‘After having been so long concealed under the shadow of the wings and of the secret protection of Louis XV., in losing him I lost all. Soon after his death I became like a victim who has been publicly sacrificed. An unjust idea has ever been entertained of the character and talents of Louis XV. If the truth were but known, it would be allowed that this prince was endowed with great penetration, great judgment, and a profound knowledge of men and things. The only quality in which he was deficient, was the needed strength of character to control his ministers and ambassadors as became a King. Had Heaven endowed me with one-half the goodness of the King, my master, and my master with one-half of my firmness, not one-half of all that occurred would ever have come to pass. I need not be miserable for the rest of my days, nor fancy that my honour is tarnished, because Louis XV. would never disclose to his ministers the nature of my extraordinary position, or openly uphold the secret orders and instructions he caused to be secretly conveyed to me.’[270] [Sidenote: THE COUNT DE BROGLIO AND LOUIS XVI.] Scarcely had Louis XVI. ascended the throne, than the Count de Broglio addressed a memorandum to the new King, in which was recapitulated the history of the late sovereign’s secret correspondence from the beginning, and describing the mode in which it had been conducted. The count exposed the anomaly of his position, then and during the two-and-twenty years that he had been secretly employed by Louis XV.; suggested the probable causes of his exile, maintained he had never fallen away from the royal favour, and asked his Majesty’s instructions, for his guidance, under the peculiar circumstances in which he found himself. The King’s reply—laconic, formal, and unsigned—simply acknowledged the receipt of the despatch, enjoined the count to continue to observe the strictest secrecy, and informed him that inquiries should be made in the proper quarter for the reasons that induced the late King to order him into exile.[271] De Broglio followed up his memorandum with several letters, soliciting permission in one of them to communicate certain matters with which he considered it necessary his Majesty should become acquainted:—