In page 47 of the _Souvenirs du Baron de Gleichen_ recently published by M. Grimblot, we read that the Duke de Choiseul had vainly made researches among the Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in order to discover the secret of the Iron Mask. There is nothing very surprising in this. These Archives contain all the documents that we have reproduced or quoted, treating of Matthioly’s abduction. They also contain, spread among a number of series and volumes, the despatches which prove the evident interest that the Duke of Mantua had in the definitive disappearance of his ex-confidant. But if these documents, of which the greater portion were unpublished, have furnished me with arguments for the support of the Matthioly theory, it is not in these Archives but in those of the Ministry of War that I have discovered the despatches which have enabled me to establish the complete agreement between the individual carried off May 2, 1679, and the prisoner who arrived at the Bastille with Saint-Mars, September 18, 1698, and died there November 19, 1703. Researches made solely in the Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, would have led to nothing. It was necessary to make them in all the collections, and afterwards to compare the various results, the combination of which alone enables us to obtain a solution of the problem. [638] In a work entitled _Histoire abrégée de l’Europe_, which, after speaking of Matthioly’s proceedings with reference to the treaty for the surrender of Casale and describing his capture and imprisonment, goes on to say: “At Pignerol he was thought to be too near Italy, and, though he was guarded very carefully, it was feared that the walls might tell tales; he was therefore removed thence to the Isles Sainte-Marguerite, where he is at present, under the care of M. de Saint-Mars, the governor.”--_Trans._ [639] This objection has often been made. [640] This is one of the points on which Father Griffet relies most of all in order to prove the excessive importance of this prisoner. The quotation which we have given from Dujonca’s notes, establishes the fact that he was obliged to act thus for all the prisoners. But besides these notes, as yet unpublished, the _Journal de Dujonca_ furnishes several proofs of what we advance. [641] We have given these notes in Chapter XIII. pp. 167-169, _ante_. [642] Taulès was the first to put forward this objection. [643] The reader will remember that this was Matthioly’s supposititious name. [644] Despatch from Catinat to Louvois, May 6, 1679. Given by Delort, p. 214. [645] The following is a literal translation of the entry in the Register in question, a facsimile of which forms the frontispiece to the present volume:--