to place herself beside him, he would say to versation at his table to be animated, and for her drily: "Remove, Madam, you are offen- his guests to entertain him. One day, when sive." In order to shun the thoughts of no one was in the mood to talk, he said to death and old age, he would not suffer people Madame Clary, whose province it was to to know his birth-day or to speak of a dying select the guests and to do the honors of the man in his presence; and he was only in-house: "It must be confessed, Madame, that formed of the death of his favorite son, al- you have invited a very silly set of people." though he knew him to be ill, by his valet-de-On another occasion he said, during a similar chambre handing over to him a suit of mourning. Shortly before his death he said to his son Ernest Christopher: "My friend, I feel that it is all over with me; comfort me and cheer me." The estimation in which he held himself was so candid, that he used to speak of himself just as if he were a third person. The Emperor Joseph had caused two busts to be prepared-one of Marshal Lacy, the other of Prince Kaunitz. A Latin inscription had been placed under that of the Prince, full of merited eulogies. Some one happened to praise the excellency of the wording of this inscription in the presence of Kaunitz, and the latter replied, "I am its author." He was a great connoisseur in horse-flesh, and he was flattered if you admired him when riding, which exercise he took daily before dinner. The British Ambassador, Keith, once sent an Englishman to him, and advised him to compliment Kaunitz to the utmost of his ability, and so as to suit a man blazé with flattery. The Englishman, whose forte did not lie in paying compliments, blundering and blushing, brought out the words: "Ah! Prince, you are the greatest groom that I have seen in all my life." "I readily believe it," was the only answer that he received. Old age greatly embittered the temper of the Prince, and his irritability occasionally amounted to insolence, and an unfeeling treatment of men whom he did not particularly esteem. Prince Sulkowsky, one of the most familiar faces at his table, and a great flatterer of the minister, happened one day to be talking with his neighbor at the moment when Kaunitz sent him a ragout by a favorite footman, and refused the dish somewhat harshly. Kaunitz observed this, and said, Prince, if you give blows to my servants, I shall tell them to return them." This was rather too much even for Sulkowsky, who demanded satisfaction from the son of the chancellor. The matter was set at rest by an apology from Prince Kaunitz, and Sulkowsky is said to have dined habitually at the table as before. Kaunitz liked the con * Born June, 1787, deceased 19th May, 1797. pause in the conversation: "I would sooner hear nonsense than nothing." The Count of Merode, one of his flatterers, thereupon said: "It must be confessed that Mr. Pitt is the greatest minister in Europe. Are you now satisfied with me, Prince ?" He piqued himself on showing his pride to those in particular who were entitled to display some pretension before him. When Pius VI. came to Vienna and offered him his hand, which all the world struggled to kiss, Kaunitz contented himself with taking it in his own, and squeezing it most heartily. An ambassador, who was invited to dine with him for the first time, not having yet appeared in the drawing-room when the Prince entered, he hastened to have dinner served, and sat down without waiting for his guest. The following day, however, he deferred his dinner, because the ballet-master, Naverre, had not arrived. When Joseph II. took the helm of the state into his own hands, under the pretext of sparing the health of the minister, and of not disturbing his habits, he begged him not to come to the palace, but to suffer the Emperor to visit him at home. Nevertheless, this monarch did nothing of moment without him, and every measure that implied a diminution of his influence was accompanied by the most flattering assurances of profound respect. Kaunitz enjoyed a similar distinction during Leopold's reign, and Gleichen saw this monarch and the Empress enter the minister's garden, in order to present to him the King and Queen of Naples. It is somewhat remarkable that the dust of the man who eradicated the germ of so many wars between France and Austria, should repose on his property at Austerlitz! Let us now hear what a Frenchman says of him. Flassan* portrays him as follows:"This minister possessed all the qualities of a statesman: fine discrimination, a ready and subtle spirit, penetration, elevation of mind, correct perceptions, and much cleverness in business; a disinterestedness tried by experience, discretion, dignity, a strong and enlightened understanding, which rescued him Histoire de la Diplomatie Française, v. 223. from the sway of prejudices, a sympathizing | regiment in 1741. On his return to Paris heart, an upright and trustworthy character. he obtained the favor of Madame de PomHis policy seemed to have discarded all mala padour, and was appointed Lieutenantfides, and he never employed dissimulation at General in 1748, and Duke of Choiseul in the cost of honesty. His reserve consisted 1758. In 1753 he went as ambassador to in his not saying all that he thought; but he Rome, and in 1757 to Vienna, whence he never said what he did not think. He knew was recalled in 1758 in order to fill the how to fathom the views of other diploma- office of Minister for Foreign Affairs. He tists, by the approaches and insinuations resigned this