Charles d'Eon de Beaumont

“ You afterwards quarrelled with all your best friends, as well as with the ministers of your fortune, and your own Court, which had raised you so rapidly from nothing, from being a writer to the police at Paris on the pension of 600 livres, or 25 guineas a year, to the dignity of Minister Plenipotentiary at the most important Court in Europe. Modern times scarcely produce an instance of political treachery equal to your’s in printing the secrets of the Court by whom you were employed, and the private letters of your benefactor the Duke of Nivernois, of Monsieur Sainte-Foy, Monsieur Moreau, &c. ”

“ And the Frenchman was compelled by his new employers to lay aside the mask. He was ordered by this new sett of masters, who will always tyrannize over him in proportion to the pension they give him: he was ordered I say flatly to deny every circumstance in Dr. Musgrave’s patriotic letter, and boldly to assert, “that he never entered into any treaty for the sale of his papers.” Nothing is so easy to a Frenchman, especially if they have been once initiated into the diplomatic corps, as to assert one thing for another, where they know they cannot for the present moment be detected. ”

“ Having long had reason to imagine that the nation has been cruelly and fatally injured in a way which they little suspect, I have ardently [4] wished for the day, when my imperfect information should be superseded by evidence and certainty. That day, I flatter myself, is at last approaching, and that the spirit which now appears among the Freeholders will bear down every obstacle that may be thrown in the way of open and impartial enquiry. ”

“ I consider the refusal of Lord Halifax as a willful obstruction of national justice, for which I wish to see him undergo a suitable punishment. Permit me to observe, gentlemen, that such an obstruction not only gives a temporary impunity to offenders, but tends also to make that impunity perpetual, by destroying or weakening the proofs of their guilt. Evidence of all kinds is a very perishable thing. ”

“ I believe you therefore unusually sincere, when you express, “la plus vive estime & la plus sincere admiration pour feu Monsieur le Comte de Viry, qui par son attachement pour le bien des deux nations belligerantes & graces a son zele infatiguable, eut la gloire d’amener cette paix necessaire aux deux nations a une heureuse conclusion.” What this happy conclusion for England was, we have already seen. From that fatal moment France, like a tall bully, began again to lift the head, and insult all its neighbours. ”

“ When the official conduct of a secretary of state, or of any other servant of the crown, is arraigned, the public have an undoubted right to be satisfied either of their guilt or [45] innocence, in order that the law of the land may in either case take effect. When the character of an honest man is unjustly and publicly attacked, he will not postpone the vindication of his innocence until a legal enquiry can be set on foot in a court of law; he ought to exculpate himself through the same channel he has been accused. ”

“ You alone in this age have had it in your power to be equally false and treacherous to two such great nations as England and France. While you were only secretary to the Duke of Nivernois, you abused the privileges of your character, and engaged in the dirty business of debauching our manufacturers. ”

“ I respect the dead; but only the departed virtuous and good. I distinguish characters, notwithstanding the trite maxim of de mortuis nil nisi bonum. I will never confound a Cato and a Cataline, but will give to each their due. I execrate the memory of Count Viry, as the enemy of my country, as having been a principal in robbing England of the Havannah, Porto Rico, Martinique, Guadelupe, Desiderade, Mariegalante, St. Peter, Miquelon, Goree, Belleisle, St. Lucia, &c. and negociating a treaty which has proved the salvation of France. ”

“ You are allowed to have much chicanery; and the tricking article about the Canada Bills was the effect of your duping the Duke of Bedford, and the good-humoured Mr. Neville. You may therefore with reason speak of the peace of Paris in terms of rapture, as a Frenchman, and as the Duke of Nivernois’s secretary. I will ever mention it with indignation; for I am an Englishman, and have not that load of guilt to expiate to my country, the advising, making, or approving so ruinous a measure. You are, however, Sir, by no means singular in your opinion of the late peace even in this nation. ”

“ What, but to wait, though with reluctance and impatience, till a proper opportunity should offer for appealing to the public at large, that is, till the accumulated errors of government should awaken a spirit of enquiry too powerful to be resisted or eluded? ”

“ We live in an age, not greatly addicted to scruples, when the open avowal of domestic venality seems to lead men, by an easy gradation, to connexions equally mercenary with foreigners and enemies. How then can we expect ill-disposed persons to resist a temptation of this sort, when they find that treason may be detected, and proofs of it offered to a magistrate, without producing either punishment or enquiry? The consequence of this may be, our living to see a French party, as well as a court party, in parliament ”

“ Now, supposing the charge to be true, there can be no need of long arguments to convince you of the injury done to the nation, by suffering [9] such capital offenders to escape. For what is this but to defraud us of the only compensation we can expect for the loss of so many important territories, a loss rendered still more grievous by the indignity of paying a pension, as we notoriously do, to the foreign ministers who negociated the ruinous bargain? ”

“ In the summer of the year 1764, an overture had been made to Sir George Yonge, Mr. Fitzherbert, and several other Members of Parliament, in the name of the Chevalier D’Eon, importing that he, the Chevalier, was ready to impeach three persons, two of whom are Peers and Members of the Privy Council, of selling the peace to the French. Of this proposal I was informed at different times by the two gentlemen above-mentioned. [6] Sir George Yonge in particular told me that he understood the charge could be supported by written as well as living evidence. ”

“ They always meet the approaching storm. Leagued with the enemies of our country, whether French or English, your slender abilities are still employed against a nation you hate, but in your heart honour and revere. ”

