrigues que la cour de France emploie, 
 en montrant que nous n'avons pas agi de 
 bonne-foi avec elle; et dans ce moment ou 
 la cour de Vienne veut se rapprocher de 
 nous, il est tres-im port ant de ne pas lui 
 donner des ombrages. Si on veut employer 
 M. Thugut, il lui sera aise, dans la persua- 
 sion ou je suis qu'il n'est pas ne sujet de 
 J'imperatrice, de demander son renvoi par 
 raison; alors il pourra venir jouir en France 
 du fruit de ses travaux, et peut-elre me'me 
 era-t-il I'ecommande par la cour de Vienne. 
 Voila ce que je pense sur lui, et pour ne pas 
 nous compromettrc. 
 
 u a
 
 & CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 Les lettres qui sont jointes ici prouvent 
 la coiiliance qu'on a en lui, et qu'on ne l& 
 soupgonne de rien. L'aniiee prochaine ou 
 les affaires de la Pologne seront finies , les 
 vues de la maison d'Autriche remplies , ou 
 il n'y aura nulle raison de revenir su le 
 passe , oil les cours co-partageantes seront 
 en guerre eiitre elles , . et Vienne voulaiit 
 cultiver notre amide , ne cherchera pas a 
 inquieter quelqu'uii qu'elle pourroit soup- 
 Qonner nous etre attache. Vous pouvez lui 
 faire dire que le baron de Breteuil sera 
 charge de lui donner protection indirecte , 
 et les moyens de s'evader en cas de soupgon. 
 
 La politique de M. de Kaunitz est uiie 
 chose bien incomprehensible. Plus je la 
 vois, moins je la comprends. Par les ins- 
 tructions de Thugut, il paroit qu'il le croit 
 absolumeiit lie avec la Russie , et qu'il n'a 
 pas contribue au traite.de paix, du moins 
 l'a-t-il approuve. De 1'autre cote, il nous 
 {loit dire qu'il en craiiit fort les suites 
 et 1'empereur s'etant explique avec 1'abbe 
 Georges, il faut conclure de cela que sa
 
 OF LEWIS xvr. 5 
 
 polilique est d'etre bien avec tout le monde 
 pour y trouver son interet particulier. Nous 
 soinmes lies avec lui par un bon traite, et 
 s'il veut quelque chose de nous, il faut 
 attendre qu'il s'explique , et que nous 
 y voyons quelque chose d'avantageux ; 
 car il n'y a rien a craindre de rester tran- 
 quille, sur-tout se mefiant des bons offi 
 ces du roi de Prusse. 
 
 Pour M. le chevalier de Saint-Priest , il 
 cst absolument necessaire qu'il reste dans- 
 ce pays-la , il y est trop utile pour le laisser 
 revenir; il faut que M. Gerard lui reponde 
 ainicalement sur cet article , comnie il s'en, 
 explique avec lui , sans paroitre vous avoir 
 communique sa lettre; mais qu'il lui 6t& 
 toute idee de retour; qu'il lui disc qu'il a 
 cru 1'entrevoir, parce qu'il vous a entendu. 
 dire precedemment qne ses services me 
 sonttres-agreables, et que personne ne peut 
 mieuxservir l'tat que lui dans de pareilles 
 circonstances, ct qu'il aura une recompense 
 tligne de ses services quand il aura rempli 
 le temps necessaire : pour vous ? repetez-lui
 
 6 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 que je suis on ne peut pas plus content de 
 ses services, et qu'il n'y a pas d'occasion 
 plus belle de me servir que c'est a lui a 
 rassembler les debris d'un batiment en 
 ruine ; que c'est a lui de le ressusciter de 
 ses cendres ; que vous sentez bien que sa 
 charge est tres-pesante ; mais quVvec de 
 1'esprit et du courage, comme il en a, il y 
 reussira beaucoup mieux que d'autres , et 
 qu'il en aura toute la gloire. Vous entrerez. 
 apres cela dans des details sur notre com- 
 merce ; vous lui marquerez que c'est de sa 
 vigilance que depend sa ruine ou la certi- 
 tude de revenir dans 1'etat le plus florissaiit 
 oil il ait jainais etc , comme 1'ouverture de 
 la mer Noire peut nous le prouver. Enfin y 
 vous le louerez de sa prevoyance a opposer 
 le catholicisme au rit grec, et vous lui 
 ajouterez qu'il ne pouvoit rien faire qui 
 me fut plus agreable , et que je 1'exhorte a 
 continuer. 
 
 LOUIS.
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. ij 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 To M. de Fergennes. 
 
 October i/th, 1774. 
 
 I have read, Sir, the secret and very 
 important dispatches of M. le chevalier 
 de St. Priest. I am not ignorant of the 
 services of M. Thugut, though unacquainted 
 with the details, and will certainly adhere 
 to the engagements made by the late king. 
 But this cannot be accomplished in the 
 manner M. de St. Priest suggests, if M. 
 Thugut should come to France. What in- 
 convenience can result from leaving him 
 at Vienna? I know his repugnance to 
 remain, but I have reason to believe that 
 no informations respecting him have 
 reached that place. Perhaps on his arrival 
 he may not be re-employed in political 
 affairs, in which case he may travel, and 
 come and establish himself in France, where
 
 5 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 lie will live in tranquillity; and this lie may 
 do the more easily, as I believe he is 
 neither an Austrian, or even a subject of 
 the empress. 
 
 I do not think that M. de Kauiiitz will 
 persecute him on the subject of his nego- 
 ciations respecting less important declara- 
 tions; but if this should be known, he can 
 throw the fault upon the drogmans, who 
 did not comprehend what he meant to say. 
 I perceive no good reason whatever for his 
 returning by sea, and if the queen upon 
 his arrival in France asks a place for him, 
 not being in the secret, she can alledge no 
 reason to the empress why he should not 
 return to Viennaratherthan settle in France; 
 it will, therefore, soon be perceived that the 
 cabinet has pushed him on ; and if ever any 
 suspicions arose against him they will be 
 renewed. The prince of Kaunitz will com- 
 pare the orders he gave with the manner 
 in which they were executed. I recollect 
 that M. d'Aguilloii in giving me an account 
 of this, told me that the late king had
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. g 
 
 made known to the internonce, ( M. de 
 Thugut, ) that if the intrigue were dis- 
 covered, he would not give him a retreat 
 in France, but a pension with which he 
 might live where he could. If the plot 
 were known, the king of Prussia would not 
 fail lo embroil us with Vienna, and would 
 have some reason to talk of the little in- 
 trigues which the court of France employs, 
 by shewing that we have not acted towards 
 Vienna with good faith ; and at this mo- 
 ment, when that court wishes to connect 
 itself more nearly with us, it becomes 
 important to give it no umbrage. If the 
 Austrian cabinet should wish to employ 
 M. Thugut, it will be easy for him, 
 ( persuaded as I am that he was not born 
 a subject of the empress,) to ask his dis- 
 mission on account of health ; he could 
 then come and enjoy in France the fruits 
 of his labors, and may perhaps even be 
 recommended by the court of Vienna. 
 This is all I can suggest for him, without 
 committing ourselves. The inclosed letters 
 prove the degree of confidence placed in 
 him, and that he is far from being sus-
 
 JO CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 pected. Next year, when the affairs of 
 Poland are finished and the views of 
 the House of Austria accomplished, when 
 there will no longer be any reason to recur 
 to the past, when the co-participating 
 courts will be at war with each other, 
 Vienna, desirous of cultivating our friend- 
 ship, will avoid molesting a person whom 
 that court may suspect of bearing us 
 some attachment. You may inform him, 
 that the baron de Breteuil has orders to 
 
 x 
 
 aiford him indirect protection, and the 
 means of escape if necessary. 
 
 The politics of M. de Kaunitz are quite 
 incomprehensible; and the more I see of 
 them the less I understand. It appears 
 from Tlmgut's intructions, that be believes 
 him to be absolutely connected with Rus- 
 sia, and that he did not contribute to the 
 treaty of peace, which, however, he has 
 at least approved. On the other hand, 
 he seems to tell us> that he is apprehen- 
 .sive of the consequences, and the emperor 
 having had an explanation with the abbe- 
 Georgel, we must conclude from hence
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 11 
 
 that his policy is to be well with all the 
 world, as far as it serves his own parti- 
 cular interests. We are connected with 
 him by a good treaty, and if he wishes 
 to obtain any thing of us, we must wait 
 till he explains himself, and till we per- 
 ceive some advantages in what he pro- 
 poses ; for we have nothing to .fear in 
 remaining quiet; above all, when we 
 mistrust the good offices of the king of 
 Prussia. 
 
 With respect to M. le chevalier de 
 St. Priest, it is absolutely necessary that 
 he should remain in that country; he is 
 too useful to be suffered to return. Since 
 he has expressed this wish to M. Gerard, 
 he must reply in a friendly manner, and 
 without appearing to have communicated 
 
 the letter, but in such terms as to leave 
 
 ' t 
 
 him no idea of returning. Let Gerani 
 observe to him, that from what he has 
 heard you say, he is persuaded that his 
 services are highly agreeable to me: that 
 
 O v O 
 
 no man can be so useful to the state in 
 uch circumstances as himself, and that
 
 13 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 when he has fulfilled his task, he will 
 meet with a recompense worthy of his 
 labors. You will also not fail to repeat 
 to him how much I am satisfied with his 
 conduct, and that he will never find a 
 more happy occasion of serving me; that 
 it is left for him to prop up an edifice 
 falling to ruins, and save it from crumb- 
 ling into dust; that you know well how 
 burdensome is the task he has to per- 
 form, but that with talents and courage 
 like his, he will succeed far better than 
 others, and all the glory will be his own^ 
 You will then enter into details upon our 
 commerce, and shew him that its ruin, or 
 the certainty of its rising to a more flou- 
 rishing state than ever, depends upon his 
 vigilance, as the opening of the Black Sea 
 may prove to us; finally, you will ap- 
 plaud his care in opposing Catholicism to 
 the Greek ritual, assuring him that he 
 could do nothing more agreeable to me, 
 and that I exhort him to persevere. 
 
 LEWIS.
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 1;) 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE FIRST LETTER. 
 
 THIS, and the following letter, which were 
 in the possession of the committee of surveil- 
 lance of the convention in 1792, have been 
 already published j but having found them 
 placed in the collection, and as they contain 
 some curious matter, I thought that their re- 
 publication would give an additional interest 
 to the work. 
 
 Perhaps there is less subject of surprise 
 at what has been called the treason of M. 
 de Thugut lhan may at first view be ima- 
 gined; nor can it be deemed extraordinary, 
 that a spy of monarcliical France should be 
 a chief counsellor in the late coalition against 
 republican France. Ministers, like other 
 men, are influenced by the strongest motives, 
 and as self-interest is generally the leading 
 feature of those who figure at the head of 
 governments, it ought to be no matter of 
 surprise that M. de Thugut should serve the
 
 14k CORRESPONDENCE ' 
 
 Austrian cabinet with as much sincerity, if 
 not with as much success, as he had here- 
 tofore served the French. That system of 
 politics which has in this instance been called 
 treason, and which an animated writer of 
 our own country has stigmatised by the title 
 of " exploded villany," was too much the 
 mode at the time this letter was written, to 
 merit so harsh a censure; and if indignation 
 in our pure and regenerate days be excited 
 at the mention of these epithets, let it be 
 remembered, that at the epocha when M. de 
 Thugut enacted the spy of the court of France 
 against the countiy of which he is now the 
 ex-minister, this kind of villany was far from 
 being confined to subalterns, however true 
 it may be that it is now exploded. Of the 
 influence of Austrian counsels, and the exis- 
 tence of Austrian committees, regulating the 
 affairs of the French government from the 
 period of the revolution . in 1789, to the fall 
 of the throne in 1792, we have heard much, 
 and probably more than was founded. The 
 causes of the opposition of the court to the 
 first of those events, and which finally brought 
 on the last, lie too near on the surface tp
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. l5 
 
 need profound investigation. There is no 
 evidence that the cabinet of Versailles during 
 the last reign, except near its' close, was 
 swayed by that of Vienna ; and there is great 
 reason to believe that the former was always 
 on its guard against the attempts of Austrian 
 influence. In the present letter we see Lewis 
 the sixteenth giving instructions to his mi- 
 nister respecting the mode of directing the 
 secret negociations (called espionage by one 
 party, and treason by the other) of M. Thugut, 
 and much management takes place in order 
 to keep the queen in the dark respecting 
 these mysterious transactions. 
 
 That attempts were made to form an 
 Austrian party in the court of France at that 
 period, is a point on which there is no dif- 
 ference of opinion, and of which the caution 
 of the young monarch in the counsel he 
 gives his minister, affords indisputable evi- 
 dence. Lewis the sixteenth had succeeded, 
 however, if not in crushing, at least, in neutra- 
 lising this faction by the change of ministers 
 at his accession 5 particularly in the choice 
 of M. de Vergennos, who is represented as
 
 l6 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 a person attached to the principles of the 
 old French politics in their primitive purity, 
 before they \vere adulterated by the Austrian 
 system of the abbe Bernis and the Duke 
 of Choiseul. 
 
 Whatever instances of weakness the king 
 may have exhibited on other occasions, no- 
 thing could exceed his firmness in the resis- 
 tance which he made against the multi- 
 plied attempts to bend him to the Austrian 
 yoke. The instructions, given by his father 
 the dauphin, had been carefully treasured 
 up in his mind, and the ministers who pos- 
 sessed his confidence, such as M. de Ver- 
 gennes and Maurepas, were careful that 
 these early impressions should not be weak- 
 ened. The queen had been tutored in a 
 contrary system with equal sedulousnessbyan 
 aspiring mother, but her eloquence was idle, 
 and her charms powerless, when employed 
 against this stubborn citadel. So carefully 
 was she excluded from all acquaintance with 
 the secret transactions of the state, that Lewis 
 the sixteenth, scrupulous in his adherence to 
 the precepts of his father, is represented as 
 
 being
 
 P LEWIS XVI; If 
 
 being so much on his guard that the queen 
 was ignorant even of the place where were 
 deposited the memoirs of enmity against the 
 House of Austria, Avhich he inherited from 
 the dauphin; the number of which was 
 every day augmented by the jealous atten- 
 tion of the minister to foster this salutary 
 aversion in the heart of the prince. 
 
 It was at this period that the queen, who, 
 like a morning star, had just appeared on 
 our horizon, to borrow the elegant phraseo- 
 logy of the orator, " full of life, and 
 splendor, and joy, " found every beam re- 
 fracted when shot into the political mist. 
 The spirit of chivalry was no more awake 
 to her wrongs at that period, than in sub- 
 sequent times, and this beautiful princess 
 saw herself not only secluded from the 
 confidence of the king in matters which 
 appeared to interest her most nearly, but 
 exposed to the pleasantries of ministers, who 
 smiled at her impotent efforts to replace 
 .them,and accused her, perhaps without reason, 
 f acts of peculation in her adopted country, 
 VOL. i. ff
 
 \ CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 to enrich the exhausted treasury of her im- 
 perial brother. 
 
 '* ''. > Vv,'' ''> 
 
 Of the continued struggle between the queen 
 and his ministers, Lewis is represented as 
 remaining the calm observer. He seems to 
 have made a just analysis of his own affec- 
 tions. He loved the queen for those qualities 
 which rendered her lovely, and his conjugal 
 tenderness has never been taxed with alie- 
 fcation, or levity; but the secrets of the state 
 
 were never disclosed, unless in some moment 
 
 f 
 
 of unguarded confidence, which it has been 
 said she was sometimes earnest to provoke. 
 To keep her altogether ignorant of the af- 
 fairs of state wa.s found impossible ; the mode, 
 therefore, which was adopted with the greatest 
 success was to mislead her with respect to the 
 secret operations of government. Accord- 
 ingly, in the letter before us, the sieur Thugut, 
 the spy of France against the Austrian cabinet, 
 is supposed by the queen to be an agent in 
 its favor ; and she is represented by the king 
 as so little in the secret, " n'elantpas du 
 secret, 3} that measures were concerted be- 
 tween him and JYL de Vergennes, on the
 
 presumption that when this agent should 
 arrive in France, the queen would be soli-* 
 citous to reward his zeal by promising him 
 some place or employment. 
 
 But whatever might have been the amount 
 of distrust or confidence between the king 
 
 O 
 
 and queen, as exhibited in this letter, the 
 eieur Thugut appears in no very flattering 
 fospect. It is evident that this ex-minister 
 of the Austrian cabinet had held the post oC 
 French inspector of its secrets during the 
 reign of Lewis the fifteenth; which monarch 
 seems so little to have valued his services, 
 that in case his intrigues ( that is, the intri- 
 gues of M. Thugut) were discovered, he was 
 to expect no asylum in France. 
 
 Lewis the sixteenth, however, appears to 
 hold M. Thugut's services in higher estima- 
 tion. He allows him, under the persuasion 
 that this ex-minister was no Austrian, to 
 come into France, and enjoy the fruits of his 
 labors ; and even provides against the dangers 
 which may befal him from the suspicions 
 of the court of Vienna, by assuring him 
 c 2
 
 2d CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 that M. de Breleuil shall give him indirect 
 protection, and the means of making his 
 escape. 
 
 That the baron de Thugut was originally 
 a spy of France seems to admit of no doubt ; 
 but, as I have already observed, no conclusion 
 can be drawn on this head against the fidelity 
 with which he has since acquitted himself 
 in his office of minister at Vienna. If his 
 success has not equalled his zeal in this last 
 .employment, it must be remembered, that 
 he has only failed in an enterprise where 
 none have succeeded ; and that his humilia- 
 tion and defeat are shared with the most 
 renowned warriors and able statesmen in 
 Europe, without the pale of the French re- 
 public. He has been accused of obstinacy 
 in his perseverance to continue the Avar, 
 when all hope of success of bringing it to its 
 desired conclusion had vanished ; but hope is 
 delusive, and we may pardon M. de Thugut 
 for the defect of his political optics, when 
 so many nearer the scene of action than 
 himself have had their sight totally obscured.
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. <2* 
 
 LETTRE II. 
 
 jl M. de Fergennes. 
 
 a Avril, 1775. 
 
 JE vous renvoie, monsieur, la dcpeclie 
 lie M. de Saint-Priest. Je ne crois pas que 
 la Maison d'Autriche entende son interet, 
 en ne voulant pas demander la liberte du 
 commerce de la mer Noire ; toutes les de- 
 marches que son cabinet fait depuis quel- 
 que temps , sont bien obscures ct bien 
 fausses. Je crois qu'il est embarrasse de ses 
 nouvelles usurpations en Moldavie , et 
 qu'il rie sait comment se les faire adjuger : 
 la cour de Russie les desapprouve, ct la 
 Porte nc consentira jamais a les coder a 
 IVmpercur. Je ne crois nullcment a cc 
 nouvel accord entrc ccs cours co-parla- 
 gcantcs; je les crois plulot eri observation 
 vis-a-vis les unes des autrrs, ct sc defiant 
 d'ellc* inutucllcment. L'avis de M. de
 
 92* . CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 me confirme dans ma pensee. Pour ce qui 
 est de 1'invasion que les troupes de 1'em- 
 pereur ont faite dans 1'Etat de Yenise, je 
 n'y vois nulle raison , mais la loi du plus 
 fort est toujours la meilleure ; elle denote 
 bien le caractere ambitieux et despote de 
 J'empereur , dont il ne s'est pas cache an 
 baron de Breteuil. II faut croire qu'il a su 
 fasciner absolument les yeux de sa mere > 
 car toutes ses usurpations n'etoient point 
 de son gout , et elle 1'avoit bien declare au 
 commencement. La depeche que recut 
 M. Thugut, prouvebien que M. de Kaunitz 
 desapprouve tout ce qui se passe , et a eu 
 la main forcee. C'est surement du Lascy j 
 nous n'avons rien a faire dans ce moment , 
 que de tout voir et nous tenir sur iios 
 gardes sur ce qui nous viendra de Vienne. 
 Honnetete et retenue doivent etre notre 
 marche. Mais M, de Saint-Priest peut 
 toujours tater le terrain a Constantinople 
 sur la navigation libre de la mer Noire. Je 
 me trompe fort , si les trois cours ne pren- 
 dront pas querelle a-la-fois ; et gare 1'in- 
 cendie ! 
 
 LOUIS.
 
 OF LEWIS xvi. a3 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 To M. de Fergennes. 
 
 April ad, 1775. 
 
 I send you back, Sir, the dispatches of 
 M. de St. Priest^ and do not think the House 
 of Austria consults its own interest, by 
 refusing to demand freedom of commerce 
 on the Black Sea; every measure taken by 
 that cabinet for some lime past, is obscure 
 and false. It is, I believe, rather embar- 
 rassed by its new usurpations in Moldavia, 
 and does not well know how to obtain 
 their confirmation. They are disapproved 
 by the court of Russia, and the Porte will 
 never consent to yield them to the em- 
 peror. I do not give the smallest credit to 
 this new convention between ihe co-par- 
 ticipating courts. I consider them as placed 
 in observation on each.olher. and watching 
 every movement with mutual distrust ;
 
 24 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 and the intelligence I have received front 
 M. de Lausuii confirms me in this opi- 
 nion. There appears to me 110 reasonable 
 motive for the invasion of the state of 
 Venice by the emperor's troops ; but the law 
 of the strongest is always the best: this 
 aggression marks the ambitious and des- 
 potic character of the emperor, which he 
 lias taken no trouble to conceal from the 
 baron of Bretcuil. He seems to have fas- 
 cinated the eyes of his mother, for she had 
 no taste for these usurpations, which she 
 openly declared in the commencement. 
 .The dispatches, received by Mr. Thugut, 
 shew clearly that Mr. de Kaunitz disap- 
 proves of all that is passing, and has only 
 acted by compulsion. The main-spring 
 is no doubt du Lascy, and all we have to 
 do at present, is to observe attentively and 
 be on our guard against whatever comes 
 to us from Vienna; politeness and reserve 
 should form the whole of our conduct. M. 
 de St. Priest may, however, sound the dis- 
 positions at Constantinople, relative to the 
 free navigation of the Black Sea. If I am
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 25 
 
 not much deceived, the three courts will 
 quarrel at the same time, and then let us 
 beware of the conflagration. 
 
 LEWIS. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE SECOND LETTER. 
 
 AFTER the usurpations in Moldavia, and 
 the continued projects of aggrandisement on 
 the part of the Austrian cabinet, it was not. 
 surprising that that government solicited 
 without hesitation from the Porte, the liberty 
 of trading in the Black Sea; but it is difficult 
 to conceive why France should not have askod 
 this privilege exclusively for herself, which 
 would not only have been highly advanta- 
 geous for the country, but would have been 
 the means of connecting it more closely 
 with the Porte, and would Jiavc enabled the
 
 26 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 cabinet of Versailles to oppose, with all it* 
 influence, the projects of Russia on Turkey 
 in Europe. 
 
 Though the king was yet little practised 
 in the art of government, he knew enough 
 to perceive, that under certain institutions 
 power was right ; since, as he observes in 
 somewhat of an ironical tone, the law of 
 the strongest is always the best; Lewis felt 
 the injustice of those encroachments against 
 which he inveighs; lamenting as a man, 
 what he could not remedy as a prince. It 
 is very probable, however, that had not the 
 American war intervened, and soon after, 
 that of the French revolution, the three 
 powers which divided Poland would not have 
 remained long in harmony together. The 
 French revolution has altogether deranged the 
 old diplomacy of the northern cabinets. The 
 fate of the Turkish empire is still sus- 
 pended, and he must be no dimsighted politi- 
 cian who shall determine, with any degree of 
 certainty j the epocha of its dissolution; but 
 if it exists only from the jealousy of the 
 European powers, the friends of the pro
 
 or L.EWIS xvi. ay 
 
 gress of civilisation and the extension of 
 knowledge, will perhaps wish they may one 
 Jay come to a better understanding. 
 
 In this letter baron Thugut appears again 
 on the scene, where he shows himself no 
 friend to the aggrandisement of the House 
 of Austria. Every man fulfils his destiny; 
 the baron appears to have been born the 
 friend of France, and willingly, or unwil- 
 lingly, has acted well the part which pro- 
 vidence assigned him. We are told that he 
 is once more approaching the cabinet of 
 Vienna. Perhaps the measure of defeat, 
 and humiliation of the Austrian court, is not 
 yet complete.
 
 2 8 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 LETTRE III. 
 
 'A M. de St. -Germain 
 
 ( Sans date. ) 
 
 MONSIEUR, le mode uniforme de ma- 
 noeuvre pour toute Pinfanterie francaise , 
 que vous m'adressez, est absolument iie- 
 cessaire. Yous le proposez, et je lui donne, 
 avec plaisir, mon approbation. II trouvera, 
 sans doute, des contradicteurs , mais il doit 
 plaire auxvrais militaires. Vous demandez, 
 dans un autre memoire, qu'il soit institut* 
 pour les soldats et pour les bas-officiers 
 un ordre de Mars dont les signes respecle* 
 seroient conferes , sur le cliamp de bataille , 
 aux braves juges dignes de cet lionneur. 
 J'aclopte cette idee avec joie : le Frangais, 
 iiaturellement passionne pour la gloire, 
 sent des recompenses bonorables. L'ordre 
 de Mars deviendroit pour lui un puissant 
 aiguilJon pour bien faire. C'est ainsi que
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 1 ig 
 
 les Bayard , les Crillon , les Duguesclin 
 faisoient des soldats et les cond uisoient 
 a la victoire. Donnez a votre projet de 
 nouveaux developpemens , cherchez tons 
 les moyens d'exciter I'emulation, de re- 
 compenser la bravoure, de faire parler 
 1'horineur : '.le soldat frangais inerite bien. 
 le clief de FEtat s'occupe de lui. 
 
 LOUIS. 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 To M. de St. Germain. 
 
 ( Without dale. ) 
 
 SIR, 
 
 TIIK uniform mode of manoeuvring for 
 all the French infantry, which you propose 
 to me, is absolutely necessary, and I give
 
 5o CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 with pleasure my approbation to yotif 
 plan. It will meet no doubt with opposi- 
 tion, but must be agreeable to real military 
 men. You demand, in another memorial , 
 that an order of Mars should be instituted 
 for the soldiers and subaltern officers, the 
 respectable insignia of which should be 
 conferred upon the field of battle on such 
 as are worthy of that honor. I adopt this 
 idea with delight ; Frenchmen, whose 
 ruling passion is glory, appreciate hono- 
 rable rewards, and the order of Mars will 
 become a powerful stimulant to generous 
 actions. It was thus that the Bayards, the 
 Crillons, the Duguesclins, formed soldiers? 
 and led them on to victory. Explain your 
 plan more fully, seek every means of ex- 
 citing emulation, of recompensing valor, 
 and of making the voice of honor be heard ; 
 the French soldier well deserves, that those 
 who are at the head of the nation should 
 tajte an interest in hi$ concerns. 
 
 LEWIS.
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 5i 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE THIRD JLETTER. 
 
 No event created at the time more sur- 
 prise at Versailles than the nomination of 
 the Count of St. Germain to the war -de- 
 partment. The history of this general is 
 somewhat singular. He was at first a Jesuit, 
 wliich profession he left for that of the 
 army, where he served with the rank of 
 lieutenant. An affair of honor led him to 
 pass into the service of the Elector Palatine, 
 which he quitted for that of the Emperor 
 Charles, where he obtained the rank of 
 major-general. Upon the death of this 
 prince he returned to France as field-marshal, 
 was made lieutenant-general in 1748, and 
 during the peace which followed that period, 
 had the command of Flanders. In conse- 
 quence of a dispute wilji marshal Broglio 
 in 1760, he went to Denmark, where the 
 king named him field - marshal, and gave
 
 5a CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 him the command of all his troops. On the 
 king's death, being obliged to resign his com- 
 mand, he returned to live near AVorms, 
 and fixed his definitive residence in Alsace. 
 
 This nomination caused the more wonder, 
 as the name of M. de St. Germain had never 
 been mentioned among the competitors for 
 this department. In the memoirs written, 
 at that period the history is thus related. 
 M. de Malesherbes was conversing in his 
 cabinet with M. Dubois, commander of the 
 Police, on the affairs of the court, when 
 he observed that there were many compe- 
 titors for the war - department the n vacat, 
 naming Messieurs du Chatelet, de Breteuil, 
 de Castries, and de Vaux. " The whole 
 * f court is in agitation," says Malesherbes, 
 " whom would you choose, my friend, if you 
 
 % 
 
 were king?" " A person, monseigneur, who 
 is not on the list of candidates, because 
 virtue and merit conceal themselves ; the 
 count of St. Germain." " You are in 
 the right," exclaimed the minister ; " lie 
 is a man of great merit, and his mind 
 ha.s been proved by misfortune, and in- 
 
 justicej
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 33 
 
 justice; but we are building castles in the 
 air, he has no protectors; O! that I were 
 
 the master!" Here the conversation 
 
 ended; but the same evening the subject of 
 the nomination of the new minister waa 
 renewed with M. de Maurepas. " Whilst 
 the king is employed in choosing," said 
 M. de Malesherbes, " I will give you an idea 
 of a friend of mine; which is to bestow 
 the place on M. de St. Germain; I own 
 I think him very capable of filling it, but 
 he is absent, and without protectors." 
 " Without protectors!" replied M. de Mau- 
 repas, " let us be his friends ; he possesses 
 talents, and independently of his military 
 abilities, has written me letters filled with 
 excellent ideas." M. de Maurepas went 
 to the king, and gave him an accpunt of his 
 conversation with M. de Malesherbes. The 
 king decided at once in favor of M. de St. 
 Germain, recommended the greatest secrecy, 
 wrote the letter, and ordered the two minis- 
 ters to send it to Alsace by a confidential 
 messenger. A person of this kind was found, 
 ene who had ben attached to the general 
 
 TOL. I. B
 
 
 54 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 through all his fortunes. When he reached 
 his habitation, he found the modern Cincin- 
 natus planting a pear-tree. M. de St. Ger- 
 main recognised the stranger. " Is it you?" 
 he exclaimed," what in the name of heaven 
 brought you here?" "A matter of import- 
 ance," he was answered, "but finish your plant- 
 ting, and then we will go into the house." 
 u Speak, I shall find time enough to plant." 
 " I come by his Majesty's orders." " What! 
 has the king again been prejudiced against one 
 of his most faithful servants, and who has 
 no other regret than that of being no logger 
 useful to him ? have I not yet filled up my 
 cup of misfortunes?" "This, M. le Comte, 
 will be easy to bear; here is the dispatch, 
 read iL"....M. de St. Germain kissed the letter 
 with transport, and stammered out a few 
 words of acknowledgement. " Wliat has led 
 the king to think of me?" The messenger 
 told him that he had received instructions 
 to request him to set out instantly. " But 
 hoAv? I have neither dress, nor equipage to 
 appear at court." >" In whatever manner 
 you go you will be welcome ; come along, 
 let us set off."
 
