“The dissolution of the states will be attended with no diminution in the finances. The free gift, which is the principal business of these assemblies, may be regulated like a common tax levied from year to year.”
The door of the provincial states being thus shut up, that of the assembly of the clergy immediately burst open: it was still the same object, but here discussed in great.
The business, as in the other assemblies, was the twentieth denier, and the free gift: though this body, whenever called on by the King, pleads indigence, yet it knows that it is so far accounted rich, that all its studied speeches, on those occasions, cannot bring the public to think it poor.
It endeavours therefore to compound with the King, and this time offered seven millions and a half to be exempted from the impost. I have heard a person, very well skilled in such affairs, say, that the clergy should not be allowed to compound for taxes; but that if any composition were to be admitted, it ought to be with the commonalty; which, as being most burthened, should be preferred before all the other bodies put together.
The affairs of the closet did not interrupt the court entertainments: the King hunted as usual, came to the plays, and every day supped with me in the little apartments. A tender and affectionate friendship now closely united us; desire was superseded by a calm inclination; the friend had succeeded the mistress; our hearts glowed with all the complacency arising from passions, without any of the disagreeable circumstances accompanying them. Several women had inspired Lewis XV. with love, but not one had he met with of a turn to make him feel the delights of friendship, which a generous soul will always prefer. The former is a commerce of pleasures, the gratification of which is almost ever followed by disgust: the second is a mild settled delight, resident in the mind, and if it does not minister any relish to the senses, is more lasting, lively, and refined. The King himself, at this time, assured me, that had he at first felt the delights of friendship, he should never have given himself up to those of love. All passion was now subsided in him; for this name is not to be given to those desultory gallantries, when the constitution only prompts to pleasure, without any concurrence of the heart.
This excellent Prince often said to me, that he was happy in having a real friend, to whom he could communicate his satisfactions and his troubles, for kings have theirs like other men; one of his greatest was the distresses of the people, and the impossibility of relieving them so speedily as he could have wished. He laid open to me the whole state of his mind, without any reserved secrets; all his heart was as well known to me as my own: it was an uneasiness for us to part, and we always met again with redoubled pleasure.
The King, as I said in the beginning of these Memoirs, had, soon after my first appearance at court, made me Marchioness de Pompadour; and, that I might remain there with the greater decency, created me a Lady of the palace. This new place should have convinced all Europe, that there was no other commerce between his Majesty and me than what arose from esteem and friendship. But ill-nature pursues its point, regardless of all probabilities; and the state-malcontents picked out this passage of my life to mangle my reputation, &c.
To return to politics: business went on at Versailles with great dispatch, that the King might the sooner have the satisfaction he so passionately desired, of diminishing the imposts, and making his people enjoy the benefits of peace.
The marine was the principal point in view: M. Rouillé had hastily got together a little fleet, which, putting to sea, gave no small umbrage to the English. The British nation, with all its natural composure, is all in flames at the bare mention of a French navy: concerning this, I remember a jest at that time, that the Britons could not close their eyes since France had an eye to its maritime concerns; and that were we to build a hundred ships of the line, not a soul in England would have any sleep.
This navy, however, was but a-beginning, and far short of what was intended. Yet could England ask France, “what was the destination of these ships?” M. de Puisieux gave my Lord Albemarle for answer, “that the King of France was not accountable to any power in Europe; that France was at peace with Great Britain; and that, consequently, the latter had nothing to apprehend from those ships.”