“ We, therefore, enjoin you to promote and support an enquiry into all those grievances that have so justly alarmed the subjects of this kingdom; particularly, for what reasons a magistrate, in the immediate service of the Crown, to whom informations of the most important nature were imparted by a native and Freeholder of this County, refused to examine or enquire after the evidence pointed out to him; being a person the most capable of clearing up the affair, both from his own knowledge, and the papers then in his possession ”

“ Every reader will make his own observations on this series of extraordinary Facts. I have given them to the world without any of those advantages which they might have derived from a detail in fine language, being convinced, that plain truth needs no flowers of speech. ”

“ You advise a tender affectionate parent, in tears for the misconduct of a son she loved, to wipe her eyes, plant her cabbages, weed her garden, eat her greens, and drink the milk of her cows and the wine of her vineyard, without giving herself any trouble about you. ”

“ Musgrave’s allegations? He, indeed, very justly says, that the evidence of the Chevalier would have been decisive at the time he urged Lord Halifax to send for him to examine him, and to [47] peruse his papers which he then had in his possession; but in his address to the freeholders of Devon, he neither desires nor expects any proofs from him now, because he either knows, or shrewdly suspects, that no written evidence is now to be found in his custody. ”

“ What was to be given England, additional to the former stipulations, in consequence of the surrender of the Havannah, when that likewise was to be given up? You are called upon to state that transaction; what you know of the ten days cession of Porto Rico to us by the negociation at Paris, and the subsequent surrender of that island on the receipt of two letters from hence, one of which the Duke of Bedford ought to produce for his justification in that part of the business; the other is too sacred to appear. ”

“ He now looks forwards to a more lucrative office, a larger pension to recruit his shattered finances, and perhaps to a higher title, which he may probably get, if he can keep the favourite’s head on his shoulders. I wish however the triumvirate of brothers success, because I think a triumvirate, which should be only insolent and overbearing, is infinitely to be preferred to a sole minister who is cruel ”

“ That if any person or persons, from and after the 25th day of March 1706, shall maliciously, advisedly and directly, by writing or printing, declare, maintain, or affirm that the Kings or Queens of England, with and by the authority of the parliament of England, are not able to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to limit and bind the crown of this realm, and the descent, limitation, inheritance, and government thereof, every such person or persons shall be guilty of High Treason, and being thereof convicted [31] and attainted, &c. ”

“ Choiseul, what better would you be if that treaty was renewed? The British parliament would disapprove of it, and the D. of B. would be impeached for it.—Think you so, said Choiseul?—Yes, answered the D. of B. and added, if you do not consent to the making a [60] new treaty of commerce, I will return to England to-morrow morning, and tell the K. there is no honour in the French ministry; that he must send for Mr. Pitt, who is the only man to deal with them, and renew the war. The name of Pitt frightened the French minister; he gave up the contest. A treaty of commerce was made ”

“ The secret of the negociation, or ultimatum, on the part of England, was neither in [49] the D. of B. the B. A. at Paris; nor in the late Earl of Egremont, the official minister at home, who was Secretary of State for the Southern department; but between Lord Bute and the Sardinian Minister in London, and the Duc de Choiseul and the Sardinian Minister at Paris.
The fact, of thus committing the management of the most important affairs of Great Britain to the Ministers of a foreign power, is extraordinary and alarming, and ought to be considered as highly criminal ”

“ I venture however [36] to prophesy, that two of the three will never promote an enquiry into the transactions of the last peace, or the conduct of the favourite, and I therefore hope all the friends of the public will be on their guard against them both. They cannot safely be trusted with the conduct of this important business. ”

“ Plus de 50 mille habitans, sur la foi de cet oracle, avoient ce jour-la pris la fuite: la plupart de ceux que les raisonnemens ou les raillerie de leurs amis avoient retenue, attendoient [23] en tremblant l’instant critique, & n’ont montre de courage qu’apres qu’il a ete passe. ”

“ De Verois, we should be made to believe that we pay it to George Charles.”
Besides the above pension, there was certainly a remittance from France or Spain, or both, of a considerable sum of money; but for whom it was designed is not at present so certainly known. However, there is no doubt that Count V. is thoroughly acquainted with the whole of this transaction: but now that the affair of the peace begins to [52] be enquired into, he is preparing to depart the kingdom; and has actually sold his pension upon the Irish Establishment for 16000l. ”

“ Musgrave. The first is, What was the negociation relative to the island of Porto-Rico? The Duke of Bedford set out for Paris, Sept. 5, 1762. Every thing of importance was soon entirely settled between the two courts. The most material arrangements had been made here in private with Lord Bute before his Grace’s departure. The news of the taking the Havannah was afterwards first received in England, while the Duke was in Paris, on Sept. 29. Now I ask what alteration in the terms of the treaty did such important intelligence produce? ”

“ This man, who is connected with his Grace the D. of G. by the apron-string [41] tenure; the present modish, and by much the strongest of all holds, has been constantly and most secretly employed for these last six weeks, as a go-between to the D. of G. and the Soi-disant l’Homme de Charactere, M. D’Eon.
To throw a veil over this mysterious negociation, and in order to blind the eyes of the prying public, the pretty Frenchman who lives in Petty France, has for this fortnight past been roaring out in every coffee-house he frequents, that Mr. ”

“ We too have many traitors among us. A set of gentlemen at Westminster gave an entire approbation of the preliminary articles, even with the very extraordinary original clause about the East-India Company among them. ”

“ Musgrave, “le public aura lu avidement votre lettre, aura adjute foi a son contenu parceque vous en appellez a mon evidence.” You are mistaken. Your evidence of itself will have little weight with any one, but you may have papers of importance, which the public expected from your own absolute promise. ”