The Prince de Soubise told me some time after, that this peace had been a child of necessity; that there was not one of all the signing Princes, who could not have wished that the war had continued. Yet I can take upon me to say, that the King of France was of a different mind. He was visibly more gay than usual, and the great joy of his heart displayed itself in his countenance.
Thus at length the public calamities were suspended. Genoa, which under the Duke de Richelieu had continued to defend itself against the Germans, grounded its arms. The Spaniards and French, after being in continual action to settle Don Philip in Italy, discontinued their operations; and it was agreed that every thing should remain quiet till the publication of the definitive treaty. I longed for it more than any minister in Europe. The King had no quiet; the concerns of his crown and personal glory kept him in Flanders, and took up all his thoughts, never returning to Versailles till the campaign was quite over. My private satisfaction I could have willingly sacrificed to the happiness of the state, but sieges and battles only encreased the public distresses.
New lotteries and new taxes were established to raise the means for signing the peace; thus the public ease began with draining them to the last drop.
The Pretender’s son, who seemed quite forgotten, now makes his appearance again. Concluding, as he well might, that nobody would think of him at the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle; he began by protesting against every thing which should be done there. So little regard was paid to the manifesto which he caused to be set up, that all parties signed without minding his protestations. To this opposition he added another still more extravagant at Paris, refusing to comply even with the King’s express orders.
One of the first articles laid down between England and France, had been, that the Chevalier de St. George’s son should quit the kingdom. Lewis XV. several times signified to him the indispensable necessity he was under of adhering to the agreement. Prince Edward plainly told those who first mentioned the King’s pleasure to him, that he would not comply. I have often heard the excuse he gave for this refractoriness. The King of France, said he, promised me that I should always find an asylum in his dominions; for this I have his sign manual in my pocket. A Prince who has a sense of honour, knows what obligations his word lays him under, and how greatly he exposes himself in violating it.
He treated with the King of France as with a private gentleman. He forgot that Sovereigns may fail in their word, without any breach in their honour, the good of their people so requiring. The Pretender’s son was taken into custody, as he was going to the opera. Strange reverse of fortune! On his arrival in France, he had been received with great joy, and marks of consideration. I was something concerned for this young Prince’s fate, and dropped a word or two about him to the King, who answered me with some heat, What would you have me do, Madam? Should I continue the war with all Europe for Prince Edward? England will not allow him to be in my dominions; it was only on this condition, that she came into the peace. Should I have broke off the conference at Aix-la-Chapelle, and distressed my people more and more, because the Pretender’s son is for living at Paris?
It must be owned that this Prince shewed an obstinacy beyond example. The King sent all Paris to represent to him the state of affairs, and express the concern it gave him, that he was obliged to remove him from his court. Though these messages were delivered to him in the King’s name, his answers were so many menaces. The Count de Maurepas spoke to him on this occasion, in the following words:
“It is with the greatest grief that the King sees himself obliged to desire your Highness to quit his dominions. I come in his name to assure you that no other consideration than the welfare of his subjects would have prevailed on him to take this step. You would have seen him inflexibly supporting your claim, had not the unhappy turn of the war laid him under a necessity of yielding to the present juncture. The greatest Monarchs cannot always do as they would. There are critical seasons where policy requires them to be pliant. Your Highness knows that; since the unhappy time when the Stuart family lost the crown of England, the Bourbon family has made several efforts for their restoration. You ought to take his intentions kindly, rather than blame his inability. I wish you had been witness to his conversation with me, when he called me into his closet to give me his orders, by which I was to signify to you his desire that you will quit the kingdom; it must have affected you. He sincerely laments your situation, but he cannot turn the tide of fate; and should you force him to take violent measures, it would give him the deepest concern.
“Lewis XV. has sent me to you, not as a King, not as a master, but as an ally, and as a friend; and, what is more, he directed me to ask it of you as a favour, that you would leave his dominions.”
Prince Edward was very laconic in his answer, drawing a pistol out of his pocket, and vowing to shoot the first man that should offer to lay hands on him. The archbishop of Paris likewise conjured him in the name of God and the Pope, but with no greater effect; religion had no more weight with him than politics, so that the extremity which the King would have avoided, became necessary. The Chevalier de St. George’s son was arrested as he was going to the opera.