[335] We think it unnecessary to demonstrate this after the circumstantial account we have given. It suffices to add:--1st. That Louis XIV. paid the expenses occasioned by the abduction, which for one consul alone amounted to 105 ounces of gold (unpublished despatches from Ferriol to Pontchartrain, June 25, 1706, and Nov. 8, 1707, Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, section Turkey, 45). 2nd. That the first despatch addressed by the King to Ferriol, on October 17, 1706, after the news of the abduction had arrived at Versailles, far from conveying a reprimand, contains the following:--“Versailles, October 17, 1706.--I approve your attention in procuring for the Christian slaves in the Crimea the spiritual succours of which up to the present time they have been deprived, and as you know my sentiments concerning the protection which I wish on all occasions to accord to the Catholic religion throughout the Ottoman empire, you can render me no more agreeable service than to continue to make the effects of it manifest, either publicly or _by secret ways_, to all those who profess it and who find themselves oppressed by the officers of the Grand Seignior, _whether they are his subjects, or of whatever nation they may be_, and the more violent you remark the persecution against them on the part of the Vizier to be, the more attentive you ought to show yourself to procure them, with suitable caution, the assistance which they have a right to expect from you.”--(_Ibid._ Turkey, 43.) 3rd. That in the instructions sent to Count Desalleurs, Ferriol’s successor at Constantinople, Ferriol’s conduct is approved.--(_Ibid._ Turkey, 47). 4th. That Ferriol’s recall took place three years after the abduction, and was due solely to the proofs of insanity he had exhibited, and of which Louis XIV. had been informed by the chief officers of the embassy. CHAPTER XV. Description of Pignerol--Its Past, its Situation--Portrait of Saint-Mars--His Scruples and his Integrity--Fouquet’s Arrival at Pignerol--Brief Account of the Surintendant’s Career--His Error with regard to Louis XIV., whom he betrays--Causes of Fouquet’s Fall--His Arrest--His Trial--His Condemnation--No kind of Obscurity in this Affair.