 OP LEWIS XVt. 55 
 
 Of the order in question, and which forms 
 the subject of the king's letter, we are al- 
 together ignorant, since nothing occurs in 
 the memoirs of the time to throw light on 
 this matter. The king appears to have been 
 an enthusiast at the moment, for the insti^ 
 tution of ihis military nobility, as the reward 
 of courage and virtue, and which was pro- 
 bably meant by this reforming minister as 
 a counterpoise to that ordinary nobility which 
 founds its distinction on no such adventi- 
 tious qualities. As we hear nothing further 
 of this institution than what is contained in 
 the king's letter, it is not unlikely that the 
 habitues of the court were successful in op- 
 posing this romantic innovation. 
 
 t> a
 
 36 COllRESPOJS DEM C K 
 
 LETTRE IV, 
 
 'A M. de Malesherbes. 
 
 Versailles, 17 Avril, 1776. 
 
 JE n'ai pu vous exprimer assez dans notre 
 dernier eiitretien, mon cher Malesherbes , 
 tout le deplaisir que me causoit votre reso- 
 lution bien prononcee de vous demettre 
 de votre ministere : maintenant que j'ai 
 refl6ch i avec quelque maturite sur cet objet, 
 je vais vous ouvrir mon coeur, et je trans- 
 mets mes idees sur le papier, pour qu'elles 
 ne s'echappent point de ma memoire. 
 
 Entoure, comme je le suis, d'hommes 
 qni ont interet a egarer mes principes, a 
 empecher que 1'opinion publique ne par- 
 vienne jusqu'a moi, il est de la plus haute 
 importance , pour la prosperite de mon 
 regne, que mes yeux de temps en temps
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. Oy 
 
 se reposent avec satisfaction sur quelques 
 sages de mon choix, que je puisse appeler 
 les amis de mon coeur, et qui m'avertissent 
 de mes erreurs, avant qu'elJes aient influe 
 sur la destinee de 24 millions d'hommes. 
 
 Vous etes , avec le sage de Maurepas et 1'in- 
 trpide Target, 1'homme de mon royaume* 
 qui avez le plus de titres a ma confiance ; et 
 il ne'faut pas faire entendre a nos ennemis 
 communs, que vous etes sur le point de la 
 perdre , lorsque vous ne 1'avez jamais plus 
 merit ee. 
 
 Lorsque Maurepas m*eut presente votro 
 nom, comme un de ceux qui etoient le plus 
 faits pour donner du poids a mes projets 
 de bicnfaisance, j'etudiai en silence votre 
 vie publique et privee, et je vis que je serois 
 peut-etre plus heureux de vous oftrir uno 
 grande place , que vous de la recevoir. 
 
 Ma conr des aides etoit, avant votrc pre- 
 miere presideiice, une compagnie asscr mal 
 rganisee , qui se laissoit soudoyer par les
 
 58 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 financiers, clont on lui avoit donne la sur- 
 veillance. Jaraais un controleur-general ne 
 la trouvoit en opposition, quancl il lui pre- 
 sentoit ties edits bursaux odieux : vous etes 
 venu , mon chcr Malesherbes , vous avez 
 purge ce corps des membres qui le desho- 
 noroient; etd'apres son institution primitive, 
 il est devenu 1'asile de 1'indigent el de 
 1'opprirne. 
 
 La nature vous avoit donne une ame 
 citoyenne , et vous 1'avez transmise a votre/ 
 cour des aides; du moins, fen juge par les. 
 remontrances vigoureuses que vous lui ave2f 
 dictees, et que j'ai placees dans ma biblio- 
 tlieque, choisie entre les Catilinaires de 
 Ciceron et les Philippiques deDemostheneiJ j 
 je ne suis pas encore bien sur qu'il soit utile 
 de jeter des maximes si pliilosophiques au 
 traversd'une constitution mon archique, que 
 tant de mecontens ont interet a ebraiiler^ 
 mais vos remoiitrances yespiroient le bien 
 public 5 elles m'eclairbient sur des desordres: 
 que ma cour et mes ministrcs conspiroient 
 ^ me Qacher ,. et |e. ne les ai considere.es
 
 or I/E\VIS XVT. 5c) 
 
 sous ce point de vue; alors, malgre qiielques 
 principes qui ne pouvoient avoir mon assen- 
 timent, j'ai applaudi interieurementa votre 
 courage, et j'ai send que vous aviez des 
 droits a ma reconnoissance. 
 
 Nos entrevues, ou Maurepas etoit en 
 tiers pour nous juger tous deux, ajoulerent 
 a mon estime, et je vous donnai le depar- 
 tement de ma maison, vacant, par la de- 
 mission de la Vrilliere : vous balancAtes 
 long-temps a venir respirer a ma cour un 
 air qui convenoit peu a la tonchante sim- 
 plicite de vos moeurs; mais Turgot vous fit 
 entendre qu'il ne pouvoit pas, sans vous, 
 opt'-rer un bien durable : il vous decida, et 
 je Ten estimai davaiitage. 
 
 Vous avez commence votreministere avec 
 une vigueur qui ne contrarioiL pas mes prin- 
 cipes : on se pluignoit des lettres de cachet 
 do nl votre prdecesscur disposoit au gre de 
 ses favorites, et vous avez refu.se d'en faire 
 usage. La Bastille regorgeoit de pi isonnici s 
 qui 3 apres plusieurb anuecs de detention,
 
 4o CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 ignoroient quelquefois leurs crimes, et vous 
 avez renclu a la liberte tous les hommes a 
 qui on ne reprochoit que d'avoir deplu a 
 ces messieurs en faveur, et tous les cou- 
 pables qui avoient etc trop punis. 
 
 Vous avez entrepris des reformes utiles 
 dans mamaison militaire, mais bien de gens 
 ont conc.u des alarmes; je devois appre- 
 hender que le mecontentement n'entrainat 
 des troubles parcils a ceux de la Ligue et 
 de la Fronde , et alors j'ai ete oblige de ren- 
 voyer a des temps plus heureux, le moment 
 si cher a mon coeur, oil, bannissantune vaiiie 
 pompe, je n'aurai plus cl'autre maisoii que 
 les hommes de bien, tels que vous, qui 
 m'entourent , et pour gardes, les coeurs des 
 Francais. 
 
 C'est dans cette circonstgnce orageuse, 
 mon cher Malesherbes , que vous me de-* 
 mandez votre retraite : non, je ne vous 
 1'accorderai pas, vous etes trop necessaire 
 a mon service; et quand vous aurez lu cette 
 lettre en entier, je connois assez votre amj*
 
 OF L.EWIS XVI. 4l 
 
 sensible, pour croire que vous cesserez de 
 me la demander. . 
 
 V 
 D'ailleurs, ce n'est pas au moment que 
 
 vous etes oblige de ceder aux circonstances , 
 qu'il convient que vous donniez votre de- 
 mission. La cour vous croiroit en disgrace; 
 et ce mot, quand il s'agit d'un sujet aussi 
 recommandable que vous , ne doit jamais 
 m'echapper. 
 
 Je vous attends demain chez Maurepas ; 
 comptez surmon estime et sur monamitie. 
 
 LOUIS. 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 To M. de Malesherbes. 
 
 Versailles, April i/th, 1776. 
 
 I HAD no power to express to you, my 
 
 dear Maleslierbes f in our last interview,
 
 4 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 all the chagrin I feel at your determined 
 resolution of resigning your place in the 
 ministry. After having maturely reflected 
 on tliis subject, I shall unfold my heart 
 to you, and shall commit my ideas to 
 paper, that they may not escape from my 
 memory. 
 
 SuiTounded as I am by men, who are 
 interested in misleading my principles, 
 and preventing the voice of public opinion 
 from reaching my ear, it is of the highest 
 importance to the prosperity of my reign, 
 that I should sometimes be able to repose 
 my eye with satisfaction on a few sages 
 of my own choice, whom I can call the 
 friends of my heart, and who will warn 
 me of my errors before they have influ- 
 enced the destiny of twenty-four millions 
 of men. 
 
 You, together with the wise de Mau- 
 repas, and the intrepid Turgot, are the 
 men in my dominions who have the 
 highest claim to my confidence, and you
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 45 
 
 must not lead our common enemies' to 
 imagine, that you are on the point of los~ 
 ing that confidence, at the very moment 
 when you have deserved it. 
 
 9 When Maurepas presented your name 
 to me as one of those who were best 
 fitted to give weight to my plans of bene- 
 ficence, I examined in silence your public 
 and private life, and perceived that I should 
 perhaps be happier in offering you a great 
 place, than you in receiving it. 
 
 Before your first presidency, my cowr 
 des aides was a company ill organised, 
 and corrupted by the financiers whom we 
 had placed under its inspection. A con- 
 trol It- r-general never found an opposition 
 when he presented odious fiscal edicts. 
 You appeared, my dear Maleshcrbes ; you 
 have driven from this corps the members 
 which dishonored it, and it is now be- 
 come, agreeably to its primitive institution, 
 the asylum of the indigent and the op- 
 pressed
 
 44 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 Nature gave you the soul of a citizen, 
 and you have tranfused into your cour 
 des aides, at least if I may judge by the 
 vigorous remonstrances which you have 
 dictated, and which I have placed in my 
 chosen library between the Catilinarians 
 of Cicero and the Philippics of Demost- 
 henes. I am not indeed sure if it be useful 
 to throw maxims so philosophical across a 
 monarchical constitution, which so many 
 have an interest in shaking ; but your 
 remonstrances breathed the spirit of public 
 good ; they explained to me the disorders 
 which my court and my ministers had 
 conspired to hide, and I have considered 
 them only under this point of view. 
 Notwithstanding, therefore, they held forth 
 some principles to which I could not as- 
 sent, I inwardly applauded your courage, 
 and felt that you had a right to my gratitude. 
 
 Our interviews, at which Maurepas was 
 present to judge us both, served to in- 
 crease my esteem, and I gave you that de- 
 partment of my house, vacant by the
 
 Of LEWIS XVI. 45 
 
 mission of la Vrilliere. You long balanced 
 whether you should come and breathe the 
 air of my court, so ill in sympathy with 
 the interesting simplicity of your mqpners. 
 But Turgot made you understand, that 
 without your aid he could operate no du- 
 rable good ; he determined you, and I es- 
 teemed him the more. You began your 
 ministry with a degree of .vigor no way 
 contradictory to my principles, by refusing 
 to make use of lettres de cachet, which 
 were so much complained of, and of which 
 your predecessor disposed at the will of his 
 favorites. The Bastille overflowed with 
 prisoners, who, after years of confinement, 
 were sometimes ignorant of their crimes, 
 and you restored to liberty all those, who 
 had only to reproach themselves with hav- 
 ing displeased these gentlemen in power, 
 arid such of the guilty as had been too 
 severely punished. You undertook useful 
 reforms in my military establishment; but 
 many persons conceived alarms. I had rea- 
 son to apprehend that the discontent might 
 produce troubles, resembling those of th
 
 46 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 League and the Fronde, and I was obliged 
 to reserve for an happier period the mo- 
 ment so dear to my heart, when, banishing 
 all vjun pomp, I shall have composed my 
 household of men of worth, such as you 
 who surround me, and shall have for my 
 guards the hearts of the French. 
 
 It is in this trying conj uncture, my dear 
 Malesherbes, that you ask leave to retire* 
 No, I will not grant your request ! you are 
 too necessary to my service, and when you 
 have read the whole of this letter, I know 
 enough of your sensibility, to believe that 
 you will cease your demand. Besides, it is 
 not at the very moment when you are 
 obliged to yield to circumstances, that you 
 ought to give your dismission j the court 
 will think you in disgrace, and thaf word, 
 when it relates to a subject so respectable as 
 yourself, ought never to pass my lips. 
 
 I expect you to morro,w at Maurepas's ; 
 be assured of my esteem and friendship. 
 
 c V LEWIS.
 
 or LEWIS xvi. 
 
 r> 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE FOURTH LETTER. 
 
 M. de Malesherbes is a character of whont 
 we may be lavish of praise, without the 
 censure of extravagance. This celebrated 
 personage had occupied the place of secretary 
 of state about nine months from the date 
 of this letter, having succeeded the Duke de 
 la Vrilliere the July preceding. Under Lewis 
 the fifteenth he held an office unknown in 
 civilised countries, which in France was 
 called Directeur de la librairie^ and whicl* 
 may be translated, Inspector of the press. 
 This place he appears tp have filled with 
 considerable satisfaction to all those whom, 
 it was his office to persecute, and impugn; 
 and the constituted goaler of the human 
 mind was hailed as the friend of freedom 
 and philosophy, and the protector of all en- 
 lightened men.
 
 48 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 But it appeal's that M. de Malesherbes not, 
 only protected philosophy and literature, 
 but carried the heroism of his office to a 
 still further excess, and placed the tribunal 
 of letters on a level with that of justice, 
 pretending that its decisions had the force 
 of law. Under his administration arose 
 that formidable power called public opinion, 
 which was destined, not only to brave, but 
 finally to overpower and crush despotic 
 authority. M. de Malesherbes was a disci- 
 ple, or rather a professor of the doctrine of 
 the perfectibility of the human mind, which 
 doctrine at that period had many illustrious 
 votaries; and it was in pursuance of this 
 theory that numerous reforms took place in 
 the French government on the accession of 
 Lewis the sixteenth. This prince was too 
 just not to feel and acquiesce in the necessity 
 of those reforms, but unfortunately had 
 neither sufficient strength to direct, or con- 
 stancy to support them. 
 
 M. de Malesherbes, therefore, comes for- 
 ward on the scene only to make us regret 
 kift loss j it does not appear what where the 
 
 immediate
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. , 
 
 immediate motives which led him to have 
 formed so decided a resolution as that 
 mentioned in the opening of this letter. It 
 was with considerable repugnance, and after 
 many interviews with the king, that he was 
 prevailed on to accept the place of minister. 
 He stipulated his conditions on his entering 
 into office ; conditions not such as the in- 
 terested usually bargain for in similar cir- 
 cumstances, conditions for himself, but sti- 
 pulations of benevolence and mercy foi? 
 others. Before he undertook the charge, he 
 received the royal promise, that no lettres d& 
 cachet should be signed, but such as he 
 presented j that his place should be held 
 during his own pleasure, and that his retreat 
 should not be obstructed by any royal re- 
 clamation. 
 
 In accepting this place he had yielded 
 to the entreaties of M. Turgot, who was 
 at that time in the full career of re- 
 form. These reforms Lewis appears to 
 have favored j whatever were the real sen-* 
 timents of the monarch, M. de M alesherbes 
 was persuaded at the time of hi* sincerity, 
 
 VOL. j.
 
 5(5 COllRUSPONDENC-E 
 
 and published this opinion as one of the 
 leading motives of his acceptance. It seems, 
 however, that a more intimate connection had 
 led him to change his opinion ; and as he saw 
 the storm gathering on the horizon, he was 
 resolved to shelter himself in due season. 
 
 M. de Malesherbes was president of the 
 cour des aides at the time when Lewis the 
 fifteenth determined to suppress the parlia- 
 ments. Whatever opposition might have 
 existed in these judiciary corporations against 
 the royal authority, the remedy proposed by 
 M. de Malesherbes in the convocation of 
 the States-General, would have had little 
 tendency to diminish. He was right in 
 observing that courts of justice were im- 
 perfect organs of the public will, but national 
 representation, such as that by the States- 
 General, was still less likely to be the sup- 
 port of arbitrary power. HOAV fatal to such 
 power was this plan of M. Malesherbes, 
 when carried into execution twenty years 
 afterwards, the history of the revolution has 
 shewn : in the present instance, it is his in- 
 tegrity as administrator, and his knowledge
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 5] 
 
 as financier, which the king mentions with 
 such distinguished eulogium. 
 
 " Nature, " says the king, " has given you 
 the soul of a citizen;" the expression does 
 honor to the personage by whom it was 
 penned, and still more to the virtuous mi- 
 nister to whom it is addressed. Great 
 credit is due to the judgment of the king 
 as such, in the critique which he passes on 
 the philosophical maxims which pervaded 
 the remonstrances in question. The know- 
 ledge of M. de Malesherbes's democratic and 
 anti-catholic principles, were not dissembled 
 by him, but he knew also how to dis- 
 tinguish between the real lover of his coun- 
 try, and the secret enemy of the altar, if not 
 the lukewarm friend of the throne. 
 
 No part of the administration entrusted 
 to M. de Malesherbes appears to have oc- 
 cupied him more than the abuses relative to 
 letlrcs de cachet. In a memorial presented 
 to the king, he states that lie found that more 
 than half the number of prisoners in the 
 Bastille, and the dungeons of Vincennes, had 
 
 J 2
 
 53 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 been confined upwards of fifteen years, and 
 that their loss of reason rendered them un- 
 fit for the enjoyment of liberty. The horror 
 which a benevolent mind must feel at such 
 discovery can be easily comprehended ; but it 
 was less the sight of the victims, than the 
 power of making such, which excited those 
 emotions. " I shuddered," exclaims this be- 
 nevolent minister, " on my entering into 
 office, when I found myself seated at my 
 bureau, opposite to a single secretary, and 
 absolute master of pronouncing arbitrarily r 
 and without appeal, sentences of so dreadful 
 a nature. " 
 
 The whole of this letter, which was com-* 
 municated to the editor by M. de Malesherbes, 
 places the king in a most respectable, and 
 amiable point of view. He appears solicitous 
 to enter into a confederacy with enlightened 
 and virtuous men against those who sur- 
 rounded him, and whom he represents as 
 interested in misleading his opinions, and 
 preventing that of the public from ever 
 reaching his ear. He talks of the wisdom of 
 Maurepas, 4nd the intrepidity of Turgot r
 
 OP LEWIS xvr, 55 
 
 UK if this wisdom and intrepidity, like the 
 men who are designated as the possessors, 
 were the objects of his earnest choice. It 
 were to argue a great deficiency in candor 
 not to believe, that these professions when 
 they were made, proceeded from a mind that 
 felt their full influence. Youth is the season 
 of ingenuity j the king spoke as he felt; but 
 youth also is the season of inconstancy, an<? 
 unhappily this was one of Lewis the i6th'$, 
 constitutional defects. Those who charge him 
 with hypocrisy at this early age know but 
 little of the human heart ; nor ought the 
 perseverance of M, de Malesherbes, even af tqr 
 the affectionate conclusion of this letter, to 
 be construed into any other motive, than that 
 of seeing the approaching triumph of the 
 enemies to reform, and probably what the 
 king did not himself at the time perceive, an 
 approaching disposition to yield to those 
 whom he represents to his minister as his 
 most dangerous enemies. 
 
 We have made a few cursory observa- 
 tions on three of the ministers who at this 
 period composed the administration, the chief
 
 5 i CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 director of which was the Count deMaurepas, 
 who has been styled the Mentor of the 
 French monarch. M. de Maurepas was called 
 to the direction of puhlic affairs by Lewis 
 the sixteenth, from an exile of twenty-five 
 years, during the reign of his grand-father. 
 Lewis the fifteenth inherited from his pre- 
 decessor none of the few virtues he posses- 
 sed, and all his vices. Though endowed 
 with few faculties for governing, and deli- 
 vered up to the grossest sensualities, he 
 had contrived nevertheless j in following the 
 maxims left him by Lewis the fourteenth, 
 to keep the nation in the same state of po- 
 litical and civil servitude- in which he had 
 found it. His increasing age and debauchery 
 lessened still more the few powers he pos- 
 sessed ; the government of the state fell 
 under the direction of ministers,* who very 
 faithfully adhered to, and even perfected the 
 systematic despotism of the master. Of 
 these ministers Maupeou and Terray were- 
 the most intrepid in combating the philo- 
 sophic opinions which were then opening on 
 France, and punishing, N in various modes,, 
 their authors and abettors. Their Last vi--
 
 OP LEWIS xvr. 55 
 
 gorous act of despotism was the dissolution 
 of the Parliaments, whose privileges, howe^, er 
 limited, served yet as a ,dyke against the 
 erection of the monarchy into an absolute 
 and indeterminate tyranny. One of the first 
 acts of the Count de Maurepas was the re- 
 call of the exiled Parliaments, and the dis- 
 grace of the late king's ministers. A total 
 revolution was operated in the internal go- 
 vernment by the dimission of M-aupeou, 
 Terray, and their colleagues, whose places 
 were occupied by Turgot and Male^herbes; 
 and the definitive disgrace of the Duke of 
 Choiseul humbled the Austrian. party, which, 
 under the protection of the queen, was gaining 
 influence in the cabinet of Versailles. 
 
 ;-*&^j *"?&:;*.-/ i 3uM* 
 Whether M. de Maurepas was himself 
 imbued with liberal sentiments, no minister 
 could have acted with more efficacy towards 
 the destruction of that systematic tyranny 
 which had weighed hitherto on France. A 
 visible and very potent motive for action 
 may indeed be found in his personal re- 
 sentment against the ministers of Lewis 
 the fifteenth; but though the recall of the-
 
 56 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 Parliaments might have been necessary to 
 strengthen his own authority, while it les- 
 sened that of the crown, yet the admission of 
 
 administration of affairs, men of revolution- 
 ary energy, and incorruptible faith, would 
 lead us to suppose that he had some more 
 honorable feeling than resentment to gratify, 
 jpid that notwithstanding what has been 
 called the inconceivable lightness of his cha- 
 racter, he was himself the friend of many 
 of those reforms which afterwards took 
 place in the government. If those men 
 were only the* instruments of his ambition, 
 to keep himself in place, and the king un- 
 der his tuition, it is less his levity than his 
 rashness which appears inconceivable.
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 67 
 
 A M. Turgot. 
 
 Ce i5 Avril, 1776. 
 
 VOTRE administration bienfaisaiite, mon 
 cher Turgot, vous fait honneur ; elle obtient 
 1 'approbation dc tous les Franc, ais. Vos vues 
 grandes et sages, le bien que vous operez, 
 les services que vous me rendez , ne sau- 
 roient s'oublier; ils sont graves dans nia 
 memoire, et encore, plus dans mon cocur. 
 Que cette lettre soit pour vous un temoi- 
 gnage de la satisfaction de votre roi et de 
 votrc ami. Continuez de faire le boiilieur 
 des Franc, ais, 6t vous ferez celui d'un roi 
 qui ne veut etre que le pere dc ses sujets. 
 J'ai lu votre memoire, il est remplide vues 
 sages et utiles, mais je crains que ce ne soit 
 la encore le reve d'un liommc de bicn. Nous 
 le mcditerons ensemble., et pcut-etre que,
 
 58 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 par ce jnoyen , nous pourrons reparer bien 
 des maux, et amener d'utiles changemens. 
 
 Adieu. 
 
 LOUIS. 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 
 L E T T E PL V. 
 
 To M. Turgot. 
 
 April i5 ; 
 
 YOUR benevolent administration, my 
 dear Turgot, does you honor, and obtains 
 the approbation of every Frenchman. The 
 greatness and wisdom of your views, the 
 good you effectuate, and the service you 
 have rendered me, cannot be forgotten ; 
 they are engraved on my memory, and, 
 still deeper on my heart. May this letter
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 69 
 
 be a witness for you of the satisfaction 
 you have conferred on your king and your 
 friend. Continue to render the French 
 happy, and you will thus bestow hap- 
 piness on a king, whose only desire is to 
 be the father of his subjects. I have read 
 your note; it is replete with wise and useful 
 projects, but I fear that this also is only the 
 dream of a good man. We will meditate 
 together upon these things, and we may, 
 perhaps, by this means repair many evils, 
 and produce useful changes. Adieu. 
 
 LEWIS, 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE FIFTH LETTER. 
 
 THE name of M. ibrgot has become so 
 familiar, and his acts when minister have 
 had so considerable an inlluence on the fate
 
 6o CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 of the French nation, that it is almost needles* 
 to enter into any details respecting either hig 
 personal history, or that of his administra- 
 tion. It is from the time that this celebrated 
 personage was called to the functions of 
 comptroller or minister of finance, that we 
 may date the epocha of the French revo- 
 lution; for though this great event really took 
 place after the lapse of fifteen years, yet 
 the principles of government which he in- 
 troduced, the reforms which he made, and 
 the still greater which he meditated, annex 
 to his name the honor or the reproach of 
 being the father of the French revolution. 
 
 Turgot was destined by his family for holy 
 orders; he received an ecclesiastical educa- 
 tion at the seminary of St. Sulpice, and was 
 prior of the Sorbonne. One of his discourses 
 at that period has been noticed for its elo- 
 quence : the subject was the utility which 
 nations have reaped from the Christian Re- 
 ligion. The morality of the Pagans, he ob- 
 serves in this / discodlse, consisted only in 
 the art of forming citizens of a certain 
 nation, or philosophers distinguished by the
 
 OF LEWIS xri. 6 1 
 
 pre-eminence of their maxims superior to 
 that of their cotemporaries ; while Chris- 
 tian morality, on the contrary, had obliga- 
 tory maxims and duties for its basis, and 
 creates in man a new creature i that it was 
 the protectress of equality of rights; la- 
 bored for the destruction of domestic and 
 feudal slavery; and contributed, by the mild- 
 ness of its precepts, to soften that restless 
 and turbulent spirit which characterised the 
 nations of the ancient world. There is 
 nothing new in these observations; but the 
 opinion of so eminent a man as Turgot in 
 a point of such infinite importance is at all 
 times -worth the repetition. Had the re- 
 forming philosophers of our days thought or 
 written as reasonably as their master, we 
 thould have less to lament certain effects of 
 the French revolution. 
 
 M. Turgot soon afterwards endeavoured 
 to establish a doctrine which has met with 
 A more favorable reception ; that of the con- 
 tinual progress of the human mind to a 
 tate of perfection, or what is called tho 
 doctrine of perfectibility. In this work, whiolt
 
 6a CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 remains unfmislied, he speaks of certain 
 events as hastening this great amelioration; 
 One of those events was the American re- 
 volution, which he lived to see accomplished; 
 of the effects of this revolution he conceived 
 hopes, -which, under the administration of 
 the wise president who is now called to 
 govern that vast country, seem likely to be 
 realised. 
 
 This system of perfectibility was not an 
 idle hypothesis in the mind of M. Turgot. 
 It was a principle on which he constantly 
 acted, and the province of Limoges, of which, 
 he was the Intendaiit for fifteen or twenty 
 years, beheld the phenomenon of an admi- 
 nistrator, whose eiforls were habitually di- 
 rected to counteract or soften the fiscal ca- 
 lamities, which his predecessors or colleagues 
 had so often thought it their duty to aid or 
 aggravate. He was never known to publish 
 an edict or declaration which tended to 
 burden the people. Though an executive 
 officer only, he constantly refused his obe- 
 dience, and it was one of those refusals 
 \vhich first made him noticed by the king.
 
 OP LEWIS xvr. 65 
 
 When the intendants were sent to their 
 provinces, it was usual to introduce them 
 into the counsel to receive their instructions; 
 those which M. Turgot received from the 
 Abbe Terray contained orders for new taxes, 
 the imposition of which he resisted with 
 firmness, and prayed the king to receive his 
 dismission rather than make him an in- 
 strument of crushing his subjects, already 
 too much oppressed. The king said not a 
 word, but soon after Turget was called to 
 the ministry of the marine, from whence 
 he was summoned to fill the post of comp- 
 troller of finance, in the place of the Abb 
 Terray. 
 
 This important office was accepted by M. 
 Turgot with much hesitation, and after the 
 stipulation of several conditions, of which 
 the principle were severe economy, no 
 bankruptcy, no new taxes, and no loans. 
 The motives for these requisitions were ex- 
 plained in a memorial, and are too obvious 
 to be noticed. When he entered into office, 
 he found his department in the greatest 
 disorder, as might well be imagined j the
 
 64 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 expenditure exceeding the receipt, antici- 
 pations on the revenue, and considerable 
 arrears. His first great operation was the 
 establishment of the liberty of the corn 
 trade throughout the interior of France, 
 which gave general satisfaction to the coun- 
 try, but which met with violent partial op- 
 position from such as were interested in the 
 restriction. Among the most formidable of 
 M. Turgot's antagonists on this occasion, was 
 M. Necker, then a banker at Paris^ whose 
 hostility is marked by the memorialists of 
 the time as less the effect of difference of 
 opinion respecting the object, than of envy 
 at seeing his own plans of reformation fore- 
 stalled. He wept (it is the brother of M. 
 Turgot that speaks) like Alexander at the 
 conquests of his father, conquests which he 
 wished himself to have made. Impelled by 
 feelings of resentment, M. Necker attacked 
 plans which tended to 'regenerate France, 
 and the most important of its concerns, 
 that of trade and finance. His pamphlet ap- 
 peared at the moment that the famous revolt, 
 excited by the enemies of the minister, took 
 place at Paris. 
 
 The
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 
 
 65 
 
 The great basis of M. Target's opera- 
 tions, called the system of the economists, 
 was the amelioration of landed property, and 
 the augmentation of its produce, on which 
 he proposed to form the principal establish- 
 ment of the revenues of the state. This 
 tax, under the name of the hnp6t - fonder y 
 or land tax, forms at present half the reve- 
 nue of the French republic. In pursuance 
 of this system, he was under the necessity 
 of using measures which thwarted the in- 
 terests of many and powerful individuals j but 
 as he manifested a disinterestedness in this 
 reform, which turned to the advantage of the 
 public, and to the immediate relief of the 
 lower classes, the enthusiasm of the nation, 
 seconded his projects, and procured him the 
 title, which he ever since retained, of the 
 virtuous minister. 
 
