his Advancement to the Cardinal de Fleury, who seems to confide in him intirely. This Minister is reckon’d very laborious, good-natur’d and civil. The Foreign Ministers are so taken with him, that they think no more of Messieurs de Torcy and de Morville. The former was of the Colbert Family, Secretary of Foreign Affairs under Lewis XIV. a Man, as one may say, born for the Ministry, and whose great and good Services have been very much cry’d-up, but more rewarded by the Applauses of Europe, than by Favours from the Court. The other was the Son of the late Keeper of the Seals, d’Armenonville, and had acquir’d a great Reputation in his Embassies to Holland, and the Congress of Cambray, when he desired Leave to[57] retire, and was succeeded by M. Chauvelin.
The Count de Maurepas is Grandson to the Chancellor de Pontchartrain, and Son to the Count de Pontchartrain, Secretary for the Maritime Affairs in the Reign of King Lewis XIV. He enter’d very young into the Ministry, and has so behav’d as to gain Friends and Dependants. I have not heard one Man give him an ill Word, while every body speaks well of him; but as for his Secretaries, or chief Clerks, the Seafaring People often exclaim against the Airs of Importance which some of those Scribes put on, who watch all Opportunities to impose on the Honesty of the Minister, in Favour of their Creatures, to the Prejudice of other Subjects, who have more Merit.
The Count de S. Florentin is of the Family of Phelypeaux, as is also the Count de Maurepas, who married his Sister. He is the Son of M. de la Vrilliere, Secretary of State; and had the
Reversion of his Father’s Office granted him by the Regent, when he was scarce twenty Years of Age. M. de la Vrilliere dying not long before the King’s Marriage, M. de S. Florentin entered on his Office. He has that Province which relates to Affairs Ecclesiastical. He married, some Years ago, the Daughter of the late Count de Platen, Great Chamberlain, and Hereditary Post-Master of Hanover; but neither of ’em knew one another before the Match was made. Mademoiselle de Platen was a Lutheran, but is turn’d Catholic. The Lady, her Mother, for Whom I had as profound a Veneration as for any Woman in the World, and whose Memory I still revere, brought her into France. M. de S. Florentin has Reason to be pleas’d with the Choice he has made: For his Lady is not only very charming, but has noble Sentiments, and a Virtue which Calumny itself durst not asperse. When she married M. de S. Florentin, King George I. of Great Britain settled a Pension upon her of forty thousand Livres, for forty-five Years; and King George II. on his Accession to the Crown, was pleased to confirm the said Pension, upon that Lady’s going to London to solicit it, in Company with her Mother-in-law Madame de la Vrilliere, now Duchess of Mazarine.
M. d’Angervilliers, formerly Intendant of Alsace, is Secretary of the War-Office, in which he succeeded M. le Blanc, who was the Secretary a second time, when he died at Versailles. The first time that he was Secretary, he was supplanted by M. de Breteuil, during the Ministry of the Duke de Bourbon; and he, in his Turn, supplanted M. de Breteuil, the Queen’s Chancellor, in the Ministry of the Cardinal de Fleury. You see by this, that the War-Office has been several times chang’d in a few Years; but ’tis like to remain always in the
Hands of M. d’Angervilliers, whose Application, Vigilance and Integrity, are very much cry’d-up by the Officers, and all that have to do with him. I gave you some Account of this Minister, when I wrote to you from Strasbourg, to which I have nothing to add.
As the Secretary of War has been often chang’d of late Years, the Comptroller-General of the Finances has been much more so. From the Year 1711, when I first came to Paris, to this Day, I have known seven Comptrollers General, and not one of ’em died in the Office: So that this Post may well be compared to that of the Grand Vizier, which is alike struggled for, and alike fatal to those who are invested with it.
Of all the Men who have had that ticklish Employment of Comptroller-General in France, there is not one that has made a more shining Fortune, and a Fortune that sooner slipp’d from him, than John Law. This Man, of whom many People have wrote and talk’d without knowing him, and according to their Passions, was a Scotsman, born with a narrow Fortune, but strong Desires to inlarge it. He had travell’d through several Parts of Europe, and Gaming prov’d his chief Subsistence. He won considerable Sums in Italy, especially at Genoa; and there it was that he hatch’d all those Projects which he put in Execution in France. ’Tis true, that he did not come into this Kingdom, till he had offered his Services to Victor Amadeus, the King of Sardinia. This Prince told him, That his Dominions were too small for the Execution of so great a Design; but that France was a Theatre, where he might expect to make his Market, and thither he advised him to go. If I know the Humour of the French, added the King, I am sure they will relish your Schemes. John Law took the Monarch’s Advice, and shewed
his Project to the Regent, who approved it; and the Projector soon found, that he had the Purses of the French absolutely at his Command. As he was a Protestant, he made his Abjuration in the Recollets Church at Melun, in the Diocese of Sens, in the Month of December 1719, in the Hands of the Abbé[58]Tancin. In the Month of January following, he was made Comptroller-General; but he quitted that Post in June; abruptly left Paris on the thirteenth of December 1720; and after rambling about for a while, not knowing where to fix, (for his own Country did not suit him) he died at Munich. The Generality of the French accuse him of having exhausted France, and sent away immense Sums to Foreign Countries. How true this is, I know not, but ’tis certain, that Law, after his Disgrace, liv’d very meanly. His Widow and his Son, (Mr. John Law)[59] who are actually at Utrecht, make no very great Figure there, which very many People ascribe to Policy. But for my own Part, who think more freely, and don’t see what could hinder Mrs. Law and her Son from making a Display of their Riches, in the Country where they live; I can’t help crediting what People, and such as were John Law’s Intimates, have assured me for a certain Truth, viz. That Law being puff’d-up with his Fortune, and not thinking it would be so short-liv’d, had no Thought of securing it in Foreign Countries; and that if he had such a Purpose, he had not Time to send any Sums out of the Kingdom. He was oblig’d
both by Necessity, and out of Policy, to make Purchases in France; and accordingly he made considerable Acquisitions; but they were no more than a pleasant Dream to him, and the Loss of them only made his Disgrace the greater Affliction. I am of their Opinion, who believe that John Law was richer when he came to France, than he was three Months after he left it. This Copy of Verses was made upon him, which, perhaps, you will not be sorry to see[60].