It is time, after the cruel loss we have experienced of our _Counsellor-in-Chief_ at Versailles, who, in the midst of his own court, had less power than a king’s advocate at the Châtelet, who, through incredible weakness ever suffered his faithless servants to triumph over his faithful secret ones, and favoured his avowed enemies rather than his real friends; it is time, I say, that you should inform the new King (who loves truth, and of whom it is said that he is as firm as his illustrious grandfather was weak) of your having been the secret minister of Louis XV. for upwards of twenty years, and of my having been under-minister, under his orders and yours. D’Eon, whose estimation of his services, and the functions which had been entrusted to him, was far from modest, then recapitulated his claims and grievances, compared himself with La Chalotais and expressed his hopes of a similar reinstatement, concluding as follows:— As for you, Monsieur le Comte, you will know better than I how to represent by what jealousy, treachery, baseness, and foul vengeance the Duc d’Aiguillon keeps you still an exile at Ruffec, without your having ceased to be the friend and secret minister of the late King, until his death. Posterity could never believe in these facts, had not you and I all the necessary documents to establish them, together with others still more incredible. Had the late good King not expelled the Jesuits from his kingdom, and had he had a Malagrida for his confessor, nobody would then have wondered; but, by the grace of God, I hope the new King will soon deliver you and me out of our embarrassments. I trust that no Jesuit will ever be his confessor, friend, or minister, whether he be disguised as priest, chancellor, duke, peer, courtier, or courtesan. Louis XV.’s secret minister had not waited for that letter before attempting to regain favour with the new monarch. He was obliged to present his defence in writing, being still in exile at Ruffec, and feeling the burden of the suspicions aroused by Louis XV.’s obstinacy in keeping so compromising a collaborator at a distance. He had to contend with all those who had formerly envied him; and Marie Antoinette’s influence on her husband, and her intention of participating in the administration of public affairs, did not improve the case of the man who had secretly attacked the Austrian alliance.