 Thus supported, M.'Turgot undertook the 
 total regeneration of the state. Every reform 
 which he made or proposed created him hosts 
 of enemies j for as every reform diminished 
 the power or the privileges of individuals 
 in favor of Ihe people, those \vho suffered 
 
 VOL. i. r
 
 66 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 were of course loud in their exclamations. 
 To those clamors he had to oppose the be- 
 nedictions of the people whom he relieved 
 or enriched : the approbation of the king 
 supported him against the calumnies and 
 menaces of the court, nor does it appear 
 that lie was insensible to the requitals of 
 the Muse, who, in the person of the philo- 
 sopher of Ferney, contributed 
 
 " To spread his name o'er lands and seas, 
 
 " Whatever clime the sun's bright circle warms.' 1 
 
 Voltaire, who so often had prostituted hi 
 pen to vain eulogium on the great, addressed 
 himself at the close of his life to the good. 
 The following are the verses which he sent 
 toM. Turgot: 
 
 On m'accuse d'avoir cliante 
 Maupeou , Terray. ... a ma patrie 
 Odieux pour 1'eternite : 
 Alors je pris la liberte 
 D'abuser de la poesie; 
 J'employai le pinceau brillant 
 De 1'art et de la flatterie. 
 Mais aujourd'hui lorsque je crie
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. 67 
 
 Presque des bords du monument 
 
 Oil je vais deposer ma vie, 
 
 Que inon pays a son Titus , 
 
 Son Sully , son second Turenne, 
 
 Que les beaux- arts, et les vertus 
 
 Annoncenl sa gloire prochaine, 
 
 Mes accens n'en imposent plus, 
 
 Et i'ai pris ma voix naturelle. 
 
 C'est pour le coup que tout est bien ; 
 
 It le poete au vrai fidele 
 
 West plus qu'un simple historien. 
 
 The approbation of M. de Voltaire was, 
 however, no evidence of extraordinary merit 
 in the minister, since the poet had been almost 
 always lavish of his praises towards men in 
 power. But M. Turgot, it is said, had some 
 peculiar claims to his attention, since amidst 
 the reforms meditated was one in which this 
 philosophic writer had labored the greater 
 part of his life. M. Turgot, though once a 
 prosessed believer in the truths of Christianity, 
 is represented as having become sceptical as 
 he advanced in years. These anti-religious 
 dispositions were regarded by the clergy as 
 not only dangerous in a minister, but pecu- 
 liarly so in an economical minister of finance. 
 
 ra
 
 68 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 This heretical pravity might have been toltf- 
 rated had it been confined to Speculative 
 doctrines, but the alarm for the safety of the 
 church and state became general, among the 
 clergy at least, when thy heard of such eco- 
 nomical projects as that of changing the place 
 of royal consecration from Rheims to Paris; 
 of dislodging the holy phial brought from 
 heaven by the pigeon; of altering a few phrases 
 of the coronation oath which appeared more 
 favorable to the priesthood than the laity; 
 and omitting the obligation of exterminating 
 heretics; 
 
 It does not appear at first sight to commort 
 observers, nor even after longer reflection can 
 it be well conjectured, the connection that 
 subsists between operations of finance and 
 innovations in matters of faith. The clergy, 
 who from education and habit are in general 
 men of deeper reflection and longer foresight 
 than other men, and whose scent of heresy 
 is consequently more sagacious, saw the 
 necessary connection that existed between 
 the pigeon of Rheims, the baptism of Clovis, 
 with other matters of like religious obser-
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 69 
 
 vance, and the due maintenance of the majesty 
 of the church. They felt that the financial 
 speculation which could extend itself to the 
 distant detail of an economical consecration, 
 might, perchance, in the intermediary space 
 fix its eyes on their benefices, abbeys, tythes, 
 ecclesiastical forests, and other immense do- 
 mains; and that till the reform of Rheims 
 took place, which was to save so much future 
 expence to the state, the minister might amuse 
 himself, in computing what advantages might 
 be gained to the people at present, in making 
 economical experiments on the property of 
 the Church. As the constituted guardians of 
 the ecclesiastical weal, the clergy were founded 
 in the remonstrances which they made at this 
 period, and of which we may speak more 
 fully hereafter. Some of this order there were, 
 no doubt, who deemed of the holy pigeon and 
 the baptism of Clovis, as M. Turgot, M. de 
 Malesherbes, and Lewis the sixteenth, at the 
 time had deemed, but those were of that class 
 of philosophers who were called at the time 
 the incredulous or infidel clergy. The rest 
 thought more wisely, if not more conscien- 
 tiously, and reasoned like the senator Crassus
 
 rjO CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 mentioned by Livy, who reproached his Caste 
 with their iiuliilerence to t!.e pcckings of the 
 holy chicken, the observance of which belonged 
 exclusively to the patrician order, and had 
 raised thei^ 1 commonwealth to the highest 
 pitch of greatness. 
 
 To enter into any further detail of the 
 reforms of M. Turgot would be unnecessary, 
 since they have appeared before the public 
 in various ways, and have been carried into 
 their full effect by the revolution. The king's 
 letter is so much the more interesting as it 
 paints his real sentiments with respect to 
 M. Turgot and his operations. What the 
 particular memorial is to which the king 
 alludes we know not ; but it appears, that it 
 was some great project of future reform 
 which the minister meditated. While the 
 king remained in these sentiments he merited 
 no doubt the title of Titus, which the poet 
 bestowed on him ; but we have only to turn 
 to the following letter to see what was the 
 faie of our modern Sully.
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. 71 
 
 LETTRE VI. 
 
 r A M. de Malesherbes. 
 
 \> 
 
 Versailles, 2 Mai, 1776. 
 
 TURGOT, mon clier Malesherbes, ne con- 
 vient plus a la place qu'il occupe; il est 
 tr.op entier, meme dans le bien qu'il croit 
 faire. Le despotisme , a ce que je vois, n'est 
 bon a rien , dut-il forcer un grand peuple a 
 etre heureux. Le parlement, la noblesse, 
 Maurepas sur-tout , qui m'aime ve"ritable- 
 ment, demandent sa retraite , et je viens de 
 3a signer; je ne vois pas pourquoi cet acte 
 de rigueur, necessaire a l<i tranquillite pu- 
 blique , entraineroit votre demission : vous 
 avez les talens de Turgot, mais non 1'asp^- 
 rite de son caractere j vous etes tolerant 
 sans etre foible, et le bien que vous deses- 
 perez de faire aujourd'hui, vous avez la sa- 
 gesse de le renvoyer an lendemaiu..
 
 7 fl CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 Restez au ministere , mon cher Males- 
 herbes; votre franchise rn'est necessaire en- 
 core , et vous la devez a votre ami , si vous 
 ne la devez pas a votre roi. 
 
 LOUIS. 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 To M. de Malesherbes. 
 
 Versailles, May 2, 1776. 
 
 TURGOT, my dear Malesherbes, is no 
 longer fit for the place he occupies; he is 
 too pertinacious, even in the good he 
 wishes to do. Despotism, in my opinion, 
 is good for nothing, even when it would 
 force a great people to be happier. The
 
 OF :LEWIS XYI. 7 5 
 
 parliament, the nobility, and, above all, 
 Maurepas, who loves me sincerely, demand 
 his retreat, and I have just signed it. I do 
 not see why this act of vigor, necessary 
 for public tranquillity, should occasion 
 your dismission. You possess. Turgot's 
 talents without his asperity of character ; 
 you are tolerant without being weak ; and 
 the good which you despair of accomplish- 
 ing to-day, you have the wisdom to defer 
 till to-morrow. 
 
 Remain in the ministry, my dear Males- 
 herbes; your freedom of character is still 
 necessary to me, and it is a debt you owe 
 to your friend, if not to your king. 
 
 LEWIS.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE SIXTH LETTER. 
 
 3VL Turgot had now reached the end of 
 his ministerial career. He had succeeded in 
 gaining enemies wherever he proposed re- 
 forms, and as his principal support, next to 
 the rectitude of his views, had been the appro- 
 bation of the king, he had only to fall when 
 this last stay bent under him. 
 
 Two or three days before the king pro- 
 nounced the sentence of dismission against 
 him, M. Turgot observed to the monarch that 
 this event must soon necessarily take place. 
 He had already given Lewis some intimation 
 on this subject in preceding letters, and, 
 conscious by what a feeble thread he hung 
 when it was on the king's favor and perse- 
 verance, he observed to him with some- 
 what of prophetic harshness, that the fate of
 
 OF LEWIS XVt. "70 
 
 weak princes was that of Charles the first of 
 England, or of Charles the ninth of France. 
 
 It is to M. de Malesherbes that the king 
 imparts his intention; it is to the friend and 
 colleague of the minister he is about to dis- 
 grace that he brings the accusation. Turgot, 
 my dear Malesherbes, is what? an ambi- 
 tious, inattentive, or prodigal minister? no! 
 he is too obstinately persevering in the good 
 he would do too inflexibly just. "What a 
 minister! What an accusation! "Des- 
 potism," says the king, "is good for nothing, 
 even when employed to force the people to 
 be happy." This sentiment taken in the 
 abstract is just, and even sublime when pro- 
 ceeding from the lips of a monarch; but the 
 following sentence of the king's letter fur- 
 nishes the commentary of the apophthegm 
 and the excuse of the minister. 
 
 "The parliament, the nobility, Manrepas, 
 especially, who loves me, demand his dis- 
 mission, and I am going to sign it." This was 
 the division against the minister in his 
 favor were his inflexibility in good, the ap-
 
 J 6 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 plauses of the wise and virtuous, and the 
 benedictions of the people. But this is a 
 subject too serious for declamation ; let us 
 review in an authentic document this host 
 of enemies held up by the king against his 
 minister; let us read the defence of this 
 minister, not in apologies written by himself, 
 or his friends, but in the solemn and public 
 acts of the monarch, confirming the great 
 reforms which Turgot ha,d projected. 
 
 . 
 This act is the answer of the king to the 
 
 remonstrances which the parliament made 
 against the enregistering the edicts for the 
 suppression of the Jurandes, (the privileges 
 of the companies of Arts and Trades), of the 
 Corvees, and for the generalisation of the 
 Faille or personal tax. This answer was 
 given about six weeks previous to the dis- 
 mission of M. Turgot. 
 
 " I have examined," says the king, " with 
 great attention the remonstrances of my 
 parliament ; they contain nothing which 
 has not been foreseen and maturely di- 
 gested, before I decided on sending my edicts.
 
 or urwis xvi. 77 
 
 and declarations. But my parliament ought 
 to have seen that all these laws (the Ju- 
 randes) have for their object to secure 
 abundance in my good city of Paris, to release 
 commerce from restrictions that were in- 
 jurious to its prosperity, and to provide 
 relief for such of my subjects as subsist 
 only by their manual labor, and who are 
 the most exposed to indigence (Corvees) : 
 my intention is not to confound rank, nor 
 to deprive the nobility of my kingdom of 
 those distinctions which it has acquired by 
 its services, which it has always enjoyed 
 under the kings my predecessors, and which 
 I will always maintain. There is no question 
 here of an humiliating impost (Taille or per- 
 sonal tax), but of a simple tax to which . 
 every one will think himself honored in 
 contributing, since I myself have set the 
 example, by contributing in proportion to 
 my domains. I am happy to believe that 
 my parliament has been moved only by its 
 zeal, for I can never suppose that it lias 
 any intention to withdraw i I self from the 
 submission which it owes me; but now 
 that I have explained myself the motives
 
 7 8 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 which engage me to persist in my resolu- 
 tion, I expect that it will no longer defer 
 proceeding to the pure and simple enregis- 
 tering of my edicts and declarations. It 
 may rest assured, that if I hereafter find 
 that any of the articles contain inconve- 
 niences which 1 have not been able to fore- 
 see, my regard for my people will engage 
 me to remedy them." 
 
 The parliament continuing refractory, the 
 king a few days after held a bed of justice, 
 in which he enregistered M. Turgot's edicts. 
 " There is none," said the king, " who love 
 the people but myself and M. Turgot." 
 The monarch at this time acted from no 
 impulse of enthusiasm $ it was the result of 
 calm reflective deliberation. The parliament 
 had remonstrated, the nobility, the courtiers, 
 the whole caste of the privileged of every 
 description, the titled, and the rich, had put 
 themselves in insurrection against the mi- 
 nister; the king had weighed their objec- 
 tions, had considered all the tendencies and 
 bearings of M. Turgot's reforms, and yet 
 stood stern with the minister against the
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. rtq 
 
 tempest. This triumph was, however, but 
 short. The rock against which Turgot leaned 
 was at length undermined. " Maurepas, 
 especially., who truly loves me," says the 
 king, " demands his retreat." If the former 
 part of the administration of this minister 
 favors the supposition that he acted sincerely 
 with respect to the reforms, though he was 
 more moderate in his views than the minis- 
 ters whom he introduced to the king, M. de 
 Maurepas, on further examination, appears 
 to be nothing but the mere courtier, and of 
 a nature more designing and dangerous than 
 it is commonly the misfortune of princes 
 to find. Two years before this period he 
 had expelled Maupeou and his parliament, 
 the creatures of the crown to the lowest 
 dregs of servility introducing a refractory 
 parliament and a reforming ministry. These 
 instruments were necessary for the conso- 
 lidation of his own power. Having gained 
 the ambitioned ascendancy over the monarch, 
 he now uses his influence to defeat these 
 new competitors for royal favor, and, alarmed 
 at the progress which liberal and philoso < 
 phical principles had made on the mind of
 
 80 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 the king, he checks at once the dangerous 
 propensity, and, with the authority of a Men- 
 tor, as he was entitled^ demands the mi- 
 nister's dismission. 
 
 Demand Turgot's dismission! the minister 
 might indeed be dismissed from the royal 
 presence, but could the recollection of his 
 virtues, his acts of beneficence, his enlarged 
 and noble projects, his great and stupendous 
 enterprise of calling a whole nation into 
 political existence, be dismissed from the 
 minds and hearts of the people? Vain il- 
 lusion! The immortal principle had now 
 takeriroot; that privileges when opposed to 
 the happiness and well being of the people 
 Were but dust in the balance, had fceen pro- 
 claimed loudly from the throne; the doctrine 
 was embodied, it had put on form and sub- 
 stance ; unlike the idle hypotheses of vision- 
 ary statesmen, there was in Turgot's plans 
 that full, practicable, and practised benevo- 
 lence, which comes from the heart and goes 
 to the heart. His capacious mind embraced 
 the universality of his country, it was the 
 love of mankind which devoured him. 
 
 Turgot
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. l 
 
 Turgot might be disgraced by the court, but 
 his name will for ever be held in honorable 
 remembrance by his country. A few years 
 only have intervened; the parliaments, the 
 nobility, Maurepas, the monarchy, have all 
 been swept away and what remains ? the 
 recollection of Turgot's virtues, and that 
 stupendous monument of which he laid the 
 foundation, the great and immortal principles 
 of the French revolution. 
 
 V "_ ' : -. '_ ' 4 w'Miiii 1 
 
 VOL. T. f,
 
 LET THE VII. 
 
 A M. de Malesherbes. 
 
 VOTRE obstinatioii m'afflige singuliere- 
 ment , nion cher Maleslierbes. Sully lie 
 quit to it jamais Henri IV quand ce prince 
 avoit besoin de ses lumiercs. Vous etes , si 
 vous me permettez de le dire, uii peu egoiste 
 dans votre vertu. 
 
 Enfin vous voulez votre retraite, et je 
 vous 1'accorde. Voyagez done, puisque vous 
 avez besoin de voir d'autres contrees que 
 celle qui vous regrette , et que vous pouviez 
 rendre heureuse. 
 
 A votre retour, venez me voir comme a 
 1'ordinaire^ et m'entretenir avec la nieme 
 intimit6 : mon visage , a cette epoque , ne
 
 OF LEAVIS XVI. 83 
 
 sera pas plus change que mon coeur; et, 
 n'ayant que de 1'estime l'un pour 1'autre, 
 nous n'aurous pas besoin de nous recoil- 
 cilier. 
 
 LOUIS. 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 To M. de Malesherbes. 
 
 Versailles, May 7, 1776* 
 
 C>flVJ V J J '. . \ .f V \-X O V.. 
 
 YOUR obstinacy, my dear MalcslicrbeS) 
 affects me singularly. Sully did not for- 
 sake Henry the fourth, when that prince 
 -Blood in need of his talents. You are, 
 permit me to tell you, somewhat of an 
 egotist in your virtue, Since, however., you 
 
 c a
 
 84 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 are determined to withdraw yourself, I 
 consent. Go, then, and travel, since you 
 wish to see other countries than that 
 which regrets you, and which you could 
 have rendered happy. 
 
 At your return come and see me a* 
 formerly, and let us resume the same in- 
 timacy in our intercourse. My counte- 
 nance will be no more changed than my 
 heart, and as our reciprocal sentiments arc 
 only those of mutual esteem, we shall not 
 stand in need of reconciliation. 
 
 LEWIS. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE SEVENTH IiETTER-.' 
 
 au\\% ..iHiC:.. 13 jiivr < L'ljj ^vf'jtt -'jtfj.fi 
 
 -!F any quality of Lewis the sixteenth 
 could equal his inconstancy and weakness, it 
 .was his simplicity in supposing that M. de
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. 85 
 
 Malesherbes would remain in the ministry 
 after the dismission of M. Turgot. At the. 
 close of the last letter the king, apologising 
 for this " act of rigor" against M. Turgot, 
 endeavours to retain M. de Malesherbes, by 
 representing to him that he possessed the 
 talents of his friend, without his asperity,, 
 and could wait patiently till the morrow for 
 the good he could not effect in the day. But 
 M. de Malesherbes knew well the instability 
 of the ground on which he sJLood, nor could 
 he, as a man of honor, remain in office 
 when his friend was expelled, and not only 
 his friend, but the principles also on which, 
 he acted, and which formed the basis of 
 their common association, 
 
 M. de Malesherbes did not hesitate ; his 
 resignation instantly followed the dismissioa 
 of M. Turgot; it appears from this letter, 
 that in the interval, which was only live days* 
 he had undergone much solicitation on the* 
 part of the king, since his steadiness of re- 
 fusal is characterised by obstinacy. The 
 king endeavours to win him over by com- 
 plaisant allusion*, and talks of Ileury the
 
 86 CORRESPONDENCf; 
 
 fourth and Sully. Whatever resemblance 
 might exist between himself and Sully, Males- 
 herbes must have felt how great was the 
 distance, in some points at least, between 
 Lewis the' sixteenth and his illustrious an- 
 cestor. He felt, also, that if he was, as the 
 king assures him, too selfish in his virtue, 
 he was not worthy of a better fate than his 
 friend, whom the monarch had just charac- 
 terised as being too " inflexible in his wish, 
 of doing good." M. de Malesherbes, with 
 all his zeal in the cause of the people, ' and 
 liis personal attachment to the king, an at- 
 tachment which the event proved to be sin- 
 cere, would not dishonor himself in the eyes 
 of his country and of posterity, by con- 
 tinuing to hold his place ! He disdained to 
 be the instrument of an. intriguing hypo- 
 critical minister, and refused to yield to the- 
 ling's solicitations. M. de Maurepas had 
 now gained so great an ascendancy over Lewis, 
 that it became vain to hope that other coun- 
 sels would be followed than such as this 
 minister suggested, especially after the fatal 
 influence which he >had exerted in the dis- 
 mission of his late colleague.
 
 OF L.EWIS XVI. 
 
 LETTRE VIII. 
 
 A M. de Maurepas. 
 
 ( Sans dale. ) 
 
 ON" veut le renvoi de M. de St.-Germain. 
 Vous vous plaignez vous-meme, inon cher 
 Maurepas, des innovations et des reformes 
 que son zele , pour irion service, lui a fait 
 iaire. J'etois persuade que ces reformes et 
 ccs innovations Violent u til es. Dans moil 
 conseil d'li-tat j'ai souvent entendu, avee 
 iiiteret , la lecture de ses memoires ; ils me 
 paroissoient dictes par la sagesse , 1'amour 
 de Tordre et dc 1'economie. St.-Gcnnain m& 
 plaisoit, niaiaon se liguc centre lui ; scs eii- 
 ncmis out jure sapcrte. II a perdu votre con- 
 fiaiicc, man cher Maurepas, il nc pourroit 
 plus fairc le bit'ii. Je suis force de i'cloigner, 
 mais je vous avoue que son meinoire a fait 
 sur moi la plus vive impression. C'est a 
 regret que je lui domic un successeur. : je
 
 88 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 rlevrois peut-etre, en cette circonstance , 
 resister a mon corrseil, mais je dois, quoi- 
 que roi , fa ire ceder mon opinion a celle de 
 la majorite , et j'ai signe , 
 
 LOUIS. 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 
 LETTER VIIL 
 
 To M. de Maurepas. 
 
 ( Without dale. ) 
 
 THE removal of M. de St. Germain is 
 generally wished for, and you yourself, my 
 dear Maurepas, complain of the innovations 
 and reforms, which his zeal for my service 
 led him to introduce. I was persuaded 
 that these reforms and innovations were 
 useful, and in my council of state have
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 89 
 
 often listened with interest to his memo- 
 rials, which appeared to me to be dictated 
 by wisdom, the love of order, and eco- 
 nomy. St. Germain was agreeable to me, 
 but there is a league formed against him; 
 his enemies have sworn his destruction ; he 
 has lost your confidence, my dear Mau- 
 repas; he could, therefore, no longer do 
 good, and I am compelled to remove him : 
 but I acknowledge that his memorials have 
 left a strong impression on my mind, and 
 I name his successor with regret. Perhaps 
 I ought on this occasion to resist the de- 
 cisions of my council, but I am obliged, 
 although a king, to yield my own opinion 
 lo that of the majority, and I have signed. 
 
 LEWIS.
 
 C)O CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE EIGHTH LETTER. 
 
 HAD we not received sufficient evidence of 
 the instability of the king's resolutions and 
 of the texture of his moral courage, this letter 
 would furnish another striking example. 
 M. de St. Germain was not only personally 
 agreeable to Lewis the sixteenth, but he seems, 
 while he is expelling him from his councils, 
 to take pleasure in making his eulogium. 
 The king was persuaded .that those reforms 
 were useful; the memorials of the minister 
 were dictated by wisdom, the love of order 
 and economy; they had made the most lively 
 impression on his mind, " but," says the king, 
 with singular simplicity, " his enemies have 
 sworn his ruin. You yourself, my dear Mau- 
 repas, have complained of the innovations 
 and reforms which his zeal for my service 
 has led him to make. "
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. tji 
 
 That the enemies of " wisdom, of the lo; e 
 of order and economy, " should have sworn 
 the ruin of a reforming minister was per- 
 fectly natural ; that the wily Mentor should 
 wish to check the ascendancy which this 
 upright minister had gained over the mind 
 of his royal pupil, is also very reasonable; 
 these men acted in conformity to their in- 
 stinct; but who in reviewing this history of 
 dismissals, the secret causes of which are laid 
 open in this correspondence, can avoid de- 
 ploring the fate of the king, placed, like Medea, 
 between the good and the evil, appreciating 
 with all the feelings of honor and integrity 
 which belong to virtuous men, the one, and 
 yet, though armed with power to pursue it, 
 submitting and resolving to consummate the 
 ' other ? And who, raising his mind above the 
 intrigues of courts, and the littleness of in- 
 dividuals, but must mourn over the fate of 
 nations enstrustcd to such parasites, and such 
 princes? The king is convinced, he tells his 
 favorite, that the enemies of the minister are 
 the enemies of his plans of doing good; and 
 who docs he drive from his presence? tho 
 rapacious and prodigal banditti that form
 
 9 2 GORRESPONDENCE 
 
 the majority of his counsels ? No ! it is the 
 man of integrity and worth; the minis er of 
 his choice, who enjoys and merits all his 
 consideration and estee m I believe it is. 
 generally admitted that M. de St. Germain's 
 plans of reform did not deserve all the ap- 
 probation which the monarch has bestowed 
 on them, and that his retreat from ministry 
 was not marked with that nobleness and in- 
 dependence of character which distinguished 
 his two other colleagues. The king, however, 
 had the fullest impression of the utility of 
 these plans, the greatest personal confidence 
 in his minister's administration j but as this 
 minister had lost the confidence of his council 
 and courtiers, he sentences him to the im- 
 possibility of any longer doing good. 
 
 TJie administration of these three ministers 
 is the most important epocha of the reign of 
 Lewis the sixteenth till the revolution. Of 
 that event those men were the presiding 
 causes ; and if the good intentions of the king 
 had been seconded by firmness of character, 
 the reformation of abuses, and the gradual in- 
 troduction of civil and po iti.cal liberty, would
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. g5 
 
 have spared his country many of the cala- 
 mities -which it has suffered from the re- 
 volution, and himself the dreadful catastrophe 
 by which at length he fell.
 
 fj4 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 LETTRE IX. 
 
 A M. de Forbonais. 
 
 Ce 16 Janvier, 1778. 
 
 Sous le gouvernement cles rois qui m'ont 
 precede, monsieur, des circonstances mal- 
 heureuses et imprevues ont forme la dette 
 publique; j'ai cherche tous les moyeris de 
 1'eteindre; j'ai consulte les hornmes qui joi- 
 gnirent la theorie a la pratique ; j'ai confie 
 les places administratives , en cette partie , 
 aux financiers les plus habiles : ils ne ni'ont 
 offert, pour remede, que des empmnts, des 
 impots, ou la baiiqueroute j des projets de- 
 sastreux de banque, ou des actes fraudu- 
 leux. Ruiner FEtat, ou pressurer le peuplej 
 voila tout leur secret ! Ce n'estpas aiiisi que 
 Sully acquittoit les dettes contractees par le 
 bon Henri, apres une guerre longue et san- 
 glante, lorsque les forfaits de la Ligue, la 
 liaine des Catholiques, et la mefiance des 
 Protestans semblerent oter toute confiance ; 
 Sully ne se borna point a de bizarres specu-
 
 or LEWIS xvi. g5 
 
 lations, il meprisoit les esprits systcmati- 
 ques : ce n'est que dans Teconomie qu'il 
 trotivoit des ressources. Exciter I'industrie, 
 proleger ragricullurc, encourager le com- 
 merce; voila toute sa politique, toute ses 
 ressources et tous ses moyens financiers. Je 
 ne m'etonne plus si mon aieul, le grand 
 Henri , que mon cceur cherit et revere , 
 avoit acquis, par les services de cet excel- 
 lent ministre , le coeur des Francais. Henri 
 etoit adore, et cependant j'ose vous assurer 
 qu'il ne pouvoit pas aimer le peuple d'un 
 amour plus tendre que celui que je pqrte a 
 tous mes sujets. M. de Forbonais sera pour 
 moi le Sully du sieclexle Henri. Depuis qua-? 
 runic ans vous avez occupe des places , ou 
 A olre noble desintercssement a fait epoque: 
 vous avez prouve que , vos connoisftances 
 ctoient reelles, que yos talens n'emprunte-i 
 rent rien des faux systemes : osea entre- 
 
 V .;-> :'^.:.- _ . 
 
 proridre et executer; spyez le bienfaiteur de 
 la nation , le guide ; cle hos financiers, Jc 
 couseil de votre, roi^ eauvez, 1'Ktat, ve,iu z 
 
 accepter la place dont vous etcs digue. 
 
 , . '., 
 
 I
 
 C)6 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 To M. de Forbonais. 
 
 January 16, 1778. 
 
 DURING the government of the late kings 
 my predecessors, Sir, unhappy and unfore- 
 seen circumstances formed the public debt, 
 which I have tried every means of liqui- 
 dating, and on which I have consulted 
 persons, who joined theory to practice. I 
 have confided the places of this part of 
 the administration to the most able finan- 
 ciers, and they have presented me with 
 no other remedies than loans, taxes, or 
 bankruptcy, disastrous projects of bank- 
 ers, or fraudulous acts. To ruin the state, 
 and oppress the people, eems to be the 
 whole of their, secret. It was hot thus 
 that Sully acquitted the debts contracted 
 by the good Henry, during a long and 
 bloody war, when the crimes of the League ? 
 
 the
 
 OP LEWIS xvr. 0,7 
 
 the hatred of the catholics, and the mis-" 
 trusts of the protestants, seemed to have 
 destroyed all confidence. Sully did not 
 confine himself to eccentric speculations; 
 he despised the spirit of system, and 
 found his resources in economy alone. > 
 The whole of his policy, his finances, and 
 plans of finance, consisted in promoting 
 industry, protecting agriculture, and en- 
 couraging commerce. I am no longer 
 surprised that my ancestor, the great 
 Henry, whom my heart cherishes and re- 
 veres, obtained, from the services of this 
 excellent minister, the affections of the 
 French. Henry was adored, and yet I 
 dare affirm, that he did not love his people 
 with a more tender attachment than that 
 which I bear towards my subjects. M^ 
 de Forbonais sliall be to me what Sully 
 was in the age of Heriry : during forty 
 years you have run a career of regenerate 
 ing instruction; during forty years yoii 
 have filled places, in which your noble 
 disinterestedness forms a new epochaj you 
 have given proofs, that your knowledge 
 
 YOL,. i. H
 
 0,8 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 was solid, and that your talents borrowed 
 nothing from false systems. Venture to 
 undertake, and execute; be the benefactor 
 of the nation, the guide of our financiers, 
 the counsellor of your king ; and save the 
 state by hastening to accept functions of 
 Which you are worthy. 
 
 LEWIS, 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE NINTH LETTER. 
 
 AFTER dismissing those ministers who had 
 stemmed the torrent of state prodigality, and 
 found a remedy for these circumstances, to 
 which the king gives the misnomer of un- 
 foreseen, and unfortunate, it is not astonishing 
 that whatever were his good intentions and 
 desire of economy, he found himself per- 
 pbxed and unhappy. The king complain*
 
 or J,EW<S xvr. ^q 
 
 that the remedies at present administered 
 ( M. Necker was then minister ) were loans 
 taxes, bankruptcy. One of M. Turgot's con- 
 ditions on entering into office was, no loans, 
 no more taxes, no bankruptcy. The suc- 
 cessors of Mess. Malesherbes and Turgot 
 finding the plans of these revolutionary mi- 
 nisters impracticable in their own hands, very 
 modestly returned to the old routine, and 
 the reputation of trade companies, corvees, 
 the taille, and other taxes of the like exclusive 
 nature was duly rehabilitated. An exception 
 must, however, be made in. favor of M. Necker, 
 who inherited some of the dispositions of 
 his predecessors, but who finding, like the 
 rest of his colleagues, that it was impossible 
 to go on without cither loans or taxes, ap- 
 pears in the choice of evils to have taken the 
 former, and to have converted the treasury 
 of the state into a vast banking house. It is dif- 
 ficult to know what particular embarrassment 
 the king was under when he addressed this 
 letter toM. deForbonais; but he seems to have 
 discovered, that if his lately discarded mi- 
 nisters were too obstinate and persevering in 
 their desire of doing good, the whole secret 
 
 K 2
 
 of the present Avas to ruin the state, and 
 oppress the people. Whatever may have 
 been the secret of his colleagues, history will 
 do M. Necker the justice to . acknowledge 
 that such was not his secret or intention. 
 
