THE CHEVALIER D’EON DE BEAUMONT LONDON: PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE AND PARLIAMENT STREET [Illustration: FRONTISPIECE. LA CHEVALIÈRE D’EON. 1782. From a Painting in the possession of CHARLES LISTON, Esq. (LATE THE PROPERTY OF CHARLES READE.) _See Appendix._] THE STRANGE CAREER OF THE CHEVALIER D’EON DE BEAUMONT MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY FROM FRANCE TO GREAT BRITAIN IN 1763 BY CAPTAIN J. BUCHAN TELFER, R.N. F.S.A., F.R.G.S. AUTHOR OF ‘THE CRIMEA AND TRANSCAUCASIA’ ‘THE BONDAGE AND TRAVELS OF JOHANN SCHILTBERGER’ ETC. ‘L’homme d’esprit a dans sa plume un juge toujours prêt à le venger des affronts qu’on lui fait’—D’EON With Portraits and Facsimile LONDON LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 1885 _All rights reserved_ A LA VILLE DE TONNERRE PREFACE. The Secret Correspondence established by Louis XV. in 1750-1752, originally for the purpose of gratifying the Prince de Conti’s ambition for sovereignty, in the interests of Poland, and of securing the alliance and co-operation of several of the smaller Powers, against the aggression of Austria and Russia, proved, in course of years, of inestimable benefit to the King, personally. Insuperable timidity, and the consciousness of a lack of self-confidence, were weaknesses that ill-befitted an absolute monarch, for Louis XV. could never summon courage to confront his ministers. The Chevalier D’Eon de Beaumont very tersely portrays the besetting sin of his sovereign, where he describes it as a deficiency in the needed strength of character to control, as became a king, his ministers and ambassadors, all of whom he mistrusted and avoided, making reparation in secret for the follies they committed publicly. ‘Après nous le déluge’ are the well-known words of comfort offered by the Marquise de Pompadour, into whose hands the direction of affairs was lapsing, when seeing the King sorely oppressed with grief upon learning the news of the disaster at Rosbach; and perhaps it is true that the secret correspondence, of the existence of which the favourite was entirely ignorant, was useful in averting the coming storm during the term of his reign. Selfish and self-indulgent almost beyond conception, Louis XV. had no spirit to grapple with difficulties where they presented themselves, except in regard to the relations of France with Foreign Powers, when he could perfectly well rouse himself to action; not openly, lest the views of his ministers should be in opposition to his desires, but covertly and frequently to their confusion.