The proceedings, contrary to custom, were conducted with closed doors, the public being rigorously excluded; a great part of the evidence for the prosecution was ruled out, while everything that was likely to tell in favour of the accused was at once admitted. On the third day, the Ducs de la Feuillade, de Brancas, and de Richelieu withdrew, and were followed by all the counsellors of the Condé party; but the Duc d’Orléans and the Prince de Conti continued to encourage the defence by their presence for some days longer. Finally, on 21 January, the Parlement, by the unanimous vote of sixty-nine judges, acquitted Le Blanc on all four changes—a verdict which was received with applause by the public, with whom, owing to various reasons, of which we shall speak hereafter, the Ministry of Monsieur le Duc was fast losing what popularity it had once possessed, and who, ignorant of the strength of the evidence against Le Blanc, saw in him only a victim of the hatred of the Pâris brothers and Madame de Prie. Notwithstanding what certain historians, who were unacquainted with the facts as they are known to-day, have asserted to the contrary, there can be very little doubt that the ex-Minister for War had benefited by one of those scandalous miscarriages of justice of which the records of the Parlement of Paris afford only too many examples. Before an impartial tribunal he would have been almost certainly found guilty on the charges relating to Gazan de la Combe and La Guillonière, and probably on the others also; and, whatever may be thought of the motives of Madame de Prie, she had rendered a public service by her efforts to run to earth this highly-placed criminal.
Le Blanc, although, as a wag remarked, “after being very black, he had been made white (blanc) again,” was not immediately released, but remained in the Bastille until the following 12 May, when he was set at liberty and exiled to Lisieux. On the same day, the Comte de Belle-Isle was also liberated, and exiled to Carcassonne. Two months later, La Jonchère also found himself a free man.
The ex-Minister’s accomplices were brought to trial before the Tournelle,[268] and were all acquitted, with the exception of La Jonchère’s gardener Lempereur, who was found guilty of the La Malmaison murder and broken on the wheel. He paid for all.
CHAPTER XXIII
Monsieur le Duc and Madame de Prie determine to break off the marriage of Louis XV. and the Infanta, and to marry the young King to a princess capable of at once giving him an heir—Double interest of the favourite in the accomplishment of this design—Question of the remarriage of Monsieur le Duc—Madame de Prie, unable to oppose this, selects Marie Leczinska—Rupture of the Spanish marriage—Exasperation of the Court of Madrid—Difficulty of finding a suitable consort for Louis XV.—Madame de Prie accused of having barred the way of Mlle. de Vermandois to the crown matrimonial—The favourite advocates the claims of Marie Leczinska, who is eventually chosen—Triumph of Madame de Prie—Arrival of the new Queen—A model husband—Growing unpopularity of the Government and increasing influence of Fleury—An unsuccessful intrigue—Madame de Prie retires from Court, but Monsieur le Duc insists on her return—Disgrace of Monsieur le Duc—His mother and his mistress follow him to Chantilly—Madame de Prie is exiled to Normandy—A touching farewell—Chivalrous behaviour of the prince—Death of Madame de Prie—Remarriage of Monsieur le Duc—His death.
Monsieur le Duc and Madame de Prie did not allow themselves to be cast down by the reverse which they had sustained at the Palais de Justice, since for some months they had been meditating a most daring project, which, they believed, would render them absolute masters of the field.
We have mentioned that in 1721 the Infanta Luisa Isabella, then in her fifth year, had been sent to the French Court to be brought up there until she had reached a marriageable age, when she was to become the wife of Louis XV. Well, this arrangement had always been regarded with the strongest disfavour by Monsieur le Duc and his mistress. In the first place, years must elapse before the “Infanta-Queen,” as the little princess was called, would be able to bear an heir to the throne, and should Louis XV. die without male issue, their enemy, the Duc de Chartres, would become King. In the second, should the Infanta succeed in gaining any influence over the young monarch’s mind, that influence would certainly be exploited by Philip V. to bring about the dismissal of Monsieur le Duc and the elevation of the Orléans.
During the visit of the King to Chantilly in the previous summer they had taken counsel with Pâris-Duverney and their principal advisers, and had decided that the Infanta must be sent back to Spain, even at the risk of an open breach with Philip V.; and Louis XV. married to some princess who could at once make him a father.
Madame de Prie had personally a double interest in the accomplishment of this design, for not only would it remove the greatest dangers which Monsieur le Duc had to fear and immensely strengthen his position, but the marriage of the King and the birth of a prince would serve to retard perhaps indefinitely the marriage of her lover. For while only two lives stood between Monsieur le Duc and the throne, it was obviously his duty to take a second wife, and Madame la Duchesse was continually urging him to do so. Such a prospect was naturally most distasteful to Madame de Prie, not because she had much reason to fear a rival in the prince’s affections, but because she had become so attached to him that she could not bear the thought of surrendering him, even nominally, to another woman. Moreover, his remarriage must interfere to some extent with that free intercourse which had hitherto existed between them, and which, for political as well as sentimental reasons, might occasion serious inconvenience.
However, since she did not see her way to offer any opposition to the affair without the risk of an open quarrel with Madame la Duchesse, she decided to accept the inevitable, and to occupy herself in finding a wife for her lover who, while not possessing sufficient personal attractions to cause her any jealousy, would be sufficiently complaisant to reduce the inconveniences which she feared to a minimum.