But this is not the complete _dénoûment_ of the drama. At the very time when Ferriol’s victim was dying, he himself was returning from Constantinople insane, having been, two years since, replaced in his post, which, with an extravagant pretension,[331] he had, however, up to that time refused to quit. It was, in some measure, necessary to use force to compel him to embark.[332] For a long time he had recognized the enormous fault he had committed, and on January 6, 1709, had written to Torcy, “I know only of one thing for which people can reproach me--it is the abduction of Avedick.”[333] But this was not the cause of his recall, which was evidently entirely due to the too certain signs of his insanity.[334] It cannot be denied that Louis XIV.[335] approved the violation of the law of nations, of which Avedick was the victim; and if the Catholic missionaries are responsible for having suggested this crime, as Ferriol is for the orders transmitted to Chio, the government of Louis XIV. is not the less so for having prolonged and aggravated its consequences by the treatment to which the prisoner was subjected. FOOTNOTES: [291] Order of Louis XIV., dated from Versailles, November 10, 1706:--_Correspondance Administrative du Règne de Louis XIV._, vol. iv. p. 255. [292] _Gallia Christiana_, vol. xi. p. 310: “In confinio Britonum ac Normannorum, medio in mari.” [293] Such as the Sée, Célune, and Coësnon. [294] XVII. calend. Novembris, 709:--_Gallia Christiana_, vol. xi. p. 511. [295] Letter from Louis XIV. to the Prior of Mount Saint-Michel, November 10, 1706:--_Correspondance Administrative du Règne de Louis XIV._, vol. iv. pp. 204 and 205. [296] “He has been depicted to the King as a very great scoundrel and as a persecutor of Catholics.” See letters from the Count de Pontchartrain to the Prior of Mount Saint-Michel of July 13, 1707, and August 22, 1708:--_Correspondance Administrative du Règne de Louis XIV._, vol. iv. pp. 264 and 265. [297] We have already seen (Chapter XII. p. 157 _ante_) that they were intercepted and sent to Ferriol. [298] Letter from Pontchartrain to the Prior of Mount Saint-Michel, July 13, 1707. [299] _Ibid._ [300] “One can change at any moment,” writes Pontchartrain, who was already hoping for a conversion. [301] Letter from the Count de Pontchartrain to the Prior of Mount Saint-Michel, August 22, 1708. [302] Unpublished despatch from Ferriol to Pontchartrain, June 1, 1706:--Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, section Turkey, 45. [303] Unpublished despatch from Ferriol to Pontchartrain, July 3, 1706:--Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, section Turkey, 45. [304] Unpublished despatch from Ferriol to Pontchartrain, July 6, 1706. [305] La Motraye, work already quoted, p. 381. [306] Unpublished despatch from Ferriol to Louis XIV., July 10, 1706:--Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, section Turkey, 43. [307] Unpublished despatch from Ferriol to Pontchartrain, July 10, 1706.