appointment in 1761, to his that they employed to penetrate his own. cousin, Count Choiseul, afterwards Duke of He neither flattered the mood nor the views Praslin, and undertook the War and Marine of his superiors, and he used to threaten to department in its stead. In 1770 he was resign office if they refused the good that he thrown out of office by Madame Dubarri, saw was necessary. In his own house he and ordered to his country seat at Chanteloup. was amiable, familiar, and confidential. But After the accession of Louis XVI., he was in conformity with the fate that attaches to permitted to return to Paris, and was somethe most perfect of men, his numerous rare times desired to attend in council. He was qualities were mixed with foibles and peculi- mainly instrumental in effecting the alliance arities. He occasionally carried the levity of between Austria and France, and he was his manners, and the neglect of respect, a also the creator of the great alliance belittle too far. He was sometimes seen coolly tween the Bourbon courts. He drove the and deliberately to mount his horse or to Jesuits from France, chiefly because they enter his carriage, in order to take a drive, were protected by the Dauphin, who was an from which he would not return till six opponent of Choiseul's policy. During his o'clock in the evening, at the very moment administration Corsica was added to France, when a numerous company that he had in- which is also indebted to him for its admiravited was about to sit down to dinner. ble military schools, the revival of its navy, When invited to dine with others, he would and substantial reforms in colonial affairs. let his host wait two or three hours for him, His lady, Louise Honorine Crozat du and even cause his own covers to be brought Chatel, was the daughter of a very opulent with him. He was seen looking at himself merchant. After his death, which took place in a pocket mirror at his sovereign's table, in May, 1785, she sacrificed the greater part where he would also clean his teeth, polish of her fortune to pay his debts, and retired his snuff-box, read letters, answer them, and into a convent. When these institutions were ask for a light in order to seal them. He suppressed by the Revolution, she lived in had an invincible dislike to business that occa- seclusion in Paris, where she died in 1801. sioned a long and difficult discussion. Convinced that his natural readiness and penetration would easily remove the greatest obstacles, he had not the patience to examine minutiæ and accessories, so that instead of probing matters to the bottom, he passed judgment upon them from the first appearance that they presented to his mind. At the same time he knew how to present his view of matters in such a seductive light, and with so many appearances of conformity and probability, that no one would have suspected that he had only glanced at them superficially." Etienne François Duke of Choiseul Amboise, who was born on the 18th of June, 1719, was descended from a branch of the ancient and powerful family of Choiseul, and made his entrance into public life as Count of Stainville. Educated in a Jesuit seminary, he distinguished himself in military service, and was rewarded at Prague with a Gleichen thus describes Choiseul :"The Duke of Choiseul was of small stature, rather compact than thin, and his ugliness was quite amusing. His little eyes sparkled with intelligence, his nez retroussé gave him an agreeable expression, and his large laughing lips announced the liveliness of his sallies. Amiable, noble, open-hearted, magnanimous, gallant, fond of splendor, liberal, proud, bold, fiery, and even boiling over with spirit, he reminded you of the old French chevalier. But he also united with these qualites many faults attaching to his nation he was thoughtless, indiscreet, arrogant, dissipated extravagant, hasty and rash. "When he was ambassador at Rome, Benedict XIV. pronounced him a fool who had much mind.' I have never known a man who was equally expert in spreading merriment and delight around him. When he entered a room, he seemed, metaphorically speaking, to search his pockets, and to draw forth an inexhaustible supply of jests and gayety. He could not resist the desire of making those happy, who knew how to value the good things that he scattered around. He used to borrow any intellectual treasures that he could find without too arduous a search, and to regard them as a loan that he was bound to repay. On the other hand, he could not endure the sight of misery, and I have heard him jest in what appeared to me a very unfeeling manner about the complaints of the family of his cousin Choiseul-le-Marin, whom he had been forced to banish, in order to shield himself against his furious invectives. He was wont to steel himself after this fashion with a mockseverity, against the pliancy and sensitiveness that formed a real part of his character. I once heard him reply to Madame de Choiseul, who called him a tyrant: Say, rather, a velvet tyrant.' Hence the surest way of obtaining his assent to your requests, was to provoke his wrath in the first instance by some other means, and on another subject; because when the storm was over the lion became a lamb. "It was one of the finest qualities of the Duke of Choiseul, that he was a magnanimous enemy and a true friend. A striking evidence of this statement is found in the case of the Duke of Aiguillon, who was accused before the Parliament, and saved by the Duke of Choiseul, who, although as one of the witnesses he was required to bear testimony