 The king appears to have fallen into a 
 great error in this subject, and to have mis- 
 taken the remedy for the disease. The evil 
 was not in loans or taxes, but in the debt 
 which occasioned them ; a circumstance 
 which was so far from being unforeseen, 
 however unfortunate, that is was an object 
 always pressing on the sight. It was the cause 
 of this calamity that M. Turgot had been so 
 solicitous to remove by the introduction of 
 severe economy in every department. This 
 minister had to contend against dilapidations 
 and prodigality of every kind ; to curb the extra- 
 vagance of the queen and the royal brothers; 
 to wrest the treasury from the hands of fa- 
 vorites ; to become, in short, the Cerberus of 
 the state. This, it must *be admitted, was 
 no gallant way of saving the finances of the 
 country, but was at the same time the only 
 mode that was left. The king must alsr
 
 OF I/EWIS XVI. 
 
 have been mistaken when lie asserts, that 
 he had confided the department of the fi- 
 nance to the most dexterous administrators ; 
 since, according to his own confession, their 
 plans tended to nothing but ruin and op- 
 pression. While he invoked M. de Forbo- 
 nais to be his Sully, the king had not con- 
 sidered the distance between himself and 
 Henry the fourth. Every candid mind will, 
 however, do the king the justice he claims 
 in the parallel which he draws, and will 
 perhaps admit, that his disposition to do good 
 might not be inferior to that of his illustrious 
 ancestor : but simple disposition is a sterile 
 quality j he wanted that active benevolence 
 which so much distinguished Henry, that per- 
 severance and imperturbability in the exe- 
 cution, which are so essential in the refor- 
 mation of abuses. The few letters we have 
 transcribed are sufficient evidences how sin- 
 gularly he was disqualified for the post iij 
 which be was placed, and the task he hac} 
 Undertaken.
 
 102 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 ;". ;/; 
 
 LETTRE X. 
 
 ' 
 
 A M. le due de Charost. 
 
 16 Mai, 
 
 Vous passz votre vie , rnon cousin , k 
 fonder des 6tablissemens utiles ; non-seule- 
 ment votre sollicitude se partage pour les 
 arts , mais elle va au-devant de ceux qui les 
 cultivent : c'est prouver, par vos actioiis^ 
 mon cousiii, que vous avezheHt^" defect 
 amour chevaleresque que le bon Sully avoit 
 pour tous les Frangais. Comme vous, j'aime 
 a encourager les mallieureux ; c'est a ce 
 litre que je veux fonder deux places a l'e~ 
 cole de dessin , que je destine pour des 
 jeunes personnes dont les dispositions se- 
 ront prononcees : vous serez Hbre de me 
 designer eel les qui meriteront le plus d'etre 
 admises au concours.
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 
 
 Je vous renouvelle , avec grand plaisir , 
 mon cousin, l,es sentimcns d'estime que j'ai 
 pour vous. -,-,:. ,->*{) p . 
 
 ot xouia 
 
 Jo* }KKJ suit jrrar 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 To the duke de Charost. 
 
 May i6th, 1778; 
 
 You spend your life, my cousin, in 
 forming useful establishments, and your 
 solicitude extends not only to the arts, but 
 to those who cultivate them. Your ac^- 
 tions prove that you inherit that romantic 
 affection the good Sully felt for all French- 
 men. Like you, I love to encourage the 
 unfortunate, and, with this view, mean
 
 1O4 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 to found two places at the Academy of 
 Drawing, destined for such young persons 
 as shall discover a decided talent for that 
 art. I leave to your choice the nomina- 
 tion of those who merit the best to be 
 admitted as candidates. 
 
 I reiterate with infinite pleasure, cousin, 
 the particular sentiments of esteem I bear 
 you. 
 
 LEWIS. 
 
 T**M6*-- 
 
 OBSERFATIONS 
 
 ^-Jfv:mvrfeiixf<ijes' tg\^st gnrancfli 
 
 ON THE TENTH LETTER; 
 
 '-W ijitoft .r.\:nb 'otev&ijo CJ!Y/ bb'uifr & 
 THIS letter forms the eutogium both of the 
 person by whom it ;.' vraA .1. written} and the 
 person to whom it was addressed ;. and 
 although it contains little else than a com-
 
 OF I.r.VYIS XVI. 103 
 
 pliment to the Duke of Charost, discovers a 
 disposition for genuine benevolence in the 
 king, which does honor to his heart. The 
 name of Sully so frequently recurs in his 
 private correspondence, that it appears to 
 have been the character in the history of 
 
 ~~$ , \' w "' V^l " ->'*" . - -'v T>T "jl^S'^Jt 
 
 is country which he had most studied, and 
 
 on which he dwelt with particular compla- 
 cency. Amidst the struggle of factions, and 
 the entanglements of parties, the mind is 
 soothed in reposing on incidents such as 
 these; and a wish involuntarily arises, that 
 the writer of such a letter had been destined 
 by fortune to those occupations for which he 
 6O justly praises his beneficent cousin.
 
 LETTRE XI. 
 
 , ,,lt : u.v.-ri^ 
 
 ' t ~ ' ' r 
 
 Lettre de M. Nepkqr d Louis XFl , en 
 
 ' lid envoyant le tr&ite de V administra* 
 
 i ; T^fr : :.v iiSr/h sa n3i . 
 tion des finances. 1782. 
 
 ;^uiar- : S^t/i^n -hrrrrJr 
 
 . >- i^A^''k> ?,irff)irr'riK^o^rr""^f'' 
 SIR E', 
 
 i'rttfio^'fti fi8 fi .' r is iTrin ^f533i5i 
 C'est avec une respectueuse timidite que 
 je prends la liberte,de faire, a V. M., honi-^ 
 mage du travail aiiquel je me suis livrepen-^ 
 dant ma retraite ; je n-e savois , en 1'entrepre- 
 nant, si je le rendrois jamais public , et quand 
 il a ete fait, de grands motifs out determine 
 mon incertitude. Je supplie votre majeste 
 de ne porter de jugement sur cet ouvrage ? 
 qu'apres 1'avoir lu tout en tier : c'est dans sa 
 maniere calme et superieure de juger lea 
 hommes etles choses, que \e mets ma con- 
 fiance ; car je n'ai point laisse d'amis autour 
 d'elle , quoiqu'il m'eut 6te bien facile d'en 
 faire. Loin de tout, et xi'aspiraiit plus a rien.
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 1O7 
 
 c'est par un sentiment pur et digne des 
 grancles qualites de V. M., que je desire ar- 
 demment son approbation; et c'est avec un 
 cocur penetre de son infrnie bonte, que j'ose 
 au moins solliciter son indulgence. Je mets 
 aux pieds de V. M. les sentimens profonds 
 d'aniour et de respect pour sa personne, qui 
 me suivront jusqu'au torabeau, et qui s'n- 
 nissent a tous ceux que je (fois , conihie 
 ctant de S. M. le plus humble et le plus 
 obeissant serviteur, 
 
 NECKER. 
 
 NOTE. Le roi accueillit mal et la lettre 
 de flf. . Necker et son memoire. P^oici la 
 lettre qu'il adressa d M. de ^ergennes en 
 cette circonstance^
 
 CORRIlSFONDENCJi 
 
 (TRANSLATION,) 
 
 LETTER XL '^q^ 
 
 : .^r ; - ,: '^ti 
 
 3L Necker to Lewis the sixteenth, sent 
 with his treatise on the administration 
 of finances. 1782, 
 
 SIRE, 
 
 ^ WITH respectful timidity I take the li- 
 berty of presenting, as an homage to your 
 Majesty, a work which I have written 
 during my retreat. When I undertook 
 this task, I was doubtful if I should ever 
 render it public, and since it has been 
 finished, powerful motives have overcome 
 my indecision. I intreat your Majesty 
 will pass no judgment on this perfor- 
 mance, till you have perused the whole : 
 in your calm and superior manner of 
 judging men and things, I place my con- 
 fidence ; for. I have left no friencU around
 
 OP LEWIS XVI* 
 
 your royal person, although they might 
 With ease have been obtained. Far from 
 all, and having no further pretensions to 
 any thing, I desire ardently your Majesty's 
 approbation. From a sentiment pure and 
 worthy of your great qualities, and with a 
 heart penetrated by your goodness, I pre- 
 sume at least to solicit your indulgence. I 
 lay at your Majesty's feet those sentiments 
 of profound affection and respect, which 
 will follow me to the tornb, and which are 
 blended with those I owe to your Majesty, 
 as being the most humble an.dfciost obe- 
 dient of your Majesty's servants; 
 
 NECKER. 
 
 NOTE. The king received coldly M. 
 Necker's letter and his work, and on this 
 occasion addressed the following to ./>/. d 
 Fergennes.
 
 HO CORRESPONDENT' 1 
 
 LETTRE XII. 
 
 A M. de Vergennes. 
 
 1780. 
 
 Vous recevrez ci-joint, monsieur, 1'ou- 
 vrage que j'ai seulement parcouru, et oil 
 j'ai mis c,a et la quelques notes, mais sans 
 suite. En tout etat de cause, il me semble 
 que s'il n.ilpt les meilleures intentions pos- 
 sibles, il auroit adresse I'ouvrage manuscrit 
 a. son successeur, au lieu de 1'envoyer au 
 public; mais il aura voulu nourrir son parti, 
 et, parce qu'il aura prevu mes intentions, 
 il aura pris les devans en prevenant les 
 usages qui en permettent la publicationv 
 Vous verrez , dans sa lettre , qu'il fait le 
 calin ; il sera instruil de 1'efFet de celle de 
 sa demission. 
 
 LOUIS.
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. Ill 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 
 LETTER XII. v 
 
 To M. de Vergennes. 
 
 . . . r."'. 1782. 
 
 You will receive inclosed, Sir, the work 
 which I have looked over rapidly, and 
 occasionally noted, hut without order. 
 In every point of view it appears to me, 
 that if his intentions were of the purest 
 nature possible, he would have addressed 
 Ids manuscript to his successor, instead 
 of making it public. But the truth is, 
 lie had a desire to* support his party, and, 
 foreseeing my intentions, took the start of 
 me, and anticipated on the forms in use, 
 which permit the publication. You will 
 perceive by his letter, that he fawns; he 
 will soon see the effect produced by that, 
 in which he announced to me his dismis- 
 sion. 
 
 LEWIS.
 
 112 CORRESPONDE&CJ3 
 
 LETTRE xiii. 
 
 A M. de Vergennes. 
 
 23 Mai, 178^. 
 
 c - i , 
 
 JE He sais pas si je ceramets une indis- 
 cretion , monsieur, inais ma confiance en 
 vous m'engage a ne vous rien caclier. M. 
 Dangevillers m'a envoy e le Lillet , sans me 
 dire si c'etoit de mon aveu ou nonj il est 
 vrai que la reine me demanda, sur le mau- 
 Tais etat de la saiite de M. Necker, qu'il put 
 veiiir passer quelque temps aupres de Paris , 
 pour voir des medecins : je le lui ai accorde , 
 a condition qu'il ne viendroit pas a Paris et 
 qu'il verroit tres-peu de inonde. Je vous 
 confierai, qu'avant de me la demander, elle 
 m'avoit dcmande s'il n'y avoit pas d'opera- 
 iioii de finances procliaine, et elle m'a dit 
 qu'elle ne m'auroit pas fait la demande s'il 
 devoit y en avoir : en tout , elle me parut , 
 oonizne je le savois, tres-peu attachee a la 
 
 personne
 
 or LEWIS xvr. 
 
 personne de M. Necker. Je vous avoucrai 
 que m'y tant mal pris , cet hiver , 1'occasion 
 n'etoit plus la meme, et que je ne vois que 
 peu cle difference entre une province peu 
 eloignee et une campagne. Lyon etoit peut- 
 etre pris a cause des agioleurs / j'ai peiise 
 ainsi, qu'en montranlde rindilFerenC? a sou 
 personnel, cela lui donneroit moins de ce- 
 lebrit^. Ce n'est pas pourtant que je yeuUle 
 le perdre de vue, ni ses amis; j'envoyai 
 chercher M. de Castries, apres que la reine 
 m'eut demande la permission; je lui<lis ce 
 que j'avois dit a la reine, et j'ajoutai qu'il 
 devoit se souVenir, il y a deux ans , qu'att 
 depart de M. d'Orraesson , je lui avois inandc 
 formellement que M. Necker, ni ses amis 9 
 ne devoient pas songer qu'il rentrat jamais 
 en place ; que si M. Necker se tenoit tran- 
 quille, et que ses amis ne fissent pas par- 
 ler de lui, je le laisserois tranquille ; mais , 
 que si par rapport a lui il s'elevoit des 
 bruits, et qu'il se fit des clioses conlraires 
 aux: operations du gouvernement , co seroit 
 moi qui me croirois attaque, et qu'alors je 
 le renverroia u Genuve , et qu'il ne revien- 
 VOL. i. i
 
 1 1 4 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 t droit jamais plus en France. Je laisse a votro 
 sagesse a comm unique r ce que vous vou- 
 drez de cela au controleur - general ; je 
 comptois lui en parler moi-meme jeudi, 
 mais il seroit peut-etre trop tard. J'ai compte 
 sur sa discretion sur les particularites qui y 
 sont contenues : il peut dire que le person- 
 nel de M. Necker lui est indifferent, et que, 
 comptant sur nies bont6s et sur celles de la 
 reine , il ne craint rieii ; mais sur-tout qu'il 
 prenne garde a ses amis vrais ou faux.Tant 
 qu'il ne s'occupera que de la chose publique, 
 il peut etre tranquille. Je ne peux finir cette 
 lettre sans vous rappeler que le (20) (10) mai 
 est passe ; j'espere qu'il s'en passera encore 
 comme celui-cL 
 
 LOUIS.
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. 
 
 t 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 To M. de Vergennes. 
 
 May 23, 1/85. 
 
 not if I commit an indiscretion, 
 but my confidence leads me to leave no- 
 thing concealed from you. Mr. Dangevil- 
 lier sent me the note, without informing 
 me whether or no il hud received my ap- 
 probation. The Queen, it is true, request- 
 ed that Mr. Necker might have permission, 
 on account of his bad state of health, 
 to pass some time near Paris, in order to 
 consult physicians. I consented, on con- 
 dition that he should not come to Paris, 
 and should see few people. I must also 
 observe to you. that the queen had pre- 
 viously enquired whether any operations 
 of finance were about to take place, and 
 told me, that had that been the case, 
 
 I a
 
 1 lij CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 x would not have made the request j and 
 upon the whole, she appeared to me, as I 
 I already knew, very little attached to 
 M. Necker. I will acknowledge to you, 
 that not having acted with sufficient address 
 this winter, the occasion was no longer the 
 same, and I see little difference between a 
 neighbouring province, and a country- 
 seat; Lyons was perhaps chosen on ac- 
 count of the stockjobbers, and I imagined, 
 that by shewing indifference about him 
 personally, I gave him less chance of ce-r 
 lebrity. I do not, however, intend to lose 
 sight of him or his friends. I sent for 
 M. de Castries, after the queen had de- 
 niaiicied the permission, and repeated to 
 him what I had told the Queen, adding 
 that he might remember, that two years 
 since, at the departure of M. d'Ormeson, 
 I had formally declared to him, that nei- 
 ther M. Necker or his friends need even 
 entertain any thoughts* of his being re- 
 instated in his place ; that if M. Necker 
 remained quiet, and his friends abstained 
 from making him the public topic, I should
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. ii 7 
 
 leave him in tranquillity 5 but that if any 
 noise were made on his account, or any 
 means taken to thwart the operations of 
 the government, I should consider myself 
 as being attacked, and should then order 
 him to go to Geneva, and return to France 
 no more. I leave to your prudence to com- 
 municate what you think proper of this to 
 the controller-general 5 1 had some thoughts 
 of speaking to him myselfon Thursday, but 
 it would perhaps be too late.. I depend 
 upon his discretion, respecting the details 
 which are here contained j he may observe, 
 that M. Necker is personally an object of 
 indifference to him, and that relying on 
 my goodness and that of the queen, he 
 fears nothing. But above all, let him 
 beware of his friends, true or false ; so long 
 as he occupies himself only with public 
 affairs, he may be tranquil. I cannot finish 
 this letter without bringing to your recol- 
 lection, that the (20) (10) of May is passed ; 
 I hope it will again pass like the last. ^ . 
 
 LEWIS,
 
 1 1 8 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 ON !LETTEBS XI. XII. AND XIII, 
 
 As the three preceding letters have already 
 been presented to the public with very exten- 
 sive commentaries, it becomes unnecessary 
 to make further observations. M. Necker's 
 administration fills so considerable a part of 
 the reign of Lewis the sixteenth, that it 
 would require almost as many volumes as 
 that celebrated ex-minister has written, to 
 state all that might be said on the occasion. 
 These letters prove how formidable a power 
 M. Necker had become, since the whole force 
 of the French cabinet was ineffectual to 
 crush him ; and the king in this instance 
 stood firm against the unanimous solicitations 
 of his counsellors, who were anxious for a 
 striking display of royal despotism.
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. 
 
 LETT RE XIV. 
 
 A M. de Vergennes. 
 
 1785. 
 
 JE vous renvoie, monsieur, avec les inter- 
 ceptions ordinaires, les depeches d'Espagne 
 que vous m'avez envoyees. Nous nous at- 
 tendions bien a la mauvaise humeur du 
 ministre espagnol , quand il verroit que 
 nous avions mieux vu que lui les evene- 
 mens qui devoient arriver; niais il est bien 
 facheux que cela tourne an detriment de la 
 chose. M. d'Arando est bien indiscret, de 
 nous faire soufFrir de sa mauvaise humeur 
 contre son pays : j'approuve le projet de 
 M. Montmorin , que vous ecriviez directe- 
 ment a M. Florida Blanca; vous n'avez qu*a 
 en dresser la lettre , que vous lirez dans un 
 comit6 ou nous prendrons les determina- 
 tions qu'il fatit sur les operations ulte 
 ricures.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 J'ai vu la reine apres qu'elle vous a vu. 
 Elle m'a paru fort affectee du sentiment d'in- 
 quietude ., bien juste , sur la guerre qui 
 pourroit "ercl at er , d'un raoment a 1'autre , 
 entre deux rivaux si pres 1'un de 1'autre; 
 elle m'a parle aussi de ce que vous n'aviez 
 pas rjeii fait pour la prevenir. J'ai tache de 
 lui prbuver que vous aviez fait ce qui etoit 
 en vous , et que nous etions prets a faire 
 toutes les demarches amicales que la cour 
 de Vienne pourroit nous suggerer; mais en 
 na (hue-temps, je ne lui ai pas laisse ignorer le 
 peu ,de fondement que je voyois aux acqui- 
 sitions de la maisoii d'Autriche , et que rjous 
 n'etions iiullement obliges a la secourir pour 
 les soutenir; et de plus, je I'ai bien assuree 
 que le roi de Prusse ne pourroit pas nous 
 detourner de 1'alliance, et qu'on pouvoit 
 desapprouver la coiiduite d'an allie, sans se 
 brouiller avec lui. Elle avoit tres-peu recu 
 de l'mpereur et de 1'imperatrice, ainsi que 
 de M. de Mercy. Tout cela est pour votre 
 instruction , afin que vous puissiez parler le 
 meme langage. Je pense bien, comme vous, 
 qu'il ne faut pas faire des demarches qui
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. 
 
 donneroient une sanction a 1'usurpation de 
 la cour de Vienne, et je ne vois pas d'in- 
 convenient a ce que vous avez dit a M. de 
 Mercy. 
 
 LOUIS. 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 LETTRE XIV. 
 
 To M. de Vergennes. 
 
 ;..:;: i 7 85. 
 
 I return, Sir, with llie ordinary inter- 
 ruptions, the dispatches from Spain which' 
 you sent me. We were well prepared for 
 the ill humor of the Spanish minister, when 
 he perceived that we had foreseen, better 
 than himself, the events whu-h were likely 
 to take place 5 hut it is extremely unfor-
 
 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 tunate, that this should prove detrimental 
 to the affair; and M. d'Arando is highly 
 indiscreet in making us suffer on account 
 of his ill humor against his country. I ap- 
 prove the project of M. Montmorin, that 
 you should write directly to M. Florida 
 Blanca, and you may compose a letter for 
 that purpose, which you will read in a 
 committee, where we will decide upon 
 our future operations. 
 
 I saw the queen after she had seen you, 
 and she appeared deeply affected by a sen- 
 timent of uneasiness well-founded, 011 the 
 probality of the war, which may break out 
 between t\yo rivals,^ placed so near each 
 other. She also spoke to me of your hav- 
 ing done nothing to prevent it. I endea- 
 voured to prove to her, that you had done 
 all you could, and that we were ready to 
 adopt every friendly measure, which the 
 court of Vienna could suggest. At the 
 same time, I did not conceal from her, how 
 little solid I considered the acquisitions of 
 the House of Austria, and that we were in
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. I2D 
 
 no way obliged to lend our aid to maintain 
 them ; I moreover assured her, that the 
 king of Prussia had no power of turning us 
 from the alliance, and that it was possible 
 to disapprove the conduct of an ally, with- 
 out having any breach in consequence. 
 She has received very little from the em- 
 peror, the empress, or M. de Mercy; these 
 things I mention for your information, and 
 in order that you may speak the same lan- 
 guage. I think with you, that we must 
 take no measures, which would give a sanc- 
 tion to the usurpations of the court of 
 Vienna, and I see no impropriety in what 
 what you have said to M. de Mercy. 
 
 LEWIS.
 
 1 24 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 ON THE FOURTEENTH LETTER. 
 
 THIS letter, which has also been published, 
 relates to v the alliance between the cabinet of 
 Versailles and the House of Austria in 1785, 
 and to the projects of Joseph the second on 
 Bavaria after the treaty at that epocha. Much 
 importance has been attached to this letter, 
 as displaying many facts unknown at that 
 period, discovering the private sentiments of 
 the king respecting the conduct {of his ally, 
 and presenting a faithful picture of the 
 political relations between France and Vienna. 
 But one of the most prominent characters 
 of this letter is the ascendancy 'which the 
 queen had now assumed in the cabinet. Ten 
 years had elapsed in the struggle between this 
 princess and her husband. Her passion for 
 her house continued unabated, and it is 
 curious to observe the secret intelligence 
 between the monarch and his minister,
 
 OF I/EWIS xvi. 
 
 agreeing, that in their communications with 
 her they should hold the same language. 
 
 These circumstances, which had an im- 
 portant though secondary influence on the 
 affairs of France, are not unworthy of the 
 notice of the historian.
 
 a 2 6 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 LETTRE XV. 
 
 jt M. de Malesherbes. 
 
 Versailles, i3 Dec. , 1786: 
 
 J'AIME et j'estime les hommes, mon cher 
 Malesherbes , qui , par des ouvrages utiles , 
 prouventqu'ils font un sage emploi deleurs 
 lumieres; maisje n'encouragerai jamais, par 
 aucun bienfait particulier , les productions 
 qui tendent a la demoralisation generale. 
 Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot et leurs pareils 
 qui, un instant, ont obtenu mon admiration, 
 que j'ai su priser depuis, ont pervert! la 
 jeunesse qui lit avec ivresse, et la classe la 
 plus nombreuse des hommes qui lisent sans 
 reflexion. Sans doute, mon cher Males- 
 herbes, la liberte de la presse agrandit la 
 sphere des coiinoissances humaines ; sans 
 doute, il est a desirer que les gens de lettres 
 "puissent manifester leurs pensees, sans 1'as- 
 sejitiment d'une censure quelconque^
 
 OP LEWIS XTI. 137 
 
 les hommes sont toujourssiau-dela clu point 
 ou la sagesse devroit les arreter, qu'il faut 
 non-seulement une police severe pour les 
 livres , raais une surveillance active envers 
 ceux qui sont charges de les examiner, 
 pour que les mauvais livres aient le inoins 
 de publicite possible. Je le sais,toute inqui- 
 sition est odieuse , inais il faut un frein a la 
 licence; car sans ce moyen, la religion et 
 les moeurs perdroient bientot de leur pou- 
 voir, et la puissance royale de ce respect 
 clout elle doit etre tou jours environnee. 
 Nos philosophes modernes ii'ont exult6 les 
 bienfaits de la liberte, que pour jeter avec 
 plus d'adresse dans les esprits, des semences 
 de rebellion. Prenons-y garde , nous aurons 
 peut-etre un jour a nous reprocher un peu 
 trop d'indulgence pour les philosophes et 
 pour leurs opinions. Je crains qu'ils lie 
 seduisentla jeunesse, et qu'ils nepreparent 
 bien de troubles a cette generation qui 
 les protege. Les remontrances du clerg6 
 sont en partie fondees ; je ne puls qu'ap- 
 plaudir a sa prevoyance. Vous avcz promis 
 en mon nom ? datu 1'asscmblee du clerge,
 
 1 28 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 de poursmvre les mauvais livres, leslivres 
 impies. Nous tiendrons notre promesse , 
 parce que la philosophic trop audacieuse 
 du siede, a une arriere-pensee, qu'elle 
 corrompt la jeunesse, et tend a tout trou- 
 bler et a tout diviser. 
 
 LOUIS. 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 To M. de Malesherbes. 
 
 Versailles, Dec. i3, 1786. 
 
 I love and esteem those men, my dear 
 Malesherbes, who prove, by the useful pro- 
 ductions of their pen, that they employ 
 their talents for worthy purposes ; but I 
 will never encourage, by any particular 
 
 distinction
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 110 
 
 distinction, such works as tend to a general 
 corruption of morals. Voltaire, Rousseau, 
 Diderot, and other writers of the s^anie cast, 
 who obtained for a while my admiration, 
 and whom I have since learned to appre- 
 ciate, have perverted the young, who read 
 with enthusiasm, and that class of society, 
 which is the most numerous, who read 
 without reflexion. The liberty of the 
 press, my dear Malesherbes, no doubt 
 enlarges the sphere of human know- 
 ledge; it is certainly to be wished, that 
 men of letters might have the privileges of 
 publishing their thoughts, without the ob- 
 stacle of any censure whatever; but men 
 are so -apt to wander beyond that point 
 where wisdom enjoins them to stop, that 
 not only a severe police for books is neces- 
 sary, but also a vigilant inspection over 
 those, who are commissioned to -examine 
 them, in order that noxious books may ob- 
 tain as little notoriety as possible. I know. 
 that every kind of inquisition is odious, 
 but it is necessary to curb licentiousness ; 
 since if this be not done, religion and mo- 
 
 . i.
 
 1 30 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 rals would soon lose their influence, and 
 regal authority that respect, with which 
 it should always be accompanied. Our 
 niodern philosophers have extolled the 
 blessings of liberty, only to insinuate more 
 easily into the minds of men the seeds of 
 rebellion. Let us beware ; we shall, perhaps, 
 one day have to reproach ourselves with too 
 much indulgence towards philosophers and 
 their opinions. I fear they may seduce 
 the young, and are preparing many troubles 
 for the generation, by which they are pro- 
 tected. The remonstrances of the clergy 
 are in part well founded, and I cannot but 
 applaud their foresight. You have pro- 
 mised the assembly of the clergy in my 
 name, to proseciite hurtful and impious 
 books ; we will keep our word : for the too 
 daring philosophy of the age has a project 
 in reserve, while it corrupts youth, and 
 tends towards general trouble and dis- 
 order. 
 
 LEWIS,
 
 or LEWIS xvr. i5i 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE FIFTEENTH LETTER. 
 
 AMONG the persons who have taken a 
 distinguished part in the revolution, few are 
 entitled to unqualified esteem and veneration, 
 like M. de Malesherbes. M. Turgot's services 
 towards the public appear to have termi- 
 nated with his ministry. M. de JVEalesherbes, 
 though long withdrawn from the business 
 of the cabinet, occupies himself continually 
 in giving his royal pupil instruction and 
 counsels. This letter to M. de Malesherbes 
 appears to contain an answer to remon- 
 strances made by the ex-minister on some 
 severe display of authority against the phi- 
 losophical writers of the day, for which 
 severity the king justifies himself by a con- 
 fession of faith respecting philosophers and 
 their works. 
 
 This letter is extremely interesting under 
 Various points of view. It discovers a con- 
 
 \ K a
 
 ] 3 a CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 siderable portion of candor in the king 
 with respect to the propagation of liberal 
 and rational sentiments on the subject both 
 of civil and religious liberty ; and much may 
 be allowed to the justice of his observations^ 
 when he descants on the abuses which at 
 the time were made of those inestimable 
 Jprivileges. The king appears to have been 
 once an admirer of the \vorks of Voltaire, 
 Rousseau, Diderot, and others, but who can 
 disapprove the temperate resolution he had 
 formed of withholding encouragement from 
 productions, which he believed tended to 
 the general corruption of the people. The 
 apologists for those writers will tell us, that 
 in combating despotism and superstition, the 
 weapons they wielded were such as were 
 best fitted to produce effect, and that ri- 
 dicule, according to the Roman poet, was 
 stronger and more efficacious than serious or 
 severe argument. 
 
