We certify that M. d’Eon de Beaumont, captain of the regiment of dragoons of d’Autichamp, has made the last campaign with us as our aide-de-camp; that during the whole of the said campaign we very frequently employed him in carrying the orders of the general, and that he has, upon several occasions, given proofs of the greatest intelligence and of the greatest valour; notably at Höxter, in executing, in presence of, and under fire of, the enemy the perilous operation of removing the powder and other stores of the King; at the reconnaissance and at the battle of Ultrop, where he was wounded in the head and in the thigh; and near Osterwieck, where, as second captain of a detachment of eighty dragoons under the orders of M. de Saint-Victor, commanding the volunteers of the army, they charged the Frankish Prussian battalion of Rhes with such effect and determination that they took them prisoners of war, notwithstanding the superior number of the enemy. In testimony whereof, we have delivered to him this certificate, signed with our hand, and have affixed thereunto our seals. Cassel, December 24, 1761. THE MARSHAL DUC DE BROGLIE. THE COMTE DE BROGLIE. The original of this certificate has been lost, but d’Eon published the text himself in London in 1764, at the time of his quarrels with the Comte de Guerchy, when the Marshal and the Comte de Broglie were still alive, so that the accuracy of the testimony cannot well be questioned. It was at this time that d’Eon met a man in de Broglie’s army who exercised later a decisive influence over his destiny, ruining his regular career, and launching him in a series of adventures, one more bizarre than another, which involved the ruin of his brilliant qualities, and the loss, through an extravagant metamorphosis, of his manly dignity. The Comte de Guerchy, future ambassador of France in England, was then lieutenant-general in Marshal de Broglie’s army. On August 19, 1761, the day that the French army crossed the Weser below Höxter, Captain d’Eon was commissioned by his chief to deliver to him the following order:— The Marshal requests the Comte de Guerchy to order the brigades of infantry on the right bank of the Weser to take at once 400,000 cartridges which are there, and which a storekeeper of artillery will distribute to them, to the place to which M. d’Eon, the bearer of this note, will conduct them. Given at Höxter, August 19, 1761. THE COMTE DE BROGLIE. _P.S._—It is desirable that a staff officer should at once accompany M. d’Eon to effect this distribution to the troops under your orders.