against his old enemy, yet kept back much that might have been prejudicial to him. The enduring attachment of a host of courtiers who followed him after his disgrace to Chanteloup, and who remained faithful to him till his death, proves how good a friend he had been to them. He bestowed on the Bailiff de Solar, the Sardinian Ambassador, the most refined and the tenderest evidences of an almost childlike attachment. De Solar was almost the only man whom the Duke of Choiseul treated with a kind of reverence, possibly because he had been his teacher in jurisprudence when he was at Rome. He procured for him his nomination as ambassador to Paris, the office of mediator at the peace of 1762, presents of immense value, and the dignity of abbé, with an income of fifty thousand francs. All the pious attentions that can be shown by a son to his father, were displayed by Choiseul and his family to the sufferer during his long and fearful illness, which terminated in his death from cancer, shortly after he had been loaded with these benefits by his friend. "Choiseul loved temerity, and I found a way to his heart," adds Gleichen, "by an almost offensive expression, which I defended with all the romantic folly of a young man of twenty-two. I came to Frascati in 1756, in order to spend the two last summer-months at his house. The Duke spoke rather disrespectfully of the Margravine of Baireuth, the elder sister of the King of Prussia, who had educated me and sent me to Rome. I answered him in such a haughty and cutting way, that he threw his serviette upon the table and stood up. "As my horse was at hand, I ordered it to be saddled, and wished to leave. Madame de Choiseul detained me, and I agreed to remain, only upon the condition that the ambassador promised never to say anything of the Margravine in my presence, that I could not hear with propriety. He kept his word; treated me from that time with the greatest distinction, and when the King of Prussia raised his arm against France, one month later, by invading Saxony, Choiseul never employed a single unamiable expression against the Margravine or her brother, without previously asking my permission in jest." His wayward arrogance was displayed in a somewhat unfavorable light during the first carnival after his appointment as ambassador to Rome. We shall compare the accounts that Gleichen and Flassan give of this occurrence, and present the reader with the result. The circumstance that led to the explosion seems to have been an alteration in the ancient custom by which the box that was usually occupied by the French Ambassador at the theatre had been appropriated to himself by the Governor of Rome. Another account represents the alteration to have consisted in a new regulation that was established by Benedict, whereby the foreign ambassadors were required to draw lots for their boxes, like the Roman nobles. Whichever is the true version, the result was the same. Choiseul resisted this innovation, stormed furiously against the ecclesiastical authorities, and threatened to throw all intruders out of his box into the pit; nay, one account states that he made preparations for his departure from Rome. The Pope is reported to have sent Cardinal Valenti to Choiseul in order to induce him to listen to reason. This prelate, who possessed great dignity and eloquence, addressed him in very energetic terms, by which he expected to browbeat the ambassador. "Do you know what was his reply ?" said the Cardinal to Gleichen. "He flipped his fingers in my face (Choiseul's usual ges ture to express indifference) and said: "Vous | the minister, who thereupon dictated the subvous moquez de moi, Monseigneur, voila trop stance of his resolutions, which were written de bruit pour un petit prestolet, quand il s'agit on the other side of the sheet. The minister d'un Ambassadeur de France." Whether then read over the whole and signed them. this scene occurred or not, the Pope yielded, Hereupon the sheet was passed on to another and Choiseul retained his box with the repu- clerk, who drew up the answers in conformity tation of being a mad-cap. Flassan states with it, when they were simply signed with that when Benedict shortly after appointed his signet, and forwarded without being rethe Governor a cardinal and Secretary of State vised by the minister. As the originals of all Choiseul, knowing him to be his enemy, went these dispatches were deposited among the to the Pope and protested against his nomi- archives, a lasting record was retained by nation. Benedict stated that he was not mas- which to rectify every misapplication of the ter to appoint whom he pleased, and when signet. Choiseul persisted, the Pope arose, excited, and said: "Fail Papa," (he plays the Pope.) Choiseul felt that the Pope was right, and answered: "No, holy father, let each of us perform the duties of our station; you continue to play the Pope, and I will play the Ambassador." It appears that Choiseul found means afterwards to become reconciled with the Governor by pretending that he was indebted to his own intercession for his elevation to the office of Secretary of State. "Choiseul," proceeds Gleichen," had led a wild and dissipated life in his early youth. When he was appointed Ambassador to Rome, he was still very ignorant. He read little, but he never forgot anything that he had read. His quick, subtle, penetrating, and ready mind guessed your thought before it was half uttered, anticipated all explanations, and masked its ignorance by dazzling others with its brilliancy. He used to be satisfied with knowing