‘Your silence and my position are such, that I send M. Nardin[169] to Paris, to his friend la Rosière; he will relate to him, in person, all that has taken place since his departure, and the latter will deliver to you this letter, to request urgently that you will give me a categorical reply as to what I am or am not to expect, so that I may be guided accordingly. It is very sad, that after having sacrificed myself so willingly for the benefit and honour of the King’s service, I should have recourse to such explanations, or rather to such extremities. You must feel all the force of what I wish to say. I will never be the first to desert the King or my country, but if, unhappily, the King and my country should think proper to sacrifice me by deserting me, I shall be obliged, in spite of myself, to abandon the latter, and in doing so, I will justify myself before the whole of Europe, and nothing will be easier to me, as you are well aware. I admit that such a sacrifice will be hard for me, but it will also cost France dearly, and the very idea of this makes me shed tears. Yet, such are the extremes and the fatal resolutions which might be engendered by the ingratitude and intrigue that sustains an ambassador, so unworthy of the title as is the Count de Guerchy. ‘I will not conceal from you, sir, that the enemies of France, believing they may be able to take advantage of the cruel position in which I find myself, have invited me to enter their service. Whatever the benefits they offer, I cannot be influenced, and I shall be guided under these circumstances by my honour only; I have answered as became me, and have said that I could not enter into any engagement, as I still considered myself in the service of the King; and my King abandons me! And yet, from the very first, I have only acted in conformity with his great secret project, and his written orders which I will defend with my life. ‘You ought to know that scarcely had the Count de Guerchy superseded me here, than the subject was broached to him of the second demolition of the lunette and other works at Dunkirk, and that this second demolition, which I had successfully averted and set aside during the period of five months, was accomplished to the shame and prejudice of France.[170] I am truly ashamed for my country.