Every time there was any important post to fill, or any considerable employment to be given away, the courtiers greatly increased their complaisance towards me. I had a constant train of solicitors. The Marquis de St. Contest having entered upon the post of secretary of state for foreign affairs, the embassy in Holland was vacant. M. de Bonac was mentioned to me in a favourable manner. I had but very little knowledge of him; I acquainted myself with his talents for negociation, and in consequence of the picture that was drawn to me of him, I interested myself in his favour. I spoke of him to the King, who appointed him his embassador to the States General. As many courtiers interceded for the place, I made myself as many enemies as were refused it. The King’s service and that of the state determined me in favour of M. de Bonac, who, it was said, had the necessary qualifications to do honour to his country.
The Prince of Soubise said, that of all the embassies in Europe, that of the Seven Provinces was the most difficult, as, in all the other courts, negociations are carried on with princes of a generous turn of mind, who often lose sight of their own advantages; whereas in Holland, the minister treats with merchants, who have their interest constantly in view. He added, that Holland is so situated, that in the wars between France and England, it may derive advantages from the one, and contribute to the other. Wherefore those who treat with the Dutch should have a great share of address, to make them declare when their succours are necessary; and they should have great abilities to keep them in an exact neutrality, when their arms may be prejudicial, &c.
I do not know whether M. de Bonac possessed all these qualities; for every thing is disguised at court, and people are not known till such time as they have been tried, and it is then too late to form a judgment that can be advantageous. M. de Bonac was an officer; this circumstance alone made me for some time hesitate upon the choice I proposed making. I never had any great faith in negociations carried on by military men. They are a kind of people that seldom have a turn of mind, and that pliant disposition necessary to succeed at foreign courts: but this is the age of warlike ministers. Lewis XV. has employed no others during his whole reign: and this, perhaps, is one of the reasons, why our affairs at foreign courts have not succeeded so well as we might have expected.
Those churchmen who make vows of poverty, but who are more covetous of riches than laymen, were also very assiduous in paying their court to me. The number of these that attended me, increased in proportion as abbeys and bishopricks became vacant.
There were many candidates for the abbey of Auchin, but the King disposed of it in favour of Cardinal York, brother to the Pretender, who by enjoying this benefice, with the possession of several others, was richer than the real possessor of the duchy of York. This opulence, which in England the King’s sons and brothers do not enjoy, made a courtier say upon this occasion, that it was very lucky for Cardinal York, that the house of Stuart had been dispossessed of the throne of Great-Britain; for without this accident, he would have been only a poor English citizen, instead of a rich Roman prince.
People, however, complained of the King’s not having given this benefice to a Frenchman, who would have expended the revenue of it in the kingdom, instead of its being carried into Italy, which was now the case by this nomination. But those who reason in this manner did not know that kings who waged war against reigning families, gave alms to those families whose reign was expired. Moreover France had obligations to this unfortunate house. In the wars which France carried on, the Pretender was brought upon the carpet, and sent off, in the same manner as an actor is upon the stage.
In politics, those who perform a part must be paid; and I believe I have said in another place, that France never seriously thought of placing the Pretender on the throne of England.
M. de Machault, keeper of the seals and comptroller general, who laboured to re-establish the finances, succeeded therein but slowly. The King, who had an estimate of the national debts laid before him every month, found them always in the same situation. The financiers engrossed all the money of the state, which made M. de Machault say to the King, Sire, I see but one method of bringing the money back into the treasury, which is to tax hôtel des fermes, or office of the farms.
This proposal of the minister agreed perfectly well with an anonymous memorial, which was dedicated to me at Versailles, and which I had read to the King: it was conceived in these terms.
“The actual riches of the state consist of about eleven hundred millions of specie. This sum, in order to animate the whole body politic, should every where circulate geometrically. But this proportion is far from being settled in France, where it may be demonstratively proved, that two hundred individuals possess half the coin of the kingdom. These individuals are the financiers: their cash is that of the state: it contains the fortunes of all the citizens. Riches are daily buried in their coffers, as in a gulf. The crown, by yielding to a company the duties upon the entry of goods, never intended to subscribe to the ruin of the state. It granted the power of collecting those imposts to clerks, who by their activity and industry ought to enrich the state, and not impoverish it. This was the institution of farms; and inasmuch as they have swerved from this plan, they are become a monopoly of the company. The King has a right to reform abuses; and every contract that includes a grievance is of itself void.