the substance of things, leaving all details to his secretaries. He wrote the most secret dispatches with his own, hand, without making a rough draught of them beforehand, and forwarded them by courier without retaining a copy. His handwriting was so illegible that an ambassador was once obliged to send back his dispatches from inability to decipher them. He labored little, and did a great deal. His intrigues and his pleasures consumed a considerable time; but he atoned for the loss by the quickness of his intelligence, and by his readiness in work. He contrived several methods for facilitating his labors; and amongst others, a plan that enabled him to condense a great quantity of reading and writing into a single act. Every courier brought him a basket full of letters and petitions, which it was his duty to read, as Minister of War. But he did nothing of the sort, first, because it was almost impossible, and secondly, because he had many other things to do. A clerk read the letters for him, and wrote their number and contents on half a sheet of paper. He read over this to "Never was a minister more indiscreet in his expressions than the Duke of Choiseul; it was his great defect. His levity, his fiery temper, his love of wit, and not unfrequently the ebullitions of his spleen, were its natural causes; nevertheless, there were noble treasures in his heart that made his faults almost venial: from the uprightness of his mind, as well as his love of justice, he hated all that was hollow and false, and the elevation of his character scorned the timid precautions and the petty pedantry of political science. When at length he learned from experience to know his fault, he made a jest of it instead of trying to reform it. He forgot the perplexities in which it plunged him, in the pleasure that he experienced in extricating himself from them; for the most distinguished characteristic of his mind was his ready wit in difficulties. He had ever all his wits about him, whether he were engaged in pleasure, in rectifying failures, or in making reparations for wrongs committed. His ingenuity in finding resources was something marvellous, and had he been alive at the Revolution, he alone might possibly have found the means of averting it. "An officer who had persecuted him unmercifully at all his audiences, in order that he might obtain the Cross of St. Louis, placed himself at last between the minister and the door through which he was about to escape, so as to force his attention. Roused by such impudence, the Duke became so heated that he said: Allez vous faire . . .;' when suddenly recollecting that he was concerned with a soldier, and a nobleman, he recovered himself, and continued: ‹ Allez vous faire protestant et le roi vous donnera la croix de mérite.' 'He loved honor, riches, and power, in order to enjoy them, and to enable those around him to partake in their enjoyment. He was not so proud of his place as of his person. When he thought of his descent, he was reminded that in former days a man liament had given its countenance to their suppression in France, the consent of the King was required in addition, and he had a secret leaning towards the society which was also befriended by the whole royal family, and a large party in the council and at court. Choiseul carefully avoided standing forth as their enemy before his sovereign, but he forwarded whatever was needful to the King of Spain, who was engaged in a personal correspondence with Louis XV. My opinion is, however, that the Jesuits wrought their own downfall. Their money speculations in France, their imprudences in Spain, and, above all, the arrogance, obstinacy, and absurd recklessness of their General at Rome, began and compassed their ruin. When the latter was informed that Father Malagrida had been arrested on account of his attempt to assassinate the King of Portugal, several friends of the Jesuits, together with Father Ricci,* were assembled at Cardinal Negroni's. All advised him to write to the King of Portugal at once, stating that the Order, though convinced of the innocence of Father Malagrida, yet thought fit to solicit the mercy of his Most Faithful Majesty towards him. But the General was inflexible; he wrote a foolish letter, maintaining that a Jesuit could only be judged by his own society, which was consequently expelled from Portugal. It appears that it had been represented to Louis XV. that the Jesuits maintain the principle, "that a tyrant or a king who was an enemy of the Catholic religion ought to be put to death," a circumstance that made a deep impression upon him because of the recent attempt upon his life.† Hereupon Marshal Soubise, the chief organ of the devout party in the council, gave it as his advice that a condemnation and prohibition of this ancient principle should be obtained from the General. But Ricci arrogantly rejected every attempt of the kind, saying that the denouncing of that principle, which had never been more than a play of thought, would be tacitly to admit that it was a doctrine and opinion of the Order, and the very supposition of such a thing would be a blot on the society. It was on this occasion that he delivered this sentence, celebrated for its folly : 'Sint ut sunt, aut non sint.' This sealed the fate of the Jesuits in France. Clement XIV.. who feared them even more than he hated them, defended them long after this, and I of rank would have thought himself lowered | *At that time General of the Order. Robert Francis Damien had attempted to assassinate Louis XV. on the 5th of January, 1757. |