After these speeches, the treaty, or regulation between the Republic and the Corsicans, was brought upon the carpet. Each party thereby retained prerogatives which made them independent of each other; that is to say, the subjects of this republic were treating for their liberty. The Corsicans terminated by negociation, what they could not accomplish by arms.
When the articles of the treaty were sent to Versailles, Marshal Belleisle publickly said, “That the Republic had submitted too much: that they should have granted an amnesty to the rebels, and not have treated with them: that subjects who have thrown off the yoke, in returning to their duty, should obtain nothing but pardon. He added, that the Corsicans should either be punished as guilty of treason, or else abandoned as rebels; for subjects who are sufficiently powerful to oblige their sovereign to treat with them, are not faithful enough to submit long to obedience.”
These reflexions appeared to be the more justly founded, as all these negotiations soon became useless, and a war was presently after rekindled.
Be this as it may, the Genoese were for the present left here, the attention of every one being taken up with news from Asia, which greatly flattered the king’s expectations. We were informed from India, that the Nabob had confidence enough in France, to place his political interest in the hands of a Frenchman, named Dupleix; and that the nation of the Marats, who were subject to the Nabob, had appointed him their commander in chief.
It is said that Lewis XIV. who was animated with every kind of glory, was sensibly struck with the information given him by an embassador from the king of Siam, who was delegated to acquaint him that his name was held in great veneration in those states. He testified more public joy, and was more flattered with this honour, than if he had obtained an important conquest.
The peace concluded with the Nabob, and the confidence which this prince reposed in France, were objects of far greater consequence. They increased the riches of the state, whereas the embassy from Siam had no other effect than flattering the monarch’s vanity.
Dupleix became at once plenipotentiary and generalissimo; he stipulated the terms of the treaty of peace, and received the command. These two posts were preceded by an important negociation, without which he could never have obtained them; he fixed the unsteady disposition of the Marats. This nation had been hitherto divided into various factions, who, in weakening themselves, prevented France deriving any advantage from them. This foreigner upbraided them with their impolitic conduct, and taught them to pursue connected views, and an uniform system.
This Dupleix was not, however, any great genius: but there are people who perform great things with very little capacity. We have since seen him at Paris fallen from the pinnacle of his fame, and at length give up his breath with the reputation of a man, who, so far from having been capable of governing India, had not talents sufficient to regulate his own houshold affairs.
He had a great law-suit with the India company. This quarrel is equally remarkable by the nature of the demand, as by that of the refusal. The Nabob’s general declared, that the directors were indebted to him several millions, and the directors set forth that they owed him nothing. There is, in general, ingratitude on the one side, and but little acknowledgment on the other. The memorials that were published upon this occasion, produced at least this advantage, they opened the eyes of the government with respect to many things relative to India, which they would never have been acquainted with, had not these publications taken place.
I made business, pleasure, and amusements, by turns succeed at Versailles, which still prevented the king’s serious reflexions. Lewis XV. existed, I may say, by a constitution which I communicated to him, and this factitious temperament hindered his own prevailing. I believe he would have been at length overcome without that art which I employed to repress nature. Notwithstanding this precaution, there were moments in which he gave himself up to melancholy. It was then necessary to invent new pleasures, in order to excite fresh sensations. As soon as I perceived these produced no effect, I redoubled my attention to substitute others that might be more prevalent.