 There are, no doubt, certain prejudices so 
 inherent that it requires the exercise of every 
 various faculty*of the human mind to era- 
 dicate them j but it must be rememberec^
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 1 55 
 
 that Milton, Locke, and Sidney overthrew 
 the despotism of the Stuarts without the 
 aid of ribaldry or licentiousness, and that 
 the illustrious reformers of the fifteenth 
 century confirmed the morality of Europe, 
 while they beat down the arrogant preten- 
 sions of sacerdotal and papal usurpation. In 
 the course of the present revolution, the 
 philosophers have mistaken the true point; 
 and if the period ever arrives when des- 
 potism or superstition (which heaven avert) 
 should regain their wonted ascendancy, part 
 of the blame might justly be imputed to 
 the philosophers, who. have contributed so 
 greatly, as the king observes, towards the 
 general demoralisation, 
 
 What friend to a just and tempered free-? 
 dorn, to a manly and rational system of re-^ 
 ligion, but must regard the misapplied labor*, 
 the ignorant ardor of such ill - advised ad- 
 vocates, not merely with disapprobation, but 
 with abhorrence? What censures do not 
 these pretenders to reformation in this and 
 ether countries incur, when, by their in- 
 temperate sallies, they create apologies foi'
 
 1 34 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 those, who, shrinking from the gulf of 
 annihilation, fall back for an asylum into 
 the arms of superstition and despotism. 
 Against these last enemies we might have 
 'hoped to struggle with success, and even to 
 subdue them ; but let us never cease ex- 
 claiming with Jaffier, if Save me from my 
 friends ! " 
 
 The homage rendered by the king to the 
 liberty of the press does him honor, though it 
 appears to have been in this place only' an 
 assent to the principle recorded in 1he ex-mi- 
 nister's remonstrance, " Without doubt, my 
 dear Malesherbes," says the monarch, " the 
 liberty of the press enlarges the sphere of 
 human knowledge ; it were, undoubtedly, to 
 be wished, that men of letters should ma- 
 nifest their opinions without any permission 
 whatever.'' So far the king and his phi- 
 losophic instructor are agreed j but^though 
 we may admit with the former that men 
 are liable to go beyond the point where 
 they ought to stop, however difficult it may 
 be to state what the true point of repose 
 should be, we are very sure that the remedy
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 3 55 
 
 which he proposes is more dire than the 
 disease. 
 
 The force of this truth immediately pre- 
 sents itself to his mind. " I know," adds 
 he, " that all inquisition is odious ; but the 
 licentiousness of the times calls for restraint." 
 No problem in government has been more 
 difficult to solve than that of the just mea- 
 sure of the liberty of the press. On this 
 topic both argument and declamation have 
 been exhausted, and though this liberty has 
 been recognised one of the primordial and 
 imprescriptible rights of citizens, few go- 
 vernments, calling themselves free, appear 
 yet to have fixed it on its proper basis. In 
 the despotic states of Europe, such as France 
 under 'the monarchy, the principle was ad- 
 mitted as desirable, but no restraint was 
 thought of, except that of the police ; an 
 inquisition which the person most interested 
 in the restraint regarded as odious. There 
 are states, however, where due respect is 
 paid to this inestimable privilege, and whilo 
 the right of decision by juries is maintained, 
 notwithstanding the temporary interference
 
 3 56 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 of authority, the rights of citizens will re-- 
 xnain inviolate. 
 
 But while the king inveighs against the 
 infidelity and licentiousness of the modern 
 philosophers, we see him at the same time 
 passing an eulogium on the foresight of his 
 clergy. This pretorian guard of despotism 
 had long since justly taken the alarm. This 
 provident and vigilant band had long seen 
 Hannibal at the gates. The king reminds 
 M. de Malesherbes of the engagement he 
 had taken in his name with this sacred 
 order, to prosecute immoral and impious 
 publications. The minister, it appears, had 
 been negligent in this part of his duty ; the 
 king reminds him of his promise; but be- 
 fore we condemn M. de Malesherbes, it 
 would be but reasonable to take a slight 
 survey of some portions of the impiety which 
 he was called on to repress or punish. For 
 those we must look into the indictments 
 drawn up against philosophy and philoso- 
 phers, contained in the acts of remonstrance 
 of the clergy.
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. 1J7 
 
 Eleven years previous to the writing of 
 tliis letter the king appointed commissaries 
 to hear those complaints. " Infidelity," says 
 the deputation, at the head of which was 
 the Archbishop of Toulouse, " invades every 
 age, every rank, every condition. A mon- 
 strous atheism lias become the prevailing 
 opinion." An eloquent tirade against infi- 
 delity and atheism follows this denunciation, 
 and many of the observations made by those 
 learned prelates respecting the fatal conse- 
 quences of this laxity of religious belief, 
 were no doubt well founded. But thdugli 
 this impiety was pregnant with various 
 mischiefs, there was another aberration from 
 the unity of the faith, which called for no 
 less strong repression from the arm of the 
 civil power. This foe to established re- 
 ligion and social order was Protestantism. 
 " This sect," adds the deputation, " over- 
 whelmed for a long time past under the 
 anathema of two powers, has dared again 
 to raise its head. Intimidated heretofore by 
 the severity of the laws, checked by the un- 
 ceasing vigilance which watched all its pro-r 
 jectg, it sgught the solitude of the desert*,
 
 3 38 CORUKSrONDENCE 
 
 and found its protection 'in the shades of 
 night. Now it raises the standard of schism, 
 its preachers publish their fanatical maxims; 
 they celebrate the holy communion and the 
 sacrament of marriage." 
 
 " We do not, Sire, seek to inquire into the 
 liberty which the proteslants enjoy. Let 
 your Majesty deign to inform yourself why, 
 in contempt of authority, these sectaries make 
 temples of their houses ; why , in some pro- 
 vinces, they have dared to build without 
 fearing the interposition of government?" 
 
 (( Let it be made known to you, Sire, why 
 unions, reprobated by all laws, canonical and 
 civil, are contracted with impunity at their 
 preachings, under the laame of marriage ? 
 And how it happens, that, contrary to the 
 will of the prince, tender infants are every 
 day torn from the ministers of our holy re- 
 ligion to be placed under the care of those 
 masters of error, who m'ake them quietly 
 suck in its poison with their milk? Who 
 thus emboldens these doctors of falshood, sa- 
 p rilegious imitators of our ministry, to usurp
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. 
 
 the name and rights of Pastors of the holy 
 
 church ? We conjure you, Sire, delay not 
 
 a moment to deprive error of the hope of pos- 
 sessing temples and altars amongst us; finish 
 the work which Lewis the great (Lewis the 
 fourteenth ) had undertaken, and which Lewis 
 the well-beloved ( Lewis the fifteenth ) con- 
 tinued. The glory of giving Calvinism its 
 last and mortal blow is reserved for you " 
 
 The complaint made by the clergy of the 
 daring boldness of protestants, in taking chil- 
 dren from under the tutelage of catholic 
 priests, was no doubt well founded. The pro 
 testants, emboldened by the liberality of the 
 times, were sometimes guilty of this putrage 
 against the laws. Under the old regime^ the 
 offspring of protestants were for ever illegi- 
 timate ; since that holy union, called mar- 
 riage, in other countries, was here for those 
 sectaries unknown and disallowed : this mi- 
 serable offspring, condemned to infamy by its 
 birth, had no refuge for final salvation but 
 in the bosom of the church. From this asy- 
 lum the protestants were sometimes guilty 
 of stealing their own children; and who that
 
 l4o CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 had any respect for the sacredness of religious 
 opinion or feelings for parental solicitude, 
 however erroneous, but must readily have 
 pardoned them for the violation. 
 
 Five years after this epocha, in 1780, the 
 zeal of the clergy led them to repeat their 
 grievances. '* It is the duty of our ministry, 
 Sire, to fix at first the attention of your Ma- 
 jesty on the cruel and deep wounds inflicted 
 on the whole body of revealed truths, by a 
 doctrine hostile to every worship and des- 
 tructive of all authority. Alas ! this is not 
 the only calamity which has befallen the Gal- 
 lican church. Heresy grows every day more 
 haughty and enterprising under the shade of 
 lengthened impunity, and is unwearied in, 
 rending the bosom of this tender and dis- 
 tressed mother. During the glorious days of 
 the reign of your august grandfather, a pro- 
 vident administration had, by means purely 
 repressive, checked and even enlightened our 
 strayed brethren. Numberless conversions 
 had already excited the soothing hope, that all 
 the sheep of Israel would form but one flocl^ 
 lender the guidance of one single shepherd,
 
 O* LEWIS XVI. l4l 
 
 When the salutary springs of a police com- 
 bined with so much wisdom insensibly be- 
 came relaxed. " 
 
 " However slight the attention paid to the 
 complaints laid successively at the feet of the 
 throne since the year 17 45 by the assemblies 
 of the clergy, the daring strides of the sec- 
 taries present sensible augmentations, and a 
 
 most dreadful progression Formerly, 
 
 Sire, the sectaries were rigorously excluded, 
 according to the ordinances, from places, 
 civil employments, etc now the infrac- 
 tions are multiplied. Heretofore the sec- 
 taries held no religious assemblies, or secretly 
 convoked them in solitary and desert places.... 
 at present the holding of assemblies is no- 
 torious and regular. Preachings, established 
 at the gates of our largest towns, insult the 
 laws by tumultuous singing, and noisy cere- 
 monies. The kingdom is inundated by false 
 teachers, who do not hesitate, and without 
 mystery, to administer the communion to the 
 ftick, and spread publications, under the form 
 of exhortations and instructions, respecting 
 the great vut of the nation They
 
 l4a CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 have the audacity in some provinces even to 
 deliver acts of baptism and marriage, dressed 
 lip with an air of authenticity, in virtue of 
 superior orders given at the beginning of the 
 year 1774 (under the ministry of Turgot and 
 Malesherbes ), which orders are not yet re- 
 voked, notwithstanding the indignation which 
 the late king evinced on this subject For- 
 merly these sectaries did not permit them- 
 selves to dogmatise in public : now every 
 day is marked, as it were, by new irreve- 
 rences against our ceremonies and mysteries.... 
 Here the venerable symbol of our redemp- 
 tion has been broken down! There hor- 
 rible blasphemies against the adorable Eu- 
 charist have been preferred ! Further on f 
 . old catholics have torn themselves away from 
 the restraining yoke of our moralHy, and 
 thrown themselves scandalously into the arms 
 of a free and independent sect!.... Let us 
 dwell in short on the enterprises of the pro- 
 testants, carried on with new and un- 
 exampled audacity; let us examine the num- 
 berless writings composed in their favor, and 
 distributed with singular profusion; let us 
 lend an ear to the general cry which re-
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. l43 
 
 sounds from every part of France ; it seems 
 as if the church were threatened to share 
 empire with a haughty rival, and that the 
 country will have the pain of seeing altar 
 against altar erected in its bosom " 
 
 After some further detail of the calamities 
 of the catholic church from the audaciousness 
 of protestantism, and echoing the hackneyed 
 observation of the immortal bishop of Meaux 
 ( Bossuet ), " that modern incredulity Avas a 
 detestable shoot from the fatal stock planted 
 in the sixteenth century by the leaders of 
 the reformation, " and which they might have 
 found on a closer examination to have been, 
 rather an offset from the mysterious and 
 monstrous trunk of papal absurdity, those 
 doctors go on to observe, that " the diversity 
 of public worship is almost always a dreadful 
 source of civil dissention. '' " Let us sup- 
 pose, " say they, " that the memorable event 
 consummated in- the last century ( the revo-* 
 cation of the edict of Nantz ), by a monarch 
 so profound in the art of reigning, has really 
 produced the pretended evils al lodged by its 
 detractors, by introducing into foreign conn-
 
 l44 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 tries immense treasures, flourishing colonies, 
 and the precious knowledge of our arts and 
 manufactures, how shall we repair such 
 losses after the lapse of an hundred years? 
 Would it not be exasperating the wound, 
 instead of closing it, to attempt, by a second 
 operation, to rob us of the great advantages 
 which have consoled us for the loss of the 
 former ? Such we call the unity of religious 
 worship, and the stability of civil order. 
 What new titles to the beneyolence of kings 
 will this assemblage of independent men have 
 acquired, who boasted formerly in their se- 
 ditious writings, of having discovered that 
 the source of royal authority was purely 
 human, whilst the catholic doctrine places 
 the cradle of this same authority in heaven, 
 and represents it as covered with the rays of 
 the Divinity itself. " 
 
 Were these acts of the assemblies of the 
 clergy less authenticated, it would seem incre- 
 dible, that at the close of the eighteenth century, 
 and in a civilized country like France, there 
 could be found a body of men who would have 
 ventured their reputation as authors of such a 
 
 medley
 
 OP I^EWIS XVI. 
 
 medley of moral and political blasphemies. 
 It ought, however, to be noticed in honor of 
 this forbearance, that while they loudly called 
 for the repression of heresy, they abjured all 
 appeal to the halter and the sword, since, as 
 they declared, the ecclesiastical state was of 
 all professions the most essentially remote 
 from acts of rigor. One mode of conversion, 
 however, they earnestly recommended, which 
 was that of bounties towards new converts ; 
 but that " no new pensions should be created 
 but on the sight of an abjuration in good 
 form, or some other equivalent title, witlic 
 an obligation to represent every year a certi- 
 ficate of Catholicism, signed, without expence, 
 by the vicar of the parish to which this 
 convert should belong;" to which mode 
 nothing was objectionable, excepting the 
 premium which fanaticism paid for hypocrisy. 
 
 Whether the king at this period had not 
 discontinued "his admiration of the writings 
 of Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, and writers 
 of the like sort," or whether he had more 
 
 wisdom than the collected body of his clergy, 
 
 v. i. 1 ic . * v ' . . . j ' ;j*v'. . 
 
 TOL. I.
 
 l4(5 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 we find in the margin of this remonstrance 
 certain notes^ which betray a lurking dispo- 
 sition in favor of this heresy, which the 
 priesthood was so anxious to extirpate. In one 
 place the king observes ; " It seems singular to 
 see complaints against the protestants, because 
 they manifest their joy when Providence 
 gives me a son, or when I gain a victory 
 over the English. To what lengths are men 
 carried by their prejudices ! " and in another* 
 that " Bishops, well worthy of confidence, 
 have assured me, that surreptitious conver- 
 sions are contrary to the spirit of religion, 
 and that in order to be praise-worthy, they 
 ought to be the result of a free and enlightened 
 conscience." 
 
 The genuine Catholicism of the king at this 
 period ( Catholicism in the restrained sense of 
 the word ), might almost be doubted. Among 
 the accusations brought against the pro- 
 festants in this last remonstrance was that 
 of a direr heresy than mere Calvinism. 
 {t "Without invoking in this place," say they, 
 '* public notoriety, or taking advantage of th*
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. 
 
 confessions which have escaped the discre- 
 tion of the most celebrated Calvinists, have 
 we not seen the school of Geneva present 
 three years since the scandalous spectacle of 
 a public and uncontrp verted thesis, in which 
 it has not blushed to call in question the 
 divinity of Jesus Christ, the immutable limit 
 which has always separated simple deism 
 from true Christianity?" Without calling 
 in question this last assertion of the clergy 
 on the doctrinal position which they laid 
 down, and which discovers more ignorance 
 of Christianity than might be allowed to so 
 learned a body, the king contents himself 
 with simply observing, that " the proteslante 
 might equally well find fault with the theses 
 of the abbe <le Prades." Now these theses 
 of the abbe de Prades were disquisitions in 
 favor of pure materialism, which in France, 
 where little is understood of religious contro- 
 versy, means atheism, held at the Soi bonne j 
 of which doctrine one of the supporters at 
 the time was the archbishop of Toulouse, 
 llic chief of the deputation of the clergy in 
 *heir remonstrance against the, proles tanta. 
 
 L a
 
 1 18 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 **' As long as these reproaches shall continue/' 
 adds the king, "there can be no hope of 
 seeing any reconciliation effected. The two 
 religions ought to edify one another by good 
 actions, and not exasperate by offensive accu- 
 sations whether true or false." Though it 
 might reasonably be called in question whe- 
 ther the king was as zealous a catholic as was 
 Requisite for an eldest son of the church, there 
 can be no doubt that he was at this time more 
 Christian and more truly philosophic than hi* 
 clergy. 
 
 Six years after this last remonstrance, we 
 find the king abjuring his heterodox opinions, 
 at least respecting philosophy. " Our modern 
 philosophers," says he, " have exalted the 
 blessings of their liberty, with the intention 
 only of sowing with more dexterity in the 
 mind the seeds of rebellion. Let us take 
 care ; we shall have at some future day to 
 reproach ourselves with too. much indulgence 
 for philosophers and their opinions. I fear 
 lest they should seduce our youth, and pre- 
 pare many troubles to this generation which
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 
 
 . < . 
 
 protects them. The remonstrances of the 
 clergy are in part founded ..... The too daring 
 philosophy of the times has a purpose in 
 
 reserve." 
 
 The event, which the prophetic soul of the 
 king deprecated, was fast approaching. It 
 might, indeed, be said to be already consum- 
 mated j and no doubt, when six years after- 
 wards in the gloomy prison of the temple 
 he dictated his defence to Malesherbes, some 
 of those observations respecting the too ple- 
 nary indulgence granted to philosophers glided 
 across his remembrance. It is common with 
 the unhappy to attribute events to causes 
 which have no necessary connexion with the 
 object. It was not philosophy enlightening the 
 people which brought on those fatal catas- 
 trophes, of which the philosophers them- 
 selves were the victims, but that deplorable 
 ignorance which despotism loves to foster as 
 the surest means of enforcing obedience, and- 
 which, when loosened from restraint, be- 
 comes a direr despot in its turn. If the accu- 
 sation of corrupting the people by impious
 
 1 5<> C ORB ESPONDENC JS 
 
 and licentious publications be one of the 
 faults from which .certain . writers can with 
 difficulty exculpate themselves, what apologies 
 have we not to offer, what applauses rather 
 have we not to bestow on those, who by 
 their labors tended to correct this odious and, 
 intolerant spirit, which we see exhibited in 
 the remonstrances of the clergy.
 
 OF J,EWI3 XVI. j5l 
 
 LETTRE XVI. 
 
 jl M. de Malesherbes. 
 
 Paris, a8 Dccml>re, 17 85. 
 
 ^ a toujoursbesoin, mon cher 
 Malesherbes , d'etre environnee cle respect. 
 Le zele indiscret de quclques magistrals; 
 3es ecrits virulens de quelques gens de 
 Jettres relativement aux lettres de cachet, 
 est un scandale. Les parlemens qui, depuis 
 environ trente ans, se sont imagines que 
 1'autorite royale a besoiii de leur sanction 
 pour punir legalement, ont pris part dans 
 la querelle, et 1'ont rendue plus grave. Je 
 ne crois pas devoir ceder, quoique vos sages- 
 avis me soient prescns , et que vous vous 
 soyez declare contre les lettres de cachet; 
 Je n'aurois point fait usage , le premier, de 
 Fceuvre du pere Joseph ; mais j'ai pcnse que 
 dans le siecle ou nous sommes, il ne faut 
 point dctrulrc la seule force repressive dont
 
 if) 2 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 j'ai iiecessairement besoin dans certaines 
 circonstanees. Je sais qu'il y a d'et ranges 
 abus xlans ]a maniere de fairc usage des 
 lettres de cachet; mais quelle est la chose 
 dont on n'abuse pas? L'ouvrage de M. de 
 Mirabeau sur les prisons d'etat , que j'ai la 
 avec attention, renferme des vues pro- 
 fondcs. Je regrette vivement que 1'auteur, 
 par son incoiiduite, in'empeche de croire 
 a ses principes philantropiques. II n'eii faut 
 pas moiiis , mon cher Malesherbes , profiter 
 de tout ce que vous trouverez d'utile clans 
 son ouvrage, puis bien se convaincre des 
 abus, et remedier promptement au raal. 
 Presente*-moi done vos vues regeneratrices 
 dans cette partie , et je me feJrai un devoir 
 de les mediter. 
 
 LOUIS.
 
 pp LEWIS xvi. j53 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 To M. de Malesherbes. 
 
 Paras, Dec. 28, 1786. 
 
 AUTHORITY, my clear Malesherbes, stands 
 always in need of being surrounded with 
 respect; and the indiscreet zeal of some. ma- 
 gistrates, together with the virulent \vt itings 
 of some men of letters, respecting lettres de 
 cachet, is scandalous. The parliaments, 
 who, during the last thirty years, have ima- 
 gined that the royal authority stood in 
 need of their sanction to inflict legal pu- 
 nishment, have taken part in the quarrel, 
 and rendered it more serious. I do not think 
 loughtto yield, although your wise counsels 
 are present to my mind, and you have de- 
 clared yourself against lettres de cacfyet. I 
 should never have been the first to make
 
 1 5 i CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 use of this invention of father Joseph, but 
 I think, that in the age in which we live, it 
 would be wrong to annihilate the only re=- 
 pressive force at my disposal, and for which 
 I have necessarily occasion in certain cir- 
 cumstances. Strange abuses, I know, exist 
 in the manner of employing lettres de ca- 
 chet; but what is not subject to abuse ? The 
 work of M. Mirabeau on state-prisons con- 
 tains deep views, and I regret that the con- 
 duct of the author prevents me from plac- 
 ing confidence in his philanthropic prin- 
 ciples. You must, nevertheless, my dear 
 Slalesherbes, avail yourself of whatever 
 you iind useful in this performance, in 
 order to ascertain the abuses, and apply a 
 a prompt remedy to the evil. Furnish me* 
 therefore, with your regenerating ideas on 
 the subject, on which I shall consider it as 
 my duty to meditate. 
 
 JLEWIS.
 
 OF j^wis xvi. i55 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE SIXTEENTH LETTER. 
 
 IN the last letter we find the king warm 
 in his invectives against the philosophers. 
 That letter appears to have been the pre- 
 liminary of the present, where he justifies 
 his conduct to M. de Malesherbes in pu- 
 nishing them. It has already been observed, 
 that when M. de Malesherbes entered into 
 administration, one of the conditions which 
 lie rigidly exacted was the abolition of letlrcs 
 de cachet. The impression made on the 
 king's mind by the eloquent picture which 
 I he minister drew in his memorial on that 
 subject, and the still more persuasive argu- 
 ments which he exhibited in. the victims of 
 royal or ministerial vengeance, had been 
 somewhat effaced during the lapse of ten or 
 twelve years ; and as philosophy had ?inco 
 thai period become loudor in its pretensions, 
 the king prepares to put those instruments
 
 1 56 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 of terror into execution, and warns M. de 
 Malesherbes of his intentions. 
 
 But it was not a few insulated 3nen of 
 letters with whom, the king had now to 
 contend. The doctrine proclaimed by M. 
 de Malesherbes respecting lettres de cachet 
 had penetrated the courts of justice, and 
 the parliament was now in insurrection 
 against this arbitrary mode of procedure. 
 The king begins his letter by informing the 
 ex-minister, that authority has always need 
 of being 1 surrounded with respect. If by 
 respect the king means the sentiment which 
 arises from love and attachment, he was in 
 the right ; but if, as the context too clearly 
 evinces, respect was unconditional submis- 
 sion, he could not have proffered a doctrine 
 at that period more subversive of authority 
 itself. 
 
 It is probable, that this detestable usage 
 of despotism had been suggested to the king 
 by some around him, who fancied that the 
 .surest principle of governing was that of 
 force. In the last letter we find the clergy.
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 
 
 active in setting before him the example 
 of his predecessors, in the most terrible and 
 impolitic exercise of their power. The con- 
 tradictions and inconsistencies into which 
 the king falls while he is writing this letter 
 to M. de Malesherbes, prove that he was 
 speaking against hJ.*j better feelings. He 
 virtually acknowledges the illegality of the 
 act, in which he confesses there were 
 strange abuses. He admires the observations 
 of Mirabeau against lettres de cachet j they 
 contain profound views; but he regrets the 
 immoral conduct of the statesman, as if 
 there was any necessary connection between 
 the writer and the important subject on 
 which lie treats. 
 
 But if the king was sometimes irresolute 
 in his perseverance to do good, it is but 
 justice to admit, that he always hesitates 
 when about to commit evil. He is struck 
 with the enormity of the act which he 
 thinks of perpetrating; he feels the horror 
 of depriving men of their personal liberty 
 without the formalities of justice; his mind 
 revolts against those deeds of despotism which
 
 COJUtESrONDENCK 
 
 are familiar only to tyrants. He consults 
 M. de Malesherbes as his state confessor, 
 and implores his regenerating views on this 
 most interesting of civil concerns, on which 
 he promises to meditate. Happy in some 
 degree the country where men of indepen- 
 dence and probity are permitted to step in 
 between power and its victim, and instruct 
 the former, that the personal safety of ci- 
 tizens is the most inestimable and most 
 sacred of rights; but far happier ihe stato 
 where the law is the equal protector of all, 
 and where such interference becomes unne- 
 cessary, since there no such power can exist.
 
 or LEWIS xvi. 
 
 LETTRE XVII. 
 
 A M. Berliner } intendant de Paris. 
 
 Paris, aSD^cembre, 1788. 
 
 Vous avez presente a mon conseil d'etat, 
 un projet dicte* par la plus pure philan- 
 tropie. J'aime beaucoup vos moyens pour 
 extirper la mendicile de mes tats. Utiliser 
 les pauvres , mais ne point ajouter a leurs 
 infortunes; clever des lieux de rctraite oil 
 riiurnanite' dicte des lois , ou la sngesso 
 veille, ou 1'aniour du travail soit rdcom*- 
 pense , ou la jeunesse active soit toujours 
 occupee,et la vieillesse soufFrante soulagee; 
 voila le motif, le but- de votre projet. La 
 corvee est abolie, mais les routes exigent 
 un entretien continuel et dispendieux ; vos 
 hospices dc meridians valides ne pour- 
 roient-ils pas fournir lesouvierstravailleurs 
 qui scroicnt charges d'entretenir les routes,
 
 1 Go CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 cTen construire des nouvelles. Je vois dans 
 ces Heux de retraite des armees de pioniers 
 se former, parcourir les campagnes : sta- 
 tionnes sur les gran des routes, ils reme- 
 dieront a 1'intemperie des saisons, aux 
 accidens, et entretieiidroiit une libre circu- 
 lation dans toute la France. II me paroit 
 cependant que vous vous etes trop peu oc- 
 cupe des moyens les moins onereux pour le 
 peuple , de fournir a I'entretien de vos 
 etablissemens en faveur de la mendicite. 
 Le peuple n'est deja que trop accable 
 d'impots ; faut-il le surcliarger encore , et 
 reiidre nul le bienfait de 1'abolition de la 
 corvee. Cherchons le mode le moins dis- 
 pendieux, le plus agreable au peuple, et 
 qui puisse remplir 1'objet que vous vous 
 proposez; soulager les contribuables , uti- 
 liser les pauvres , et pourvoir a 1'entretien 
 des routes. Vos connoissaiices , monsieur, 
 vous fourniroiit sans doute de nouveaux 
 moyens ; soyez persuade que je les appuie- 
 rai dans mon conseil. 
 
 LOUIS. 
 
 <"L d^j. 'li,
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. l6l 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 To M. Berthier, intendant of Paris. 
 
 Paris, October 28, 1788. 
 
 You have presented to my council of 
 state a plan dictated by the purest philan- 
 thropy, and I approve highly the means 
 you suggest of extirpating mendicity from 
 my states. To render the poor useful, with- 
 out increasing their misfortunes ; to esta- 
 blish places of retreat with hum <ne regula- 
 tions, and under wise direction, where the 
 love of labor shall be encouraged, where 
 active youth shall be occupied, and infirm 
 old age comforted; such are the motives, 
 and such the aim of your project. The 
 corvee is abolished, but the highways re- 
 quire continual and expensive repairs 
 might not your hospitals of mendicants 
 
 vox,, j. JM
 
 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 furnish workmen to mend and construct 
 roads? I see whole armies of pioneers 
 formed in those asylums, scouring the 
 country, and stationed on the highways, 
 where they will provide against accidents, 
 and the ravages of the seasons, and main- 
 tain a free circulation throughout all France. 
 You seem to me, however, not to have 
 paid sufficient attention to the means the 
 least burdensome to the people, for furnish- 
 ing what is necessary for the support of 
 your establishments in favor of mendicity. 
 The people are already too much oppressed, 
 "by taxes ; must their burdens be so increased 
 as to render unavailing the benefit of the 
 abolition of the corvees. Let us make 
 choice of the mode the least expensive, the 
 most agreeable to the people, and by which 
 the ends you propose can be accomplished, 
 of disburdening those who pay taxes, ren- 
 dering the poor useful, and keeping the 
 roads in good repair. 
 
 Your abilities, Sir, will xlo doubt furnish 
 3 r ou with new means, and be assured I 
 shall second them in my council. 
 
 LEWIS,
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. l65 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE SEVENTEENTH LETTER. 
 
 WHILE the king applauds M. Berthier for 
 his projects of rooting out mendicity from 
 the state, he observes to him with great 
 justice, that this benefit ought not to be 
 conferred at the expence of the public. Under 
 the old regime, it was only by making beg- 
 gars contribute to the common stock by 
 their labors, that this scourge could be re, 
 moved from society; but whether the mode 
 of making them work on the high roads 
 was the best means of effecting this good 
 intention, is very doubtful. Beggars are 
 seldom industrious, and the earnings of their 
 labor could scarcely have rewarded the time 
 of their overseers. The revolution has pro- 
 vided in another mode for this once nume- 
 rous portion of the people; the condition of 
 the poorer classes being sp ameliorated as 
 to render mendicity scarcely any longer the 
 
 M a
 
 v lR4 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 object of legislative attention. This letter 
 serves, however, to prove how great an 
 interest the king felt in the fate of the 
 lowest orders of his subjects, and that his 
 mind was continually occupied in purposes 
 of doing good. 
 
 M. Berthier's philanthropy, though praised 
 by the king, was far differently understood 
 by those who w r ere the objects of his soli- 
 citude. He was one among the few persons 
 who were sacrificed to the fury of the po- 
 pulace in the very first days of the revo- 
 lution. The crime imputed to him was 
 gthat of monopolizing corn destined for the 
 capital, which act has never been dis- 
 proved; but his death was attended by cir- 
 cumstances of barbarity which would dis- 
 grace the least civilized nation.
 
 F LEWIS xvr* i65 
 
 LETTRE XVIIL 
 
 A M. de Lavoisier. 
 
 1 5 Mars, 1789* 
 
 VOTRE derniere experience, monsieur, 
 fixe encore toute mon admiration : cette 
 decouverte prouve que vous avez agrandi 
 la sphere des connoissances utiles. Vos exp- 
 riences sur Te gaz inflammable prouvent 
 combieii voiis vous occupez de cette science 
 admirable qui, tous les jours, fait de nou- 
 veaux progres. 
 
 La reine et quelques personnes que je 
 desire rendre temoins de votre decouverte, 
 se reuniront dans mon cabinet demain a 
 sjept heures du soir. Vous me ferez plaisir 
 de m'apportcr le traite des gaz inflam- 
 mables. 
 
