This service, for which they were liberally rewarded, laid the foundation of their fortune. The contractors and commissaries employed them, and promoted them rapidly; and, at no distant time, the brothers became themselves contractors, and extensive commercial speculators. Riches rapidly flowed in upon them, and they were called to take a share in managing the finances of the state. They experienced, however, a temporary eclipse during the ascendancy of Law, to whom they were hostile, and who avenged himself by procuring their exile into Dauphiné. The flight of Law put an end to their banishment; they returned to Paris, were in higher credit than ever, and contributed much to mitigate the evils which had been caused by the Mississippi scheme. They continued to have great weight in the government, till they lost it in consequence of a political intrigue, in which Joseph Paris imprudently engaged, with the Marchioness de Prie, the Duke of Bourbon’s mistress. Their intent was to exclude Cardinal de Fleury from public affairs, and to give the duke an unbounded ascendancy over the youthful monarch. Fleury discovered the plot; the duke was deprived of power; and the brothers were once more exiled. Joseph was soon after arrested, at his asylum near Langres, and was sent to the Bastile, where he remained for nearly two years. In 1730, however, he recovered his influence, and he kept it till his death, in 1770. France is indebted to Joseph Duverney for the project of the Royal Military School, which was carried into execution in 1751. Two grandsons of the unfortunate Fouquet, the Count de Belleisle, and the Chevalier de Belleisle, were involved in the fall of Le Blanc, and were for some time inmates of the Bastile. The count was born in 1684; the chevalier in 1693. The count had acquired a high military character, in the war of the succession, and in the Spanish campaign of 1719, when, with his brother, he was immured in a prison. After his release, he served with distinction in various quarters, and rose to the rank of marshal. Cardinal de Fleury placed entire confidence in his civil as well as his military talents. It was not, however, till the breaking out of the war of 1741 that his genius shone forth in its full lustre. The secret negotiations for raising the Elector of Bavaria to the dignity of emperor were carried on by him, and on this occasion he gave convincing proof of his diplomatic skill. Placed at the head of the French army, which was to maintain Charles VII. on the throne, Belleisle carried Prague by assault. But while, as ambassador extraordinary of Louis XV., he was securing the election of Charles at Frankfort, the Austrians threatened to deprive him of his recent conquests. He, therefore, hastened back to his army, obtained some advantages, and would probably have triumphed, had not the sudden defection of Prussia and Saxony left him to bear the whole weight of Maria Theresa’s forces.