 *4 
 
 Vous eonnoissez, monsieur, toutc mon 
 eslime pour vous. 
 
 LOUIS.
 
 l66 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 >* 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 
 LETTER XVIIL 
 
 To M. de Lavoisier. 
 
 March i5th, 1789-* 
 
 Your last experiment, Sir, still excites 
 my admiration ; this discovery proves, that 
 you have enlarged the sphere of human 
 knowledge. Your experiments on inflam- 
 mable gaa shew how much you are occu- 
 pied by that admirable science, which every 
 day makes new progress. 
 
 The queen and some persons, to whom 
 I wish your experiment to be shewn, will 
 meet in my cabinet to-morrow at seven ia 
 the evening, and you will give me pleasure 
 by bringing me the treatise on inflammable 
 gaz. 
 
 You know, Sir, laow much you possess 
 my esteem. 
 
 LEWIS.
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE EIGHTEENTH LETTER. 
 
 THE experiments which this celebrated 
 philosopher is here invited to repeat before 
 the king and his family, form the basis of 
 the French system of chemistry; but al- 
 though they met with the royal approbation, 
 and since with the adherence of almost the 
 whole of the chemical world, this system 
 yet wants the sanction of that illustrious 
 experimentalist who first laid the foundation 
 on which this aerial superstructure is reared. 
 
 But leaving the fate of these gazes to the 
 impartial investigation of the scientific world, 
 who can help deploring that of M. Lavoisier, 
 and heaving a groan of execration against 
 his hideous murderers? He is invited in 
 this letter by the king to repeat his expe- 
 riments before the queen and persons of 
 the court : four years afterwards, he rj~
 
 3 68 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 quested from his executioners the respite 
 of a fortnight, to wait the result of a series 
 of important experiments he had begun. But 
 his assassins did not understand his appeal; 
 their only science of government was con- 
 fiscation, their only experiment the scaffold.
 
 op uswis xrr. 169 
 
 V LETTRE XIX. 
 
 Billet actressd au comte d'Artois* 
 
 i3Juillet, 1789, 11 heures du matuu 
 
 J'AVOIS cede, mon cher frere , a vos solli- 
 citations , aux representations de quelques 
 sujets fideles ; mais j'ai fait d'utiles re- 
 flexions. Resister en ce moment, ce seroit 
 s'exposer a perdre la monarchic ; c'est nous 
 perdre tous. J'ai retract6 les ordrcs que 
 j'avois donnes; mes troupes quitteront Paris; 
 j'cmploirai des moyens plus doux. Ne me 
 parlez plusd'un coupd'autorite, d'un grand 
 acte de pouvoir; je crois plus prudent de 
 temporiser , de ceder a 1'orage , et de tout 
 attendre da temps, du reveil dcs gens de 
 bicn, et 1'amour des Francais pour leur 
 roi. 
 
 LOUIS.
 
 170 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 July i5. 1780, 1 1 oclock in the morning. 
 
 I HAD yielded, my dear brother, to your 
 solicitations and to the representations of a 
 few faithful subjects, but I have since made 
 some prudent reflexions. *To resist at pre- 
 sent, would be to risk the loss of the mo- 
 narchy, and the ruin of us all. I have 
 therefore countermanded the orders I had 
 givejnj My troops will retreat from Paris, 
 and I shall employ milder measures. Talk 
 to me no more of an act of authority, of a 
 great stroke of power ; I believe it is most 
 prudent to temporise, to yield to the storm, 
 and expect every thing from time, from 
 the awakened courage of the good, and the 
 love of Frenchmen for their king. 
 
 LEWIS.
 
 F LEWIS XVI. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE NINETEENTH LETTER. 
 
 THE revolution which had been so long 
 in preparation was now about to take 
 place. This letter to the Count d'Artois 
 was written on the eve of that great day, 
 which forms a most important epocha in 
 modern history. For the better understand- 
 ing of this letter, it may be necessary to 
 take a very slight retrospect of the part 
 which the king's brother had acted in the 
 momentous events which had occurred dur- 
 ing the two preceding months. 
 
 When it was discovered that the Notables, 
 who had been convoked . by M. de Calonne, 
 were unwilling or inefficient to remedy th$ 
 disorders of the state, M. Necker was re- 
 called to the ministry, and the convocation 
 of the states- general was ordered. The 
 assembly of tho representa lives of the people
 
 172 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 excited, as was reasonable, great alarm among 
 the privileged orders; but as this convoca- 
 tion was indispensable, projects were formed 
 by the parliaments, the nobility, and the 
 clergy, to render their interference of as 
 little weight as possible. The mode sug- 
 gested was that of following the regulation 
 of the last convocation of the states in 161 4, 
 when the deputies of the tiers etat were 
 equal or little superior in number to each 
 of the other two orders. The notables were 
 also of this opinion, except that division of 
 which the Duke of Rochefaucault was 
 member, and of which the king's eldest 
 brother -was president, who appears to have 
 entertained in this instance a due regard for 
 the rights of the people. The hostile pro- 
 jects of the Count d'Artois were not dis- 
 sembled at that period, but the will of the 
 minister and the orders of the king bore 
 down all ' opposition, and it was determined 
 that the number of the deputies of the 
 people should equal that of the two other 
 orders ; the more important question of the 
 mode of voting, whether by orders or by 
 individuals, remained ret undecided.
 
 OP I/EWIS XVI. 
 
 The reception which the deputies of the 
 tiers etat on the opening of the states-ge- 
 neral met with from the nobles, the clergy, 
 and the court, presented no very flattering 
 hopes of good to be effected by this re- 
 union. The instructions given to the deputies 
 of the people by their constituents were 
 filled with reclamations, which excked the 
 alternate rage and contempt of the two other 
 orders. Their expulsion was already men- 
 tioned as an a flair determined; but to give this 
 act more solemnity, the Count d'Artois, at the 
 head of the princes, among whom, however, 
 must be excepted his brother and the Dukes 
 of Penthievre and Orleans, presented to the 
 king a manifesto levelled against the popular 
 deputation. A second manifesto followed 
 rapidly the former, threatening a general 
 insurrection of the nobility, the chief of 
 which threatened insurrection it was not 
 difficult to guess; nor was it more difficult 
 to conjecture that the first occasion would 
 be eagerly seized to erect their memorials 
 into banners of revolt, as soon as a sufficient 
 number of champions had rallied around 
 them.
 
 174 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 The nobles and clergy persevered in their 
 refusal to join the tiers etat ; each orde* 
 verified its powers in separate chambers, 
 nor was any respect paid to the frequent 
 invitations given by the deputation of the 
 people to those of the clergy and noblesse. 
 Wearied with the constancy of those re- 
 fusals, the members of the tiers etat con- 
 stituted themselves the assembly of the com- 
 mons, declaring themselves the represen- 
 tatives of the nation, having the right of 
 deliberating alone, and of accomplishing, if 
 the other orders persisted in their refusal, 
 the regeneration of France! This act of 
 vigor encouraged the minority of the two 
 other orders, who were anxious for the 
 reunion, to declare themselves; a measure 
 which the majority undertook to prevent, 
 by soliciting the king to hold a royal sitting, 
 in which he should dictate his supreme will; 
 which sitting was destined by the party 
 who provoked it, to be the prelude of the 
 speedy dissolution of the stales. 
 
 The deputies, who were enjoined to sus- 
 pend their meetings on the pretence of
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. 1/75 
 
 preparing their hall for the ceremony, as- 
 sembled in the Tennis court of Versailles, 
 where passed that memorable oath, pro- 
 nounced first by Bailly, of never separating 
 themselves till they had effected the reform. 
 
 The inconvenience of the building leading 
 them to repair to the church of St. Lewis 
 at Versailles, they were there joined by the 
 minority of the two other orders, on which 
 event the assembly of the commons took the 
 name of the national assembly. The 2 3d 
 of June, the day of the royal sitting, at 
 length arrived, and the reception which the 
 deputation of the people met with indicated 
 every hostile intention against them. The 
 king informed them, in a tone of no great 
 persuasion, that he could effect without their 
 aid what remained to be effected ; and the 
 rest of the ceremonial discovered, (hat the 
 popular representation had nothing to rely 
 on but the greatness of their object, and 
 the justice of their cause. 
 
 The deputies remaining assembled after 
 the royal sitting had broken up, the master
 
 176 CORRESPONHENCE 
 
 of ceremonies of the court ordered them in 
 the name of the* king to withdraw from the 
 chamber. The nation assembled, replied 
 Bailly, has no orders to receive. A new in- 
 junction to separate soon followed the for- 
 mer, and an answer, more personally in- 
 dignant on the part of Mirabeau, confirmed 
 the refusal of Bailly. A tumult of the 
 people took place at Versailles on the re- 
 port of those transactions, which tumult 
 was appeased by M. Necker. The national 
 assembly was recruited every day by fresh 
 forces from the other orders; but the court 
 was not less occupied than the people. The 
 inhabitants of Paris and Versailles saw troops 
 collecting in their neighbourhood, surround- 
 ing them on every side ; and as soon as the 
 forces were completed for the part they had 
 to perform, the Count d'Artois, by insulting 
 M. Necker, whom he influenced the king 
 to order once more into exile, began the 
 hostilities he had been so eager to provoke. 
 
 The Parisians, menaced by these warlike 
 preparations, and seeing every quarter of 
 the capital filling with foreign troops, ready 
 
 to
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 
 
 to execute the orders they had received, 
 flew to arms. It was at this critical moment 
 that the king, affrighted by the idea of the 
 instant ruin he was bringing on his country, 
 ordered the retreat of the troops from Paris. 
 This letter to the Count d'Artois instructs 
 us who were the principal actors in this 
 perilous enterprise, and the expression used 
 by the king leads us to suspect, that he 
 was perfectly aware of the danger, since it 
 was less the attack on which he now me- 
 ditated, than the evil arising from resistance. 
 The people, indeed, had no warlike bands 
 to aid them, but he felt that they had what 
 outweighed all the proud combinations of 
 military force. Against a nation armed with 
 enthusiasm, with indignation, with hope, 
 what could avail the stroke of authority, or 
 the tremendous act of power which tlio 
 Count d'Artois was so strenuous to recom- 
 mend? The king had reasoned wisely, and 
 counted the cost. Once, therefore, amidst 
 all his acts of inconstancy and irresolution, 
 he had stumbled happily upoa perseverance; 
 and if he forbore to attempt the exercise of 
 power, because attack or resistance would 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 178 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 have lost himself and the monarchy, some 
 credit is due to his courage in having re- 
 sisted the solicitation and impetuosity of 
 those, who hy a stroke of despotic authority 
 would have involved both in remediless de- 
 struction.
 
 OF LLWIS XVI. 
 
 LETTRE XX. 
 
 A M. I'archeveque d } Aries. 
 
 Ce 26 Aout, 1789. 
 
 JE suis content de cette demarche noble, 
 grancle et genereuse des deux premiers 
 ordres de 1'Etat. 11s out fait de grands sacri- 
 fices pour la reconciliation generate, pour 
 leur patrie. pour leur Pioi. Je porte dans mon 
 cceur toutcc qui a etc fait dans cette seance, 
 ou tous les privileges out etc sacrilies. Le 
 sacrifice est beau ; mais je ne puis quo 
 1'admirer : je ne consentirai jamais a de- 
 pouillcr mon clerge, ma noblesse; a priver 
 I'liri des droits acquis a 1'eglise gallicane pat 
 une antique possession, par le vo?u des 
 Jideles , par les dons des rois mes ai'enx; 
 a sonilrir que 1'autre soil depouillee de lout 
 ce qui Husoit sa gloire, du ]>ri\ de ses ser- 
 vices; de ccs lil res, de ces recojnpt
 
 l8o CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 dues aux vcrtus civiques et guerrieres de 
 la noblesse francaise. De belles actions leiir 
 avoient merite -ties privileges; le roi de 
 France doit les lear conserver. Je ne clon- 
 nerai point ma sanction a des decrets qui 
 les depouilleroient; c'est alors que le peuple 
 francais pourroit un jour m'accuser d'in- 
 jus'ice ou de foiblesse. M. 1'archcveque, 
 vous vous soumettez aux decrets de la Pro- 
 vidence ; je crois in'y soumettre en ne me 
 livrant point a cet eiithousiasme qui s'est 
 empare de tousdes ordres, mais qui ne fait 
 que glisser sur mon ame. Je ferai tout ce 
 qui dependra de moi pour conserver mon 
 clerge, ma noblesse. Si la volonte du peuple 
 se proiioncoit, j'aurois fait mon devoir; si 
 la force m'obligeoit de sanctionner , alors je 
 cederois. Ma;s alors il n'y auroit plus en 
 France ni monarchie, ni monarque; et ces 
 deux ehoses ne peuvent subsister , qu'aux 
 lieux ou le clei'ge forme uii ordre auguste 
 et respecte, ou la noblesse jouit de quelque 
 consideration, et peut se* placer entre le 
 peuple et le Roi. Les momens sont diffi- 
 ciles , je le sais, M. 1'archeveque; et c'est
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. 
 
 ici que nous avons bcsoin des lumieres 
 du ciel. Daignez Ics solliciter, nous serons 
 exauces.. 
 
 . LOUIS, 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 To the archbishop of Aries. 
 
 August y'illi, 1789. 
 
 I AM satisfied with the great, noble, and 
 generous proceeding of the two first orders 
 of I he state ; they have made an immense 
 sacrifice towards a general reconciliation-, 
 both for their country and their king. I 
 fcel engraven on my heart the transactions 
 f that sitting in which all privileges were
 
 3 82 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 renounced. But this sacrifice, however 
 
 r* 
 
 splendid, 1 can only admire, for 'I never 
 will consent to despoil my clergy and no- 
 bility. I will not deprive the former of 
 the rights which the Galilean clmrch has 
 acquired by ancient possession, by the 
 voice of the faithful," and by the munifi- 
 cence of my royal ancestors ; nor will I suf- 
 fer the latter to be stripped of all that con- 
 stituted their glory, of the rewards of their 
 services, of those titles, those recompenses 
 due to tlie civil and military virtues of the 
 French nobility.^ They have merited by 
 great actions those privileges, which it is 
 the duty of the king of France to defend, 
 and I will never give my sanction to de- 
 crees, which tend to their annihilation 
 since were I capable of doing so, the French 
 nation might well accuse me one day of 
 injustice or weakness.) You, my lord arch- 
 bishop, submit yourself to the decrees of 
 Providence, while I believe that I manifest 
 also my submission, by not abandoning my- 
 self to the torrent of enthusiasm which hur- 
 ries on all the different orders of the state,but
 
 OP LEWIS xyi. i85 
 
 which only glides lightly over the surface 
 of my soul. I will do all in my power to 
 preserve my clergy and my nobility, and 
 should the will of the people decide against 
 it, I shall have fulfilled my duty. If supe- 
 rior force obliges me to grant my sanction, 
 I must yield ; but there will then remain 
 in France neither monarchy or monarch, 
 things which can only exist where the 
 clergy form a venerable and august order, 
 and where the nobility enjoy a certain pre- 
 ponderance, and can place themselves be- 
 tween the king and the people. I know, 
 my lord, that the moment is critical, we 
 stand in need of the illumination of heaven; 
 deign to invoke that illumination, and we 
 shall be heard from above. 
 
 LEWIS.
 
 l8* COTIIIKSFONDENCJS 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE TWENTIETH LETTER.. 
 
 The events of tlie fourteenth of July, and 
 the following days, had filled the court, with 
 consternation, and precipitated the flight of 
 such of the princes and chiefs as had hecn 
 most zealous for the exercise of what the 
 king in the last letter calls " strokes of au- 
 thority, " and "great acts of power.: " But 
 although M. Necker had been recalled from 
 exile, and a general armament throughout 
 the kingdom had followed the first insur- 
 rectional movement, no security was felt that 
 the revolution which had begun would be 
 carried into effect. The expressions Law 
 and Liberty were on every lip, but the go- 
 vernment yielded none of its prerogatives, and 
 those of the privileged orders yet remained 
 tin touched. Apprehensions were even en- 
 tertained that the enthusiasm which had bf en 
 excited might wear away, and that those
 
 OP LEWIS xvi. 
 
 who were interested in the continuance of 
 abuses might join with the court, now reco- 
 Yeriiigfroni its astonishment, to confirm them. 
 
 These apprehensions, so far as they res^- 
 pectecl the court, were well founded : unac- 
 customed to look beyond the limits of its 
 own narrow circle, how could it form any 
 idea of what was meant by liberty, or the 
 will of the people? or conjecture that those 
 terms had any other meaning than such as 
 was synonimotis with revolt or rebellion? 
 A considerable part of the nobility and clergy 
 appear, however, to have had larger acquaint- 
 ance wilh mankind. They felt that the pe- 
 riod of momentous changes was now arrived; 
 and perhaps we may be allowed to suggest, 
 that some personal motives might also operate 
 on their minds, since they knew, that if the 
 government should resume its wonted au- 
 thority, they would themselves bo the first 
 victims of its wrath. But it would be de- 
 rogating from the honor of a considerable 
 number of individuals in these two orders, 
 not to admit, that they were led to this sur- 
 render of their privileges by sentiments of
 
 l86 
 
 patriotism and justice. On the fourth of Au- 
 gust, three weeks after the day from which 
 dates the epocha of the revolution, the great 
 sacrifice was consummated, by an unanimous 
 vote for the suppression of all feudal rights. 
 At this memorable sitting, the clergy and no- 
 biliiy acquiesced in the payment of all taxes 
 whatever ; the seignorial courts were abo- 
 lished, and gratuitous justice enjoined to be 
 distributed throughout the whole kingdom; 
 and a general renunciation and suppression 
 of the game laws was decreed. Amongst other 
 renunciations, abolitions and surrenders, were 
 those of francs fiefs y main morte, cens, feu- 
 dal revenues of every kind, such as warrens, 
 pigeon houses, the droit d'annates ( first 
 fruits ) tb the court of Rome, first fruits from 
 vicars to bishops, vicar's dues, privileges of 
 trades, called jurandes and maitrise, and the 
 sales of places. No ecclesiastic was to enjoy 
 more than one benefice. Citizens of every 
 class were eligible to all places, civil and mi- 
 litary, and the great nobility offered an ho- 
 mage to the nation of their titles of first 
 barons, and likewise apart of their pensions. 
 The lust of (hose resolutions was that of bes-
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. 187 
 
 towing on the king the title of restorer of 
 French liberty, and the ordering Te Deuin 
 to be sung in the presence of the court. 
 
 One abolition yet remained to be made, 
 and which did not pass with the same una- 
 nimity as the former. This was the aboli- 
 tion of tythes. Against thi$ suppression, 
 which was deemed by some sacrilegious, the 
 clergy made considerable opposition. The 
 votes of the assembly were at first so divi- 
 ded on this important topic, that no absolute 
 decision could be pronounced ; but as the 
 example of renunciations and suppressions had 
 been so splendid on the part of the nobility, 
 the patriotism of the clergy gained the as- 
 cendancy over its private interest, and this 
 tax on national industry shared the fate of 
 other abuses. The archbishops of Paris and 
 Rouen did the honors of the first surrender. 
 
 It was after singing Te Dettm at the chapel 
 of Versailles, and after expressions of joy. and 
 satisfaction in an answer to the uddiess of 
 Ihe president of the national assembly, lhat 
 the king writes this letter to the archbishop
 
 l88 
 
 of Aries. In tins letter, as in his speech, the? 
 king is satisfied with the noble, generous, and 
 sublime proceedings df the two first orders 
 of the state, whom he represents as having 
 Hiade great sacrifices towards a general re- 
 conciliation, and to their country, and their 
 king. These sacrifices for objects so impor- 
 tant, and which he wears in his heart, meet r 
 however, only with his admiration. The 
 nobles may surrender their cens, their ca- 
 pitaneries, their francs fief*, main morte 
 and other feudal appendages ; the clergy their 
 dues^ their first fruits^ their simoniacal be- 
 nefices, and their tythes : the king is too much 
 penetrated with those acts of generosity andT 
 self-denial to permit such abdications of ho- 
 nor, profit, and power, to take place; he re- 
 solves to support the clergy in the ancient 
 possession of their rights, acquired by the 
 vows of the faithful, and the gifts of his 
 forefathers; nor can he suffer the latter to 
 be plundered of every thing which consti- 
 tute4 its |lory, and which are the rewards 
 due to the civic- and warlike virtues of the 
 French nobility. 
 
 'j I.' 0..' '.-V:
 
 or LEWIS xvi. 189 
 
 " I will never, " says the king, " give my 
 sanction to decrees by which they will be 
 plundered. It is then that the French people 
 may tax me with injustice or weakness. 
 You, my lord archbishop, 'submit yourself to 
 the decrees of Providence ; I think I do the 
 same, by not yielding to that enthusiam which 
 has seized the different orders, but which 
 glides only across my mind. I will do every 
 tiling that depends on me to preserve my 
 clergy and nobility. " There is an appearance 
 of magnanimity and firmness in this decla- 
 ration of the king, which ill accords with his 
 general character of inconstancy and indeci- 
 sion. He had, indeed, already virtually sanc- 
 tioned these decrees of the assembly in his 
 answer to the president; he had accepted the 
 title of restorer of French liberty, and joined 
 in devout thanksgiving to heaven with his 
 nobility and clergy, to implore the divine 
 blessing on these splendid acts of generosity 
 and patriotism. In this letter to the Arch- 
 bishop of Aries, written but a few days after, 
 he takes a tone hostile to every sentiment 
 which lie had led the assembly to believe he 
 had entertained. He smiles at the eiilhu-
 
 siasm of the orders against which he had had 
 the firmness to steel his mind, and resolves 
 to take a tenderer concern in their particular 
 interests than they knew how to take them- 
 selves. 
 
 The motives which he allcdges for this 
 conduct, and which under any other circum- 
 stances would be highly patriotic and laudable, 
 wear here a whimsical appearance. Why 
 does the king resolve, contrary to the decrees 
 of the assembly, contrary to the will of the 
 privileged orders, to withhold his sanction 
 to the decree,* and to uphold those orders 
 in their privileges, which they had aban- 
 doned ? Because, he says, the French people 
 might by his acquiescence accuse him of 
 weakness or injustice. They must have 
 been a very singular people indeed, who, 
 after having groaned for ages under the 
 oppression and exactions of the privileged 
 orders, on finding themselves released, should 
 become at once so enamoured of their chains, 
 as to tax their deliverer with injustice. "We 
 fciight readily conceive, that had the people 
 risen in insusrrcction against their oppressors,
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. l(jl 
 
 ami broken their fetters, the privileged orders 
 might tax the king with injustice if he joined 
 with the serfs, and protected them in this 
 act of rebellion. We might even admit this 
 accusation to be just on the part of the nobles, 
 had the bare majority of the assembly, the 
 tiers-etat for instance, in direct Opposition, 
 to the two other orders, passed this decree, 
 and had the king assented ; but wheh the vote 
 of surrender was unanimous, when accla- 
 mations of joy and gratitude resounded from 
 every corner of France, that the king should 
 stand untouched amidst the general enthu- 
 siasm, that he should be the single defender 
 of feudal privileges and ecclesiastical rights, 
 abandoned by those most interested in their 
 preservation, and that he should plead the 
 will of the people for the perpetuity of those 
 distinctions which the people were most 
 interested in abolishing, appears to be a 
 motive of action so extraordinary, 1hat had 
 not the true reason boon announced in the 
 close of the lelter, we must have been utterly 
 at a loss to accouiit for his conduct. 
 
 "If superior force obliges mi- to grant my 
 sanction," adds the the king, " 1 must yield;
 
 192 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 but there will then remain in France neither 
 monarchy nor monarch, things which can 
 only exist where the clergy form a venerable 
 and august order, and where the nobility 
 enjoy a certain consideration, and can place 
 themselves between the king and the people. 7 ' 
 If by the terms monarchy and monarch, the 
 king understood what the words import, the 
 will of one individual in the state to the 
 exclusion of the rest; or if he meant the 
 continuation of those abuses which fortified 
 every privileged order against the rights and 
 liberties of the nation in general, he \vas in 
 the right. After the explosion which had 
 taken place in July, and the surrender made 
 of those abuses and privileges by the nobility 
 and clergy, it was impossible that such a 
 monarchy or monarch should exist. Tim 
 then was the fatal error into which the 
 king had fallen. He had been taught by 
 those that surrounded him, that the revo- 
 lution which had taken place was only a 
 transient effervescence ; that, clothed with 
 supreme power as he had always been, and 
 habituated to obey as were the people, he 
 had only to resist the shock by temporising, 
 
 and
 
 OP LEWIS XVT. 
 
 and every thing would return to its accus- 
 tomed order. If he could not have prevailed 
 with himself to bend, or rather elevate his 
 mind to the rank in which the French nation 
 had placed him, that of being the restorer of 
 French liberty, and first magistrate of a free 
 people, it would have been much more in- 
 genuous and noble to have avowed bis sen- 
 timents with frankness, and have terminated 
 his career with the dignity becoming his 
 character. On the contrary, we behold him 
 making the fairest profession of attachment 
 to the new order of things, whilst he was 
 secretly resolved to overthrow it as soon as 
 the occasion should offer ; weak in every 
 purpose where he should have full confidence, 
 and strong and persevering in every deter- 
 mination, which could not fail to bring ruin 
 on himself, and perpetuate the disorders and 
 calamities of his country. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 LETTRE XXI. 
 
 Au comte d'Artois. - 
 
 7 Septemhre, 1789. 
 MON FRERE, 
 
 Vous vous plaigiiez , et votre lettre oil le 
 respect et 1'amour fraternel guident votre 
 plume, contient des reproclies que vous 
 croyez foncles. Vous parlez de courage , de 
 resistance aux projets des factieux, de vo- 
 lonte , . . . . mon frere , vous n'etes pas roi ! 
 Le ciel , en me plagant sur le troiie , m'a 
 <lomi6 un coeur sensible, des sentimens 
 d'un bon pere. Tous les Frangais sont mes 
 enfans; je suis leperecommun de la grande 
 famille confiee a mes soins. L'in gratitude, 
 la haine arment centre inoi ; Inais les yeux 
 sont obscurcis, les esprits sont egares, la 
 tourmente r^volutionnaire a trouble toutes 
 les teles.
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. ig5 
 
 Le peuple croit s'interesser a sa propre 
 cause , et c'est moi seul que j'aurois pu. 
 defendre. Jo pourrois donner le signal du 
 combat; maisquel combat horrible, el quelle 
 victoire plus borrible encore! Pouvez-vous 
 croire que j'eusse triomphe, an moment ou 
 tous les ordres de 1'Etat se reunissoient, ou 
 tout ce peuple s'armoit contre moi,ou toute 
 1'armee oublioit ses sermens, Fhonneur et 
 son roi. J'aurois donne, il est vrui, le signal 
 du carnage, et des milliers de Frangais au- 
 
 roicnt etc immoles : muis vous direz , 
 
 peut-etre, le peuple a triomplie; il vons a 
 prouve , par ses exces, que ses sentimcns 
 n'etoient pas si genereux, qu'il osoit abuser 
 de la victoire et poignarder son enuemi 
 vaincu. Ah ! ne comptcz-votis ponr lieu 
 le calme d'une bonne conscience? Pui fait 
 jnon devoir; et landis que 1'assassin est de- 
 cliire par les reinords , je puis dire liaule- 
 ment; je ne suis pas responsable du sang 
 verse; je ii'ai point ordonne le menrtrcj 
 j'ai sauvedes franca is; j'ai same ma famille, 
 raes amis, tout rnon pen pie : j'ai la con- 
 science intirne d'avoir fail lebien; incseiine- 
 
 O 2
 
 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 mis ont cu recours anx forfaits. Quel est 
 celui d'entre nous dont le sort est le plus 
 digiie d'eiivie ? Cessez, moil frere , cessez de 
 m'accnser : le temps , les circonstances , et 
 mille causes , qu'il seroit trop long de 
 detailler, ont fait les malheurs de la France. 
 II est trop cruel de me les reprocher; c'est 
 se joindre alors a mes ennemis, et dechirer 
 ce coeur paternel. Mon frere , je me suis 
 sacrifie pour nion peuple ; soyez persuade 
 que ce premier devoir rempli, je saurai me 
 sacrifier pour vous et pour les Francais qui 
 vous ont suivi. Deja votre eloignemeiit 
 excite des murmures ; deja les factions se 
 promettent bien de nous accuser, et de 
 tirer parti de cette demarche, qu'ils ap- 
 pellent, en ce moment, une fuite, une cons- 
 piration, un attentat. Ces idees se propagent 
 elles produiront de funestes resultats , si la 
 tranquillite n'est point retablie; si votre 
 rappel devient impossible ; si je neglige 
 1'occasion favorable de rappejer en France 
 les Francais exiles volontairement, et qui 
 doivent s'empresser d'obeir au voeu que je 
 me ferai alors un devoir de manifester.
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. 197 
 
 Adieu, mon frere , n'oubliez pas que je 
 vous aime et que je m'occupe de vous. 
 
 LOUIS. 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 To the count d'Artois. 
 
 Sept. yth, 
 MY BROTHER-, 
 
 You complain, and your letter, in which 
 respect and fraternal affection appear to 
 guide the pen, contains reproaches which 
 you think well founded. You talk of cou- 
 rage, of resistance to the projects of factious 
 
 men, of sovereign will My brother, 
 
 you arc not a king ! Ileavcu in placing nu;
 
 198 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 on tiie throne, gave me a feeling heart, and 
 the sentiments of a good father. All French- 
 men are my children, and I am the com- 
 mon father of the great family confided to 
 my care. Hatred and ingratitude are armed 
 against me, but their eyes are dimmed, 
 their judgment is bewildered; the revolu- 
 tionary torrent has dizzied every brain ; 
 the people believe they maintain the inte- 
 rests of their own cause, and I should be re- 
 duced to the necessity of defending myself 
 alone. I might, indeed^ give the signal of 
 combat, but how horrible a combat, and 
 how more horrible a victory ! and can you 
 believe I should have triumphed at the mo- 
 ment when all the orders of the state were 
 united together, when all the people were 
 armed against me, and when all the army 
 forgot its oaths, its honor, and its king? I 
 might no doubt have given the signal of 
 carnage, and thousands of Frenchmen would 
 
 have been immolated You will tell me, 
 
 perhaps, that the people have triumphed, 
 and have proved by their excesses, that 
 their sentiments were not so generous j that
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 
 
 fliey have dared to abuse their victory, and 
 stab their vanguished foe ! Alas ! do you 
 then apreciate as nothing the calm of a 
 good conscience ? I have done my duty; 
 and while the assassin is the prey of re- 
 morse, I can declare loudly, that I am not 
 responsible for the blood that is shed. I 
 have not commanded murder; I have saved 
 the lives of Frenchmen, I have saved my 
 family, my friends, my whole people ; I 
 liave an internal conviction of having acted 
 well, while my enemies have had recourse 
 to crimes : which of us is in a situation the 
 most to be envied? Cease then, my bro- 
 ther, cease to accuse me ; time, circum- 
 stances, and a thousand causes, too long for 
 detail, have produced the misfortunes of 
 France. It is too cruel to reproach me 
 with these things; tins were to join with 
 my enemies, and break my paternal heart. 
 I have sacrificed myself, brother, for my 
 people, and this first duty being fulfilled, 
 be persuaded thai I shall know how to sa- 
 crifice myself for you, and the French who 
 Lave followed you. Your absence already
 
 800 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 excites murmurs; already the factious form 
 tlie purpose of accusing us, and of taking 
 advantage of this measure, which they call 
 a flight, a conspiracy, a crime. These ideas 
 are propagated, and will produce fatal 
 effects, if tranquillity he not re-established, 
 if your return should become impossible; 
 if I should neglect the favorable opportu- 
 nity of recalling the French, who are vo- 
 luntary exiles, and who ought to obey with 
 alacrity this desire, which I shall then feel 
 it a duly to manifest. Adieu, my brother, 
 do not forget that I love you, and am oc- 
 cupied by your concerns^ 
 
 LEWIS, 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE TWENTY-FIRST LETTER. 
 
 IF any circumstances may be alledged in 
 extenuation of the error into which the king 
 \vas led at this period, they are to be found
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 20 1 
 
 in the passions and prejudices of those who 
 were continually goading him on to acts of 
 hostility against the revolution. Amongst his 
 greatest enemies were those of his own house- 
 hold. No one can read this letter Avilhout 
 mingled sentiments of pity and indignation; 
 pity for the unfortunate prince who had not 
 courage to stem this torrent of perversity ; 
 and indignation against those who preci- 
 pitated him by their counsels, or their re- 
 proaches, from one fault to another, till they 
 had completed his ruin. 
 
 Amongst the persons who were the most, 
 strenuous for violent measures, the count 
 d'Artois has been always signalised as the 
 chief. A fugitive from France after the taking 
 of the Bastille-, and the retreat of the army 
 which had been collected for the dispersing, 
 of the National Assembly, he talks proudly to 
 his brother of courage and resistance, mingling 
 reproaches with bis complaints. Tiir answer 
 of the king to those reproaches is dignified, 
 and we may judge from tbe reply, of the 
 nature of the accusation. " I iniyht \\n\c. 
 given," says the king, " the .signal of carn:'^ ,
 
 202 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 and thousands of Frenchmen would have been 
 sacrificed." The count, in safety on the other 
 side of the Rhine, was assured of victory had 
 the combat taken place ; but the king, who 
 had calculated the chances more calmly, 
 passes in review the enemies that were to be 
 subdued. The enumeration was not despi- 
 cable 5 it consisted of all the orders of the 
 state, the whole of the people armed, the 
 whole of the army forgetful of its oaths and 
 withdrawn from its allegiance: no allies re- 
 mained to the court, but the courtiers and 
 counsellors who surrounded it, and of these 
 the chiefs, on the first explosion, had sought 
 their safety in flight. 
 
 Our interest for this unfortunate prince is 
 still further excited, when we see with what 
 a glow of self complacency he looks back on 
 his refusal to give the signal for the com- 
 mission of these horrors, which his brother 
 had the project of seeing executed. The 
 king replies to the reproaches for these sen- 
 timents of humanity, with meekness ; " For- 
 bear, my brother, forbear your accusations; 
 the times, circumstances, and a thousand
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 
 
 other causes, too long to detail, have occa- 
 sioned the misfortunes of France. It is too 
 cruel to reproach me with them." Had the 
 king possessed a less forbearing or bene- 
 volent heart, he might have answered the 
 accusations brought against him, by detailing 
 a few of those thousand causes which had 
 produced this fancied desolation. Free here, 
 at least, from reproach himself, he might 
 have talked of the prodigality, the immo- 
 ralities, and the extravagancies of those who 
 had surrounded him, and might have sketched 
 such portraits as would have made the writer 
 of the letter he was answering shrink back 
 from the resemblance. On the contrary, he 
 remonstrates with his brother on his absence, 
 and invites him to return ; an invitation 
 which, happily for his country, and pro- 
 bably for himself, was passed by unregarded. 
 
 The indisposition of the king against the 
 changes which had taken place continues 
 unabated. lie talks of being pursued by 
 ingratitude and hatred ; he represents the 
 whole of France as blinded, led astray, and 
 tossed about by the revolutionary tempest;
 
 2o4 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 and assures his brother, that he has sacri- 
 ficed himself for his people. Of these sacri- 
 fices for the people it is difficult to discover 
 the amount ; if the king's own letters furnish 
 any proof, we should be led to think the 
 contrary. The king at this period was in 
 the habit of being deceived and 01 deceiving 
 himself; but there is one sacrifice which 
 ought not to be forgotten, that of the vile and 
 vindictive passions of those around him, who 
 were eager to kindle the conflagration of civil 
 war throughout the kingdom, which, though 
 it would necessarily have ended in their own 
 destruction, would at the same time have 
 overwhelmed the country with general desoj 
 lation.
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. 205 
 
 LETTRE XXII. 
 
 'A M. le comte d'Estaing. 
 
 Versailles, 5 Oct. 1789, 7!*. dusoir. 
 
 Vous voulez, mon cousin, que je me 
 prononce dans les circonstances critiques 
 011 je me trouve , et que je prenne un parti 
 violent, que j'emploie une legitime defense, 
 ou que je m'eloigne de Versailles. Quelle 
 que soil 1'audace de mes ennemis, ils ne 
 reussiront pas; le Franc,ais est incapable d'un 
 regicide. C'est en vain qu'on verse Tor a 
 pleines mains, que le crime et rambiliou 
 s'agitent ; j'ose croire que ce danger ii'est 
 pas aussi pressant que mes amis se le pcr- 
 suadent. La fuite meperdroit totalement, et 
 la guerre civile en scroit le fuuestc resullat. 
 Me defendre, il faudroit verser le sang des 
 Francois, mon co?ur ne pent se familiariser 
 avec cette affreuse idee. Agisson.s avec pru- 
 dence j si je succombe, du moins je n'uurai
 
 2O6 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 nul reproche a me faire. Je viens de voir 
 quelques raembres de I'Assemblee , je suis 
 satisfait : j'ose attendre qu'il s'operera une 
 heureuse revolution dans les esprits. Di&u 
 veuille, mon cousin, que la tranquillite 
 publique soit retablie. Mais point d'aggres- 
 sion, point de mouvenient qui puisse laisser 
 croire que je songe a me venger , meme a 
 
 me defendre. 
 
 LOUIS. 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 To the count d'Estaing. 
 
 Versailles, October 5th, 1789. 
 Seven in the evening. 
 
 You wish, my cousin, that I should de- 
 clare myself in the present critical circum-
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 2O7 
 
 stances, and have recourse to violent mea- 
 sures; that I should make use of just means 
 of defence, or withdraw from Versailles. 
 "Whatever be the audacity of my enemies, 
 they will not succeed; the French are in- 
 capable of regicide. It is in va\n that heaps 
 of gold are distributed, and that guilt and 
 ambition are indefatigable in their at- 
 tempts. I venture to believe that the dan- 
 ger is not so imminent as my friends ima- 
 gine. ^Flight would be my utter ruin, and 
 civil war its calamitous consequencej 
 
 Were I to defend myself, the blood*of 
 Frenchmen would be shed. Let us act 
 with prudence, and I feel I shall at least be 
 free from self-reproach. I have just seen 
 some members of the assembly, and am sa- 
 tisfied; I dare flatter myself that a happy 
 revolution will take place in men's minds. 
 Heaven grant, my cousin, that public tran- 
 quility may be restored. But let there be 
 110 aggression, no commotion which can, 
 give the idea, that I think of avenging, or 
 
 even of defending myself. 
 
 LEWIS.
 
 2 08 CORRESFON DEXCE 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE TWENTY-SECOND LETTER. 
 
 THIS letter ) addressed to the count d'Estaing, 
 relates to the events of the fifth and sixth 
 of October. The count was at that epocha 
 commander in chief of the national militia 
 of Versailles, and at the instant the letter 
 was written headed, the body guards of the 
 king, the regiment of Flanders, the dragoons, 
 and the Swiss guards. Those corps were 
 drawn up before the palace fronting the 
 great avenue, waiting the approach of the 
 national guard of Paris, who with M. de 
 la Fayette at their head, were marching to 
 Versailles. 
 
 The events of the first days of October 
 form a very important era in the history of the 
 revolution, have called forth the eloquence 
 of orators and writers of various descrip- 
 tions, have occupied the national councils 
 -j- and
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. 
 
 Bnd perplexed courts of justice. Notwith- 
 standing the mystery in which those trans- 
 actions were enveloped, there now appears 
 little doubt that they were the result of a 
 douhle conspiracy ; of the court on the one 
 hand, to regain the power it had lost, and 
 of a party concealing its selfish designs 
 under the mask of patriotism, pushing on the 
 discontented to acts of violence, and making 
 them the instruments of its criminal designs. 
 Of this party the late Duke of Orleans has 
 been more than suspected of being the chief; 
 and whoever will take the trouble of looking 
 into tire circumstantial details of those events 
 as recorded at the lime, will find no diffi- 
 culty in attributing to this inglorious de- 
 magogue the dishonorable motives which 
 produced this event. 
 
 Of this conspiracy against his authority, 
 clipped as it had been by the revolution, and 
 even against his life, the king appears to 
 have felt little apprehension. " Whatever 
 be the audacity of my enemies/' fays he, 
 * they will not succeed. The French are in- 
 capable of regicide. Jt is in vain that heaps 
 
 voi,. r. i
 
 21 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 of gold are distributed, and that guilt and 
 ambition are indefatigable in their attempts." 
 Having this persuasion, it seems singular 
 that the king should not have been more 
 cautious in avoiding every pretext for the' 
 accomplishment of these criminal designs. 
 Nothing surely was better fitted to give a 
 color of justification to this new insurrec- 
 tion, than the scenes which were then pas- 
 sing in the palace of Versailles, where the 
 hatred of the new order of things was so 
 undissembled, that acts the most hostile and 
 insulting to the nation were permitted pub- 
 licly to take place, arid were regarded by 
 those \vhose interest it was to check those 
 imprudent emotions, with more than ap- 
 probation. 
 
 The delay of the king to sanction the 
 decrees of the assembly forming the basis 
 of the new constitution, and the real or 
 fictitious scarcity of bread in the capital, 
 were the pretexts for this attack on royal 
 prerogative ; of which attack, whatever was 
 ill intended or malignant 'was parried by 
 the prudence of the commander of Paris,
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. 211 
 
 M. <le la Fayette; who, compelled by Hie 
 civil power to head the troops in this 
 expedition, counteracted, or, at least, neu- 
 tralised the sinister purposes of its original 
 projectors. Botfy parties, in this conspiracy 
 failed in their design. The court felt once 
 more how unavailing were all its efforts 
 to bring about a counter-revolution, and 
 the enemies of whom the king speaks, 
 discovered that the instruments they had. 
 bribed or seduced into insurrection, were 
 indocile to the perpetration of crimes 
 to -which it is probable they were insti- 
 gated. 
 " 
 
 Whatever may have been the real state 
 of the case, whether the conspiracy of the 
 court against the revolution, or the conspi- 
 racy of the faction against the court, were 
 the causes of this popular movement; the 
 disposition and conduct of the king under 
 these trying circumstances are worthy of 
 the highest praise. If we blame him at 
 times for his weakness, it is probable that 
 we should blame him less if we knew all 
 the wrong counsels which he resisted. The 
 
 pa
 
 212 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 count d'Estaing, it appears from the king's 
 answer, had urged him to fight or fly. At 
 the queen's trial, when the count was 
 brought to witness against her, it was 
 proved that he .had procured from the 
 municipality of Versailles, then in the interest 
 of the court, an order on the fifth of October, 
 to employ every means of conciliation with 
 the Parisians, and in case of not succeeding, 
 to repel force by force. The last article of 
 these written instructions ordered him to 
 neglect nothing in order to bring back the 
 king to Versailles as soon as possible. 
 
 The queen had also been urged to secure 
 herself by flight, as the person against whom 
 the popular indignation was most excited. 
 The deposition of the count on the queen's 
 trial before the revolutionary tribunal de- 
 serves remembrance. " I heard," said he, 
 <c the counsellors of the court tell the pri- 
 soner (that is, the queen) that the people of 
 Paris were coming to massacre her, and 
 that she ought to depart; to which she re- 
 plied with great dignity, If the Parisians 
 come Jjere to assassinate me, it i* at th
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. Sl5 
 
 feet of my husband they shall find me, but 
 I will never fly." 
 
 It is probable, that these arrangements 
 with the municipality were taken by tlio 
 count without the king's consent; since, 
 when on the evening of the fifth of October 
 the count presented them to the king, he 
 received the refusal of compliance contained 
 in this letter. The wisdom of the king is 
 here finely contrasted with the folly of his 
 advisers, who ought to have recollected the 
 events which had passed only three months 
 before, and to have felt how unavailing 
 would have been the resistance of a few 
 companies of soldiers against an armed na- 
 tion, and how lillle confidence could bo 
 reposed in the fidelity of troops, who had 
 already broken their oaths according to tho 
 king's accusation, and who on the present 
 ccasion were disposed to a similar relaxa- 
 tion. The king felt loo- much the danger 
 of his position to act uj> to the courage or 
 rashness of his defenders. Tho answer,, 
 therefore, which he returned to the decree* 
 of the municipality and the instances o
 
 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 the count, is marked with traits of huma- 
 nity which do no less honor to his heart, 
 than the resolution he had token of abiding 
 the consequences at Versailles, do credit to 
 his judgment. It has been already men- 
 tioned, that previous to the arrival of the 
 Parisians at Versailles, the king, while he 
 accepted certain decrees of the assembly, 
 had refused or deferred his sanction to such 
 as formed the basis of that liberty, of which 
 he had been proclaimed the restorer. This 
 refusal, for so- the delay was construed by 
 the assembly, had excited the warmest ani- 
 madversions; and after a long discussion, 
 ' in which it was represented, that the as- 
 sembly ought not one instant to defer re- 
 quiring of the king a pure and simple ac- 
 ceptance of the declaration of the rights of 
 man, as well as of the constitutional articles 
 already decreed 5 and the president, accom- 
 panied by a deputation, was ordered to 
 present himself before the king, and to 
 beseech him to give his sanction to these 
 decrees. 
 
 It was at the end of this discussion that 
 the Parisians appeared at the bar of the
 
 OF LEWIS xvi. ai5 
 
 assembly. Whatever change may have been 
 produced in the dispositions of the king by 
 the remonstrances and firmness of the as- 
 sembly, the terror excited by the insurrec- 
 tion was no doubt an additional motive to 
 lead him to give his sanction to those im- 
 mortal principles, which formed the basis 
 of French liberty; he also consented at the 
 same time to change his residence from 
 Versailles to Paris, where the enemies of 
 the revolution being more nearly observed, 
 would have fewer opportunities, and less 
 means of combining against its cause. Mean- 
 while the representatives of the nation, 
 thus relieved from a part of their inquie- 
 tudes, had leisure to give form and sub- 
 stance to the great principles of freedom, 
 and embody them, as it were, into maxims 
 of national faith.
 
 21 6 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 LETTRE XXIII, 
 
 Louis d M. de Brissac. 
 
 Du 28 Get., 1789. 
 
 JUSTE appreciateur, monsieur, du zele 
 clievaleresque qui a dirige toute votre con- 
 duite depnis 1'epoque de nos malheurs, je 
 Irouvc une satisfaction infinie a vous te- 
 moigner personnellement les sentimens de 
 gratitude qtie la reine et moi vous devotis, 
 pour ce que votre loyaute vous a dicte dans 
 la journee d'hier. J'ai appris , a mon reveid 
 ce matin, que vou& etiez malade ; j'ai era ne 
 pouvoir mieux vous prouver le vif interot 
 que nous prenoiis a votre personne , qu'en 
 vous assurant de 1'immuable eslime que 
 j'aurai toute ma vie pour mi aussi brave 
 Frangais, et un sujet aussi iidele que vous. 
 
 LOUIS,
 
 op LEWIS xvi. ai 7 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 
 LETTER. XXIII. 
 
 Lewis to M. de^Brissac. 
 
 October aSlb, 1789. 
 
 JUSTLY appreciating, Sir, the romantic 
 zeal which has directed all your conduct 
 since the epocha of my misfortune, I feel 
 an infinite satisfaction in testifying perso- 
 nally the sentiments of gratitude, which 
 the queen and myself owe to you for all 
 that your loyalty dictated during the events 
 of yesterday. \Vhcri I rose this morning, 
 I was informed that you were ill, and I 
 thought I could not better prove the lively 
 interest we take in you, than by assuring 
 you .of the unalterable esteem, which I 
 shall feel all my life for so good a French- 
 man, and so faithful a subject. 
 
 LEWIS.
 
 21 8 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE TWENTY-THIRD UETTERV 
 
 M, de Brissac, Whose chevaleresque zeal is 
 here so much the theme of eulogium, was 
 among the most active in prompting the king 
 to resistance against the revolution, by the 
 proposal of measures the most extravagant, 
 and the least likely J.o be crowned with 
 success. He was the commander in chief 
 of the king's new guards, and by the im- 
 prudent exercise which he made of this ardor 
 in the royal cause, was the principal per- 
 sonage who contributed afterwards to their 
 suppression. His zeal Avas so much the more 
 fatal to the king, as the resistance to which 
 he prompted him against the decrees of the 
 assembly with respect to this guard, was not 
 amongst the least of the causes which brought 
 on the events of the tenth of August.
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. 
 
 LETTRE XXIV. 
 
 A M. de Bailment, mon agent d Londres. 
 Paris, ce 29 Novembre, 1789. 
 
 VOTRE demiere lettre ne tennine rien, 
 et parle peu de Poperation dont vous etes 
 charge. Quelle insouciance, ou quelle iner- 
 tie ! \ous savez que j'ai besoin de la sommc 
 que vous 6tes charge^ de negocier, et vous 
 vous laissez prevenir. Vous ne voyez point 
 les banquiers acceptenrs, et vous laissez 
 tranquillement s'effectuer 1'emprunt du due 
 d'Orleans.Cependaiitj les moinens etoient si 
 precieux, et 1'argent si necessaire ! Je sais 
 bieii que le ininistre de I'inU'Tieur^avcc sa 
 contrc-police, ne fait pas grand chose, et 
 me conte beaucoup. II connoit toule rna 
 repugnance a m'clidetter, ct combien peu 
 je prise les nioyens de seduclion. II vcut 
 singer le due d'Orleans, qui sc ruine pour 
 faire le nuil, el se vcngcr de quclque plate
 
 S2O CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 chanson, ou de quelque mepris , dont CR 
 moil particulier , je sais qu'il s'est bicn 
 rendu digne. Uii de nies agens au Palais- 
 Royal , m'a fait connoitre iion-seulement la 
 destination des sommes qu'il a empruntees, 
 jnais encore 1'emploi de ces sommes : il est 
 certain querescompteprelevejet le bonides 
 cntremetteurs, soustraits, il a etc distribue 
 i5 cent mille livres aux priricipaux par- 
 tisans du due d'Orleans. Mirabeau a eu,pour 
 sa part, 80 mille livres qui ont ete comptees 
 chezLatouche, et portees dans trois nacres, 
 rue Chaussee d'Aiitm*. J'ai la liste de ceux 
 des deputes qui ont regu. On a distribue 
 60 mille liv. dans le faubourg St.-Antoine , 
 et chez quelques partisans du due; on s'est 
 empresse de faire payer 1'arriere a quelques 
 gens audacieux, et connus par leur esprit 
 d'intrigue et leurs vues ambiiieuses. On a 
 porte , sur cette liste , le nom d'un certain 
 Marat , celui de Danton , les noms de 
 
 * A cette copie etoit atlachee, avec une epingle, 
 une liste contenant les noms tie ccux qui avoient recit 
 des somiaes provenant tie 1'ercprunt, fait par le tlc 
 tt'Orleans., a LonJres, en 1783*
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 321 
 
 quelques Genevois refugies en France, de 
 ce parti qni, a Geneve, se disoit patriote; 
 enfin, de quelques hommes obscurs , mais 
 tres-dangereux. 
 
 Voila bien des me"chans reunis centre 
 moi, je le sens bien; il faut, comme vous 
 le dites , user de leur tactique , et m'attacher 
 des hommes entrepr.enans , ou plutot re- 
 compenser le zele de quelques-uns de nies 
 fideles sujets. C'est avec plaisir que.je ferai 
 dislribuer 1'argent que j'ai proniis : il ne 
 era point employ^ pour coinoiettre le 
 crime ; niais il servira a surveilJer mes 
 ennemis, et adejouer leurs projets. Halesj- 
 vous d'executer mes ordres, et que Tcmploi 
 goit rcmpli. Profilez de la bonne intention 
 dchorg. 
 
 LOUIS.
 
 222 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 To M. de Bailment, agent at London. 
 
 Paris, Nov. aglh, 1789. 
 
 YOUR last latter terminates nothing, and 
 speaks little of the operation with which 
 you are charged. What indifference, or 
 what apathy ! You know I stand in need of 
 the sum which you were directed to ne- 
 gociate, and you suffer it to be obtained by 
 others. You have not seen the bankers, 
 and you allow the loan of the duke of Or- 
 leans to be quietly effected, although the 
 moments were so precious, and money so 
 necessary. I know well that the minister 
 of the interior, with his counter-police, at- 
 chieves but little, and costs me a great 
 deal; he knows all my repugnance to in- 
 curring debt, and how small a value I place
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 225 
 
 on the means of seduction. He wishes to 
 ape the duke of Orleans, who ruins himself 
 to do harm, and avenges himself for some 
 silly songs, or some marks of contempt, 
 which in my opinion he well deserved. 
 
 s 
 One of my agents of the Palais Royal has 
 
 made known to me not only the destina- 
 tion of the sunis he had borrowed, but the 
 actual employment of those sums; and it is 
 certain that, the discount deducted together 
 with the profits of brokers, fifteen hundred 
 thousand livres have been distributed among 
 the principal partisans of the duke of Or- 
 leans. Mirabeau has had eighty thousand 
 livres for his share, which were counted 
 down at Latouches, and carried in three 
 hackney coaches to the rue Chaussee d'An- 
 tin.* I have the list of deputies who have 
 received money. Sixty thousand livres 
 were distributed in the faubourg St. An- 
 
 * A paper was fastened with a pin to this letter, 
 containing the lists of the names of those \*lio had 
 received sums arising from the loan made Ity the 
 duke of Orleans, al London, iu 1789.
 
 CORKESfONDENC-E 
 
 toine, and to some partisans of the duke. 
 They have been eager to pay oif the arrears 
 to some daring men, known by their in- 
 triguing spirit, and their ambitious views. 
 The name of a certain Marat is inscribed 
 on the list, that also of Dantoii, and of some 
 Genevan refugees in France, of that party 
 which calls itself patriotic; upon the whole 
 those of some obscure but very dangerous 
 individuals. 
 
 Thus a number of wicked persons are 
 united against me; I am persuaded that I 
 must, as you tell me, employ their tactics, 
 and attach some enterprising men to my 
 interests, or rather recompense the zeal of 
 any faithful subjects. 
 
 I shall distribute with pleasure the mo- 
 ney I have promised, which shall be em- 
 ployed not for the commission of crimes, 
 but serve to watch over my enemies, 
 and counteract their projects. Hasten 1o 
 execute my orders, fill up the loan, and 
 avail yourself of the good dispositions 
 abroad. 
 
 f :ebrvc LEWIS.
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. 25 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE TWENTY-FOURTH LETTER. 
 
 THIS letter furnishes a melancholy proof 
 of the false measures into which the king 
 was sometimes betrayed. We see him here 
 descending to the employment of those disa- 
 vowed and undignified means, which he con- 
 demns with so much justice in the duke of 
 Orleans. We see him countenancing his 
 minister for home affairs in the use of a 
 counter-police, which effects but little and 
 costs much; and while he blames this mi- 
 nister -for aping the ( duke of Orleans, he 
 accuses his agents in London of negligence 
 or inactivity, in not furnishing him with the 
 means of following the example he con > 
 demns. This M. de Baument, it appears, was 
 also one of the counsellors, as well as money- 
 brokers, of this unfortunate prince. " I must, 
 as you say," quoting this counsellor, " make 
 use of their tactics (the tactics of his ene- 
 
 VOL. i. g>
 
 226 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 mies), and attach enterprising men to my 
 service." The king, indeed, deckres, that 
 this money should not be employed for the 
 purposes of crime, and it is certain that he 
 was himself incapable of thus misapplying 
 itj but what assurance had he that these 
 enterprising men would be the faithful 
 mandataries of his benevolent purposes? and 
 had he no misgivings that their undertakings, 
 aided by the supplies expected from London, 
 would lead him on to some other crisis of 
 the revolution, from which he might find 
 
 more difficulty in escaping than the former? 
 
 1 , 
 
 This system of corruption, however well 
 it might apply to the disposition and views 
 of the duke of Orleans, was surely very un- 
 worthy of Lewis the sixteenth. It had also 
 this evil tendency; that while the king thus 
 deluded himself with the persuasion that he 
 could watch his enemies and disconcert their 
 projects, he indulged a blameable spirit of 
 resistance against the- national assembly. 
 Had he, on the contrary, sincerely and frankly 
 co-operated in the views of the prudent 
 majority who had at this period the ascen-
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. 227 
 
 idancy, he would have done more towards 
 ."watching his enemies, and disconcerting their 
 projects, than could have been atchieved with 
 all the money which loans ancl bankers could 
 procure. 
 
 As an encouragement to exertion and acti- 
 vity, the king informs M. de Baument, not 
 only that the duke of Orleans had succeeded 
 in borrowing fifteen hundred thousand livres 
 in London, which was doubtful, but also iri 
 what manner it had been distributed. Mi- 
 fabeau, according to this- account, received 
 eighty thousand livres, which was conveyed to 
 him in three hackney coaches. Agninst this 
 Lacedemonian mode of transfer there is 
 nothing to object but its improbability : 
 Mirabeau might, indeed, have received sun, 8 
 from the duke of Orleans ; he is accused also 
 of having received sums from Lewis the six- 
 teenth. With respect to Mirabeau, therefore, 
 the king and his cousin were on equal terms. 
 But Mirabeau, it seems, was not thr: only 
 beneficiary of the duke of Orleans's bounty,/ 
 The king assures his agent that^ie has a list of 
 
 Q a
 
 228 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 the members of the assembly who partook oi' 
 this same loan. 
 
 This list is annexed to the letter, and 
 though it was the intention of the French 
 editor, on delivering this correspondence, 
 that it should be published to the world, yet 
 I think myself justified in imitating the pru- 
 dence of the king on this occasion, who 
 mentions to his correspondent the names only 
 of two persons, whom it were impossible 
 from their flagitiousness to calumniate ; un- 
 willing, probably, in circumstances where he 
 might be deceived, to injure the reputation of 
 innocent men. To this decision I am the 
 more inclined, as the king, in transcribing 
 their names, does not pretend to have any 
 positive assurances of the corruption which is 
 charged upon them. The report of this 
 delinquency is made him by a spy. " One of 
 my agents at the Palais Royal has informed 
 me, not only of the destination of the sums 
 which he (the duke of Orleans ) has borrowed, 
 but also of the manner in which they have 
 been employai." The king, as well as his
 
 OF LEWIS xvi. sag- 
 
 minister, had his counter-police, and, like a 
 sagacious general, kept his soldiers in the 
 enemy's camp. It was the duty of those spies 
 to gain information of the motions of the 
 duke of Orleans ; and as those who are em- 
 ployed in such occupations are usually persona 
 who possess no very nice feelings with respect 
 to honor, and who have sworn no inviolable 
 attachment to truth, it is probable that the 
 information transmitted was often that which 
 was most favorable, instead of that which was 
 most exact. The agent was interested in 
 communicating such details as should enhance 
 the value of his services, fearless of contra^ 
 diction ; since the truth or falshood of what 
 he stated, could not by its nature run the risk 
 of investigation. 
 
 But the most direct and. formal refutation 
 of the falshood which this spy imposed on 
 his employer, would be the publication of 
 the names contained in the list. There are, 
 indeed, some whom it would be no breach of 
 candor to suspect of earning and receiving 
 those wages of iniquity, and against whom H 
 had been well for their country, if no crimes o
 
 .'?3l> CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 greater magnitude could have been charged; 
 crimes from the mention of which we start back 
 with horror : names also of doubtful repu- 
 tation are here inscribed. But recorded on 
 this list we find persons whose purity of 
 conduct even the voice of slander never dared 
 to impeach ; men whose principles, firm 
 amidst the tremendous shocks of the revo- 
 lution, have braved corruption as well as 
 tyranny of every kind, and under every form r 
 and some of whom sealed their testimony to- 
 the cause of liberty with their blood. All, 
 therefore, that this letter proves, is, that the 
 king employed agents to procure money in 
 order to reward " enterprising inenj" that 
 his minister of foreign affairs had a police in 
 opposition to that of the avowed public autho- 
 rity 5 and that he himself employed spies in 
 the palace of the duke of Orleans. Thus 
 was Lewis the sixteenth led on by artful and 
 designing persons to the imitation of a conduct, 
 which his sense of honor as a man, and his 
 sentiment of dignity as a prince, forced him 
 to mark in another not only with disap- 
 probation, but to stigmatise with abhoirence*
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 
 
 LETT RE XXV. 
 
 son altesse eminentissime Emanuel de 
 Rohan-Polduc j grand-maitre de I'ordre 
 fie Malte. 
 
 Paris, le 18 Novembre, 1789. 
 MoN COUSIN, 
 
 Dansdes siecles pieux, la France g^ 
 avoit comble, de ses bienfUits, I'ordre de 
 St.-Jean de Jerusalem. Le raonde chretien 
 en reconnut 1'utilite; il lui pint encore 
 d'accorder, a vos chevaliers, tous les privi- 
 leges dont ils ont conserve les prerogatives 
 jusqu'a present. Les rois, mes a'ieux, sane- 
 tionnerent la volonte des fondaleurs et le 
 droit des titulaires. DCS circonstances im- 
 perieuses ont amene un changement dans 
 I'ordre politiquc de la France ; les chevaliers 
 de la langne Irancaise imileront saue-donte 
 1'exemple que je leur donne. Ce nVst pat>
 
 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 lorsque tous les ordres de 1'Etat font des 
 sacrifices, qu'ils resteront en arriere : je 
 laisse a votre sagesse , mon cousin , de 
 prendre lee mesures qui peuvent coincider 
 avec les travaux de 1'Asseinblee national e. 
 Sur ce, je prie Dieu, mon cousin, qu'il 
 vous ait en sa sainte garde. 
 
 LOUIS. 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 To his most eminent highness Emanuel de 
 Rohan- Polduc, grand - master of the 
 Order of Malta. 
 
 Paris, Nov. i8th, 1789. 
 
 MY COUSIN, 
 
 IN -pious ages the generosity of France 
 
 heaped benefits on the order of St. John of
 
 OP LEWIS xvi. a55 
 
 Jerusalem, while the Christian world felt 
 the utility of this order, and was pleased to 
 grant also to your knights the privileges of 
 which they preserve the prerogatives to 
 this day. The kings my ancestors sanc- 
 tioned the will of the founders, and the 
 rights of the titularies. Imperious circum- 
 stances have produced a change in tfie po-* 
 litical state of France, and the knights of 
 the French tongue will no doubt imitate 
 the example which I have given them. 
 Whilst every order of the state are making 
 sacrifices, they will not stand aloof. To 
 your wisdom, my cousin, I leave the choice 
 of such measures as shall coincide with the 
 labors of the National Assembly ; and so I 
 pray God, my cousin, to take you under 
 his holy protection.
 
 *54 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE TWENTY -FIFTH LETTER. 
 
 IN the revolutionary revision of privileges 
 which took place at this period, the mo- 
 nastical-military order of Malta had not es- 
 caped the searching eye of the assembly. 
 The property belonging to this order was 
 comprehended in the decree, which declared 
 all ecclesiastical property to be national, and 
 the knights of St. John who belonged to the 
 French tongue became the pensioners of the 
 state. 
 
 Although this order had not the honor 
 and the consolation of making the surrenders 
 of their privileges like the great orders of the 
 state in France, yet there were some amongst 
 them who had dispositions equally generous 
 and patriotic. In a memorial which had 
 been compiled at Malta about this period, 
 by the chevalier de Ransijat, who held at the
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 2 55 
 
 time one of the highest offices in the island, 
 he observes, that " the abuses which had 
 crept into the order were so numerous and 
 so striking, that every member which com- 
 posed it appeared alike to feel the necessity 
 of reforming them. " On questioning the 
 chevalier respecting those feelings among his 
 brother knights, it appeared, that such sen- 
 timents were pretty much confined to him- 
 self. Thai part of his memorial which 
 treats of the slavery of the Maltese and the 
 means of remedy, do him honor both as a 
 man and a citizen. 
 
 The king's letter to the grand-master is 
 written in a style not only of urbanity but 
 of affection. The king brings before his re- 
 collection the shades of past ages, which lie 
 decorates with the epithet of pious, and 
 which the innovators of the present day 
 accustom themselves to stigmatise with tho 
 opprobrious denomi nations of dark and su- 
 perstitious. He consoles his cousin with the 
 remembrance of the former obligations of 
 I]K' Christian world to his order, which the: 
 Christian world at present has the ingraii-
 
 2 56 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 tude to disavow. The devotedness of the 
 royal ancestry of France to the knights of 
 Malta is likewise introduced, which renders 
 more melancholy the contrast of the next 
 sentence of the letter, informing the duke 
 that imperious circumstances had necessitated 
 a change in the political order of France. 
 
 In the tetter which the king wrote to the 
 archbishop of Aries after the decrees of the 
 fourth of August, recapitulating the sendees 
 rendered by the great orders of the state, and 
 the honors and rewards bestowed on them, 
 he declares his firm resolution to maintain 
 them in the enjoyment of their privileges, in 
 spite of the renunciation which they them- 
 selves had made. As this generosity on the 
 part of the king met at the time with no 
 encouragement from those who were most 
 interested in exciting it, he prudently forbears 
 from making similar declarations to the order 
 of Malta. He pleads on the contrary his 
 own example, and that of the great orders of 
 the state, holding up the sacrifices made in 
 France as objects of imitation. The Knights 
 were compelled to yield to superior orders,
 
 OP LEWIS XVI. 
 
 and to comply with the decrees of the as- 
 sembly. But neither the sacrifices made by 
 the king, the nobility, or the clergy, had much 
 influence on their minds. They remained true 
 to their allegiance amidst the general defec- 
 tion; and could the expression of their sen- 
 timents have reached the throne, their answer 
 to this missive would have been the parody 
 of the king's letter to the Archbishop of 
 Aries, containing the offer of preserving him 
 in the enjoyment of monarchical prerogatives, 
 in spite of himself.
 
 238 CORKESrONDENCi: 
 
 LETTRE XXVI. 
 
 A M. de Mirabeau. 
 
 , 
 
 8 Janvier, 1790. 
 
 
 J'AI trop de plaisir, monsieur, a croire 
 aux sentimens que vous m'assurez avoir 
 pour ma personne et pour ma famille, pour 
 lie pas deferer a la demande que vous me 
 faites d'un entretien particulier. M. de la 
 Porte a regu 1'ordre de vous introduire 
 aujourd'hui sur les neuf heures du soir; je 
 souhaite viveriient, monsieur, que vous 
 eprouviez autant de facilite a reparer le 
 mal qui est fait , que je serai empresse de 
 seconder, de tout mon pouvoir, les moyens 
 qui peuvent tendre a ce but. 
 
 LOUIS.
 
 OP LEWIS 2CVI. 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 
 LETTER XXVI. 
 
 To M. de Mirabeau. 
 
 January 8th, 1790. 
 
 I HAVE too much pleasure, Sir, in believ- 
 ing the sentiments which you assure me 
 you feel for my person and family, not to 
 acquiesce in your desire of a private inter- 
 view. M. de Laporte has orders to intro- 
 duce you this evening at nine o'clock. I 
 wish most ardently, Sir, that you may find 
 as much facility in repairing the mischief 
 which is done, as I shall he eager to second 
 with all my power the means which may 
 lead to that end. 
 
 LEWIS.
 
 24o CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE TWENTY-SIXTH LETTER. 
 
 THIS letter is the answer to an application 
 made by Mirabeau for a private conference 
 with the king. Mirabeau was too important 
 a character in the revolution not to feel that 
 his offers of protection were entitled to the 
 respect of every party ; and it appears, that 
 his first approaches of amity were received 
 by the king with very sensible satisfaction. 
 Lewis the sixteenth expresses an earnest 
 wish, that remedy for the mischief already 
 done might be found as easy to be effected 
 by his new ally, as he himself should be 
 anxious to second the means with the whole 
 force of his own authority. 
 
 This answer sufficiently explains that Mi- 
 rabeau, in his letter, had made professions 
 of zeal and attachment to the king, but -of 
 what nature was the mischief complained of. 
 
 or
 
 OP LEWIS XVf. s4l 
 
 Of what the remedy he had found, it leaves 
 us wholly ignorant. The habitual laxity of 
 this statesman's moral character might lead 
 to suspicions, that liis political principles 
 I were not unassailable, and such persons as 
 / are more prompt in calculating the proba- 
 V bilities of evil than of good, will perhaps con- 
 jecture that motives less pure than those of 
 public virtue influenced Mirabeau in his de- 
 terminations. 
 
 But whatever cause he may have given 
 for such suspicions towards the close or his 
 political career, there is no evidence that 
 Mirabeau at this period was engaged in any 
 dishonorable treaty with the court. Some 
 object of great interest, however, must have 
 led him to demand this interview, and the 
 king's answer clearly intimates that it was 
 an affair of public concern. We must have 
 left Mirabeau under the suspicions which 
 such an interview is likely to create, had I 
 not been favored with the following anecdote 
 by a person whom Mirabeau consulted on 
 this occasion, and in whose information and 
 fidelity I have the most unbounded reliance. 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 CXWKESFONDENCi: 
 
 u Few persons are acquainted with the 
 great project which occupied Mirabeau at 
 the period when he obtained this interview 
 with the king. He was desirous of prevailing 
 on him to leave Paris, and to repair first to 
 Rouen, and afterwards to Havre, if circum- 
 stances should require it. He had fixed 
 on those towns as the most conveniently 
 situated, both for supplies, and also for 
 an easier escape if events should turn out 
 unfortunately. He had secured the march 
 towards Rouen of the different regiments of 
 cavalry and infantry which were then in 
 garrison from Dunkirk to Dieppe and 
 Amiens ; and who, by taking speedy posses- 
 sion .of Gallion and Vernueil, might prevent 
 the attempts which La Fayette, at the head 
 of the national guard of Paris, would not 
 fail to make, to hinder this flight, or render 
 it ineffectual. " 
 
 " When the king should have made good, 
 his retreat from Paris, he was to have pub- 
 lished a manifesto, in which, after having 
 enumerated the abuses which were to be 
 corrected, and assured the people of his firm 
 resolution to sacrifice every thing to this
 
 OF ;LEWIS xvi. a 43 
 
 object, he was to have required the atten- 
 dance of the whole of the national assembly 
 and of such other Frenchmen whom he 
 should have thought worthy, by their pa- 
 triotism, their love of real liberty, their in- 
 formation and their courage, of aiding him 
 with their counsels in the formation of a consti- 
 tutiori. This constitution, it was hoped, would 
 effect the reform of abuses, confer on the 
 people the enjoyment of the exercise of their 
 rights, and fix the due boundaries of the 
 legislative and executive powers. This plan, 
 which would necessarily have produced the 
 most happy changes, was opposed by the 
 quejpn. the courtiers, and other individuals, 
 vs ho fancied that they saw in its execution 
 the certain destruction of their own intrigue* 
 and influence. " 
 
 Had we not seen the most singular pro- 
 jec.t.5 carried into effect during the revolution, 
 we should have been surprised at the bold- 
 ness of that which Mirabeau now suggested 
 to Ihe king. Nor is it easy to conjecture oty 
 what grounds he could have hoped for the 
 compliance of Lewi* the sixteenth ; since, 
 
 P. a
 
 on the supposition that the king was favo- 
 rable to the revolution, of which he had 
 hitherto given no unequivocal proofs, it i* 
 scarcely to be imagined that he would have 
 confided Jiimself to the direction of a person, 
 who had been most open in personal de- 
 fiance of his authority, and whom he deemed 
 the stipendiary of his most determined foeS. 
 
 This last circumstance, indeed, might not 
 
 , , i 
 
 have been known to Mirabeau; but it ac- 
 counts sufficiently for the kind's refusal, even 
 without (lie interference of the queen and 
 other individuals, anxious for the preservation 
 ol their privileges and influence. 
 
 X)f the plan itself it were difficult to judge, 
 without knowing more of its details ; but on 
 the first aspect it presents all the evils of 
 civil discord : since, admitting that the as- 
 sembly were obedient to the voice of the 
 king, the Parisians would surely have been 
 dissatisfied with a measure so detrimental 
 to their personal interests; nor does it clearly 
 appear what new impulsion of patriotism 
 the king would have received from his re- 
 sidence at Rouen, which he might not have 
 felt from his abode at Paris.
 
 OF LEWIS xvi. a4$> 
 
 LETTRE XXVII. 
 
 A M. de Malesherbes. 
 
 16 FeTrier, 1790. 
 
 J'AI besoin , mon cher Malesherbes , do 
 m'entourer de vos lumieres, pour deter- 
 miner la sanction de plusieurs decrets qui 
 sont du ressort de vos profondes connois 
 sances en legislation ; je compte asscz sur la 
 fidelite de votre attach ement, pour esperer 
 que vous fixerez la resolution que je dois 
 prendre a cet egard. 
 
 Depuis long - temps , mon cher Males- 
 herbes, vous avez ele lemoin des intentions- 
 pures que je n'ai cesse de manifester pour 
 ie bonheur des Frangais; c'cst encore vous 
 a qni je m'adresse pour perse verer dans 
 memes principes.
 
 2 46 CORB-ESPONDEtfCE 
 
 Adieu, mon.cher Malesherbes, vous con- 
 noissez toute la sincerite de mes sentimens 
 pour vous. 
 
 LOUIS. 
 
 (TRANSLATION.) 
 
 LETTER XXVII. 
 
 To M. de Malesherbes. 
 
 Feb. i6th ; 1790. 
 
 I STANB in need, my dear Malesherbes, 
 of being enlightened by you, in order to 
 determine on the sanction of several de- 
 crees, of which your profound knowledge 
 in legislation renders you so adequate a 
 judge. I have sufficient reliance on the fi- 
 delity of your attachment, to hope that 

 
 OP LEWIS XVI. S4 7 
 
 you will fix the resolution I ought to take 
 in these matters. 
 
 You, my dear Malesherbes, have been 
 long the witness of the purity of intention, 
 which I have never ceased to manifest fbr 
 the happiness of the French. To you I 
 again address myself to fortify me in the 
 same principles. Adieu, my dear Males- 
 hcrhes, you know all the sincerity of my 
 sentiments for you. 
 
 urns. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 N THE TWENTY-SEVENTH LETTER. 
 
 HOWEVER great may have been the ha- 
 bitual weakness and irresolution of the king, 
 sufficient evidences of which appear in the 
 course of this correspondence, it must be 
 majiiilted that his life hitherto had been a
 
 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 continued struggle against this fatal pro- 
 pensity. Malesherbes appears to have been 
 the rock against which he leaned in times 
 of perplexity or danger ; the asylum to which 
 he fled from the turbulence of faction, the 
 tumult of party, and where he might fix 
 his wavering resolutions in security and 
 repose. Of the motives which prompted 
 the counsels of other men, he might be 
 pardoned for being suspicious : a thousand 
 discordant interests, he knew, swayed the 
 determinations of those who surrounded him; 
 nor can we ever hope to do justice to the 
 personal good intentions of this prince, while 
 we remain ignorant of all the evil sug- 
 gestions which he struggled to resist. 
 
 The king at the time of writing this letter 
 was in the zenith of his popularity. Not 
 only the metropolis but the whole of Franca 
 was at that moment in the delirium of joy. 
 The decree of the national assembly, which 
 gave Lewis the sixteenth the honorable title 
 of restorer of French liberty, was confirmed 
 by acclamation throughout the whole nation. 
 The heart of every friend to the well being
 
 op H/EWIS xvi. a4g 
 
 of his country, dilated at the prospect of 
 happiness which opened before his view; 
 this was the golden age of the revolution, 
 and when mention is made of its most 
 glorious epocha, it is on these days of pro- 
 mise that the mind reposes Avith pure and 
 unembittered delight. 
 
 When the enemies of the late changes 
 found that the attempt was fruitless to ex- 
 cite any section of the people against mea- 
 sures which the people were most inte- 
 rested in supporting; when they saw that the 
 higher orders of the state were resolved to 
 consummate the sacrifices Ihey had begun, 
 and that, instead of returning back on the 
 abuses which had been reformed, the dis- 
 position to make further researches was not 
 dissembled ; they were compelled to retreat, 
 and intrench themselves behind the royal 
 authority, which was now the only rampart 
 they could hope to maintain against the 
 overwhelming progress of the revolution. 
 
 The protection afforded to those discor- 
 dant spirits, and sometimes too favorable a
 
 25o CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 leaning towards their counter-revolutionary 
 designs, had contributed t6 bring on the 
 great crisis of the fourteenth of July, and 
 the events of the sixth of October, which 
 menaced the existence of the royal autho- 
 rity itself. The king, perceiving the danger 
 of yielding further sirp'port to such dan- 
 gerous inmates, and finding that the coun- 
 tenance which he gave, or the silence which 
 he observed, were construed by the nation 
 into si fiill approbation of their projects, 
 or rather into a co-operation; in their mea- 
 sures, wisely resolved to come to a fair 
 and open explanation with the country, to 
 dissipate the apprehensions and misgivings 
 of one party, arid crush the sinister expec- 
 tations and lurking hopes of the other. 
 
 ' ' . : c .'',' '('<* it-'. 
 
 "With this viewj the" king, accompanied 
 iby M. Necker, repaired to the Hall of the 
 national assembly on the fourth of Fe- 
 bi liary. 
 
 The speech which he made on this oc- 
 casion forms a remarkable epocha in the 
 liifitory of the revolution, and has been
 
 or LEWIS xvr. 261 
 
 always alledged as an incontestable proof 
 of the sincerity of his attachment to the 
 changes which had taken place. 
 
 " I confess," says the king, after a few 
 slight observations on the disorders which 
 had prevailed, and which remained yet 
 without remedy, " that I had hoped to have 
 led you by an easier and more tranquil route 
 to the end which you proposed at the time 
 I formed Hie plan of assembling and unitim; 
 you together ; but my happiness and my 
 glory are not the less intimately connected 
 with the success of your labors; and by ail 
 active vigilance on my part, I have preserv- 
 ed them from that fatal influence to which 
 they might have been subject from the un- 
 happy circumstances in which you were 
 placed." After stating a few of those < - 
 cumstances, the king continues ; " I think 
 that the time is now come, when it is neces- 
 sary for the interest of the state that I should 
 associate myself, in a more open and decided 
 manner, to the execution and success of all 
 that you have done for the advantage of 
 France. I cannot seize a more convenient
 
 353 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 opportunity than that in which you present 
 to me for my acceptance, decrees destined 
 to establish in the kingdom a new orga- 
 nisation, and which must necessarily have 
 so important an effect on the happiness of 
 my subjects, ajid the prosperity of this 
 empire. 
 
 After recapitulating the various advantages 
 of this new organisation, the division of the 
 kingdom into departments, which M. Burke 
 calls belonging to Chequer, No. 71, and " on 
 which," according to the king, " depended 
 the salvation of France;" he adds, " time 
 will xeform what may remain defective in 
 the collection of laws which have been the 
 work of this assembly ; but every enter- 
 prise which may tend to shake the prin- 
 ciples of the constitution, to overthrow [or 
 weaken its happy influence, would tend only 
 to introduce among us the dreadful evils of 
 discord. Let it then be every where known, 
 that the king and the representatives of the- 
 nation are united in the same interest and 
 the same desire, in orJer that this opinion 
 and this firm belief may spread throughout
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 2 55 
 
 the provinces the spirit of peace and of 
 goodwill." 
 
 After enumerating the advantages which 
 the revolution had yet left to the nobility 
 and clergy,' and the losses they had sus- 
 tained; after expressing his "belief that the 
 whole body of French mon^ without distinc- 
 tion, would one day acknowledge the be- 
 nefit of the entire suppression of the dif- 
 ferent orders -of the state, the king added 
 these words : "I. also should have many 
 losses to enumerate, if amidst the great 
 interests of the state I paused at personal 
 calculations ; but I find a sufficient com- 
 pensation, a compensation the most ample, 
 in the increase of the. happiness of the na- 
 tion, and it is in the fullness of .iny heart 
 rthat I express this sentiment. rtr - 
 
 . e" ' ~i i < ' .'' * > ' ff t*< ') f * U ' > - i fJ i ' ') '. i 
 
 "I will defend tlien, I will maintain con- 
 stitutional liberty, the principles of which 
 'have been consecrated by the general voice 
 AS well as by my. own. I will do more, 
 and in concert with the queen, who shares 
 in all my senlimenU, I will begin -early tt
 
 .254 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 prepare the mind and heart of my son for 
 the new order of things, which circum- 
 stances have introduced. I will habituate 
 him from his tender childhood to be happy 
 in the happiness of the French, and to 
 acknowledge always, in spite of the language 
 of flatterers, that a wise constitution will 
 preserve him from the dangers of inexpe- 
 rience, and' that national liberty adds a new 
 value to the sentiments of Jove and fidelity, 
 of which the nation, for ,SQ many ages past, 
 has given its kinj such convincing evi- 
 dence." 
 
 - 5 Hi*r*-<<3te. . .feJwaaeHVM- 
 It was in this disposition of mind, be- 
 coming the chief magistrate > of a free and 
 powerful nation,' 1 ijiat the king addresses 
 this letter -to M. de Malesherbes. Certain 
 writers in tlie-i revolution, who claim the 
 rtt^ntion of a certain class of readers, less 
 from the fidelity of their narrations, or the 
 brilliancy of their elocution, than the in- 
 temperance of their zeal -.for "what they call 
 the memory of the monarchj have attempted 
 to prove that this was a .royal stratagem, 
 of which the -exercise ! was legitimated by
 
 OF LEWIS XVI. 255 
 
 the perilous situation in which the king 
 was placed. Of the estimation in which 
 these advocates of royal 'integrity, some of 
 whom call themselves statesmen and mi- 
 nisters, ought to be held, we may form a 
 judgment from the display of the king's real 
 sentiments, not indeed in his public dis- 
 courses, which are points in contest, but 
 in his private letters, where dissimulation 
 would have been absurdity. " For a long 
 time, my dear Malesherbes," says the king 
 in this letter, " you have been a witness 
 of the pure intentions I have never ceased 
 to manifest for the happiness of the French : 
 to you I still address myself to fortify me in 
 the same principles." It surely is much 
 more honorable to the king to believe that 
 he was sincere when he thus unbosomed 
 himself to friendship, than to pretend, with 
 his panegyrists, that he always meant the 
 contrary of what he so well expressed.
 
 256 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 LET THE XXVIII. 
 
 'A M. Duval Ddpresmenil. 
 
 27 Mars, 1790. 
 
 JE suis d'autant plus dispose a croire, 
 monsieur, a la sincerite du repentir que 
 vous me temoignez , qu'avant de me 1'expri- 
 mer, vous avez fait preuve, dans le sein 
 de la representation iiationale, d'un zele 
 pour le maintien de la monarchic , qui n'a 
 point echappe a ma sensibilite, ni a celle 
 de toute ma famille. . 
 
 Lorsqu'on est aussi susceptible de reparer 
 ses erreurs, monsieur, on doit avoir les plus 
 justes droits a une estime particuliere j. je 
 me plais a vous en donner 1'assuraiice , et 
 reste avec le desir de trouver 1'occasion de 
 yous le prouver. 
 
 LOUIS.
 
 *>t LEWIS xvi, a 57 
 
 '(TRANSLATION,) 
 
 LETTER XXVIII. 
 
 To M. Duval d' Espremenil. 
 
 March s/th, 1790. 
 
 I AM so much the more disposed, Sir, to 
 believe the sincerity of the repentance you 
 testify, that, before you expressed it to me, 
 you gave proofs in the National Represen- 
 tation of a zeal for the support of the mo- 
 narchy, which has not escaped my sensibi* 
 lity, nor that of my whole family. 
 
 He who is so susceptible of repairing his 
 errors, has the highest claim to particular 
 esteem. I offer you this assurance with 
 pleasure, and wish I may find an occasion 
 of giving you the proof. 
 
 LEWIS. 
 
 VOL. i. i
 
 2 58 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE TWENTY-EIGHTH LETTER* 
 
 AMONG the most bold and ardent opposers 
 of the measures of the government previous 
 to the revolution, the name of M. d'Espre- 
 menil, member of the parliament of Paris, 
 holds a very distinguished place. The par- 
 liament had been exiled to Troyes for re- 
 fusing to enregister two edicts, the land and 
 stamp tax, which the first assembly of the 
 notables had rejected under the administra- 
 tion of Calonne, and which the parliament 
 was still less inclined to sanction under that 
 of his successor, the Archbishop of Tou- 
 louse. 
 
 The only dyke against ministerial despo- 
 tism in France had been the parliaments ; 
 slender, indeed, to arrest the overwhelming 
 torrent, but still presenting a point of re-- 
 sis tance. In proportion as the people had 
 grown more enlightened, the parliaments 
 had grown more bold, but as it often hap-
 
 OF Mrwis xn^ s5g 
 
 pens in measures of opposition, these judi- 
 ciary corporations had sometime s outstepped 
 their prerogatives, and discovered tendencies 
 towards an usurpation of the privileges of 
 the executive power. The instruction which 
 had been generally spread throughout France 
 during the reign of Lewis the sixteenth, had 
 led the nation, especially after the first 
 meeting of the notables, to look with dis- 
 approbation on usurpations of every kind ; 
 and the measure of resistance which here- 
 tofore had been applauded in the parliament, 
 Was now treated with less respect. This 
 change in public opinion did not escape the 
 observation of the parliament, while em- 
 ployed in combating the royal and minis- 
 terial injunction for the enregistering of the 
 two edicts in question. They perceived, 
 that by extending their pretensions as for- 
 merly, they would now weaken their in- 
 fluence, and that their surest mode of de- 
 fence was to intrench themselves behind 
 their acknowledged rights. M. d'Esprcmenil 
 was the member who suggested this counsel. 
 He represented to them, that it was useless 
 to defend any longer their former pretensions ; 
 
 8 a
 
 2 Go CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 that the reality of their incompetence was 
 understood and felt ; and that the only escape 
 from the embarrassment in which they were 
 pjaced was to make a merit of this avowal. 
 The parliament folloAved his counsels, and 
 declared that they had not the right, of sanc- 
 tioning these ta^es, but that this right be- 
 longed to the states general alone, of which 
 they also required the speedy convocation. 
 The ministers were greatly disconcerted, 
 both at the extraordinary avowal of the par- 
 liament, and still more at. the dangerous re- 
 quisition it had made. This demand was so 
 highly relished, and repeated with so much 
 enthusiasm, that the king was compelled to 
 comply, and engaged himself to do so by a 
 solemn promise. The parliament, therefore, 
 rendered a real service to the state, and the 
 glory of first invoking this measure belonged 
 to M. d'Espremenil. It must be admitted, 
 however, that these services were not alto- 
 gether dictated by the purest patriotism j per- 
 sonal interest, and that of the body which 
 they defended by this measure, happened in 
 the present case to be connected with that 
 of the nation, little solicitous to scrutinise
 
 OF uswis xvi. 261 
 
 the motifs of a conduct from which it 
 expected to reap such mighty advantages. 
 
 The exile of the parliament followed thi 
 declaration of incompetence, and its return 
 was the recompense of some act of submis- 
 sion, which was, regarded by the public as 
 cowardice and contradiction. The ministry 
 deeming this circumstance favorable, deter- 
 mined on establishing a plenary court, by 
 the authority of which it might disembarrass 
 itself of the parliament as the enregisterer 
 of taxes ; while the keeper of the seals, to 
 punish this pertinacity, occupied himself in 
 creating in each generality baillages, to which 
 were given the power of civil and criminal 
 courts of justice. Against this innovation 
 every parliamentary buckler was raised, and 
 every member sworn to resistance. A new 
 attempt was made, by the holding a royal 
 sitting, to induce the parliament to enregister 
 the taxes, but the opposition became still 
 more violent, and some who were the most 
 strenuous in their resistance, among whom 
 "Was the duke of Orleans, were again banished.
 
 3&1 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 The ministry, defeated in their projects,, 
 had recourse to despotic measures, which 
 completed their disgrace and humiliation.. 
 The peers and magistrates who had com- 
 posed the royal sitting, continued in their 
 assemblies to oppose the establishment of 
 the new courts of justice. It was on this 
 occasion that M. d'Espremenil, by the force 
 of his eloquence, and the energy of his de- 
 clarations, led the peers and parliament to 
 take the oath of union, of which he dictated 
 the form. This open defiance of ministe- 
 rial authority was considered as an act of 
 rebellion, which it was impossible to leave 
 unpunished. Accordingly the Palace of Jus- 
 tice was invested by military force, and 
 M. d'Espremenil, with another of his col- 
 leagues, after gome ineffectual delay, that 
 of awaiting the king's signature to the war- 
 rant, which had only been signed by the 
 minister, was carried oif prisoner of state. 
 The parliament were avenged by the dis- 
 mission of the minister, who retired loaded 
 with public execration and contempt. M. 
 Necker was recalled, the states general wero
 
 OP LEWIS XYJL 
 
 assembled, and M. d'Espremenil became a, 
 member of the constituent assembly. 
 
 In this assembly M. d'Espremenil ranged 
 himself in the party of the c6te droit, and 
 near the period of writing the letter, to 
 which this of the king's is the answer, had 
 signalized himself by the support which he 
 gave to propositions in favor of the court. 
 He was a defender of monastic establish- 
 ments, which were at this epocha abolished ; 
 and when the discussion took place respect- 
 ing the power of suppressing riots or par- 
 tial insurrections, he warmly supported a 
 proposition by M. Cazales of investing the 
 king with absolute authority for three months, 
 and suspending during that time the respon- 
 sability of the executive power. These acts 
 of devotedness to the court, and others of 
 an extravagant kind which subjected him to 
 the formal censure of the assembly, had not 
 escaped the attention of the king, and M. d'Es- 
 premenil had been too formidable an adver- 
 sary not to be welcomed as an ally. " I am 
 so much the more disposed to believe in the 
 sincerity of your repentance, }t say* the king, 
 
 t
 
 fi64 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 " as you have previously given proofs of yout 
 zeal for the support of the monarchy, which 
 have not escaped my sensibility, nor that of 
 the whole of my family. " 
 
 M. d'Espremenil had certainly the right 
 of asserting or publishing what opinions he 
 pleased ; and if he thought that the preroga- 
 tives of the executive power were too much 
 limited by the assembly, he had also the 
 right to oppose these usurpations, as he for- 
 merly resisted the despotism of the executive 
 power when it usurped the privileges of the 
 parliament; but to have made a recantation 
 of acts of public virtue, to repent of deeds 
 by which he had acquired so proud a title 
 to glory and esteem, displays a mind of no 
 very elevated texture, and justifies an opinion 
 that the motives which had once guided his 
 opposition were personal and interested. His 
 repentance, however, if it were sincere, came 
 too late. M. d'Espremenil reaped no advan- 
 tage from his conversion during the life of 
 the king, and after the fall of the monarch 
 unhappily shared his fate. 
 
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