‘Allow me to tell you, my dear Marquis, that you amuse yourself somewhat too much at playing the ambassador, and that you do not sufficiently attend to its responsibilities. My despatch, No. 48, will have given you some idea of the King’s system, which, however, you have not as yet turned to profit. Apparently, you have not been able to do so, but you should have informed me whether you understand, and how you understand his Majesty’s instructions upon a project as delicate as it is advantageous. Reflect seriously upon it; I speak to you as a friend, I unfold to you our system, and if you are not so thoroughly satisfied with it as we are, you are too good a servant to the King not to say so; and in such a case, since you do not wish to change your ideas, t’were far better that you should, under pretext of illness, give up your Embassy rather than be employed in a task, of the advantages of which you are not persuaded. This avowal on your part would, I assure you, please the King as much as your success, for which we hope, in the negotiations. The Marchioness de l’Hôpital has spoken to me of your desire to be created a duke; I wish with all my heart I could serve you. Enable yourself to solicit this favour by the obligations under which the King will be to you. I tell you simply this: there are but two ways; either to carry out the views contained in the despatch No. 48, and in this private letter, or come away. I prefer the first to the last, but the last will also succeed if you promptly give up the first, for I shall certainly represent that you cannot return without receiving some special reward.’[48] We will let D’Eon lift the veil of Louis XV.’s diplomacy in his own words:— ‘In 1759, the Duke de Choiseul had prevailed upon the Empress of Russia, by means of negotiations through the Marquis de l’Hôpital, to offer her mediation towards securing peace, when I at the same time received the King’s orders to use my best efforts with the Empress, and the Grand Chancellor Woronzoff, to prevail upon her Majesty to withdraw her mediation, and to exhort her to continue the war, without allowing the Duke de Choiseul or the Marquis de l’Hôpital to know what I was about—all of which I executed to the great satisfaction of the King, as I can prove by evidence bearing his signature; and for these incontestable facts I appeal to the reliable testimony of the Count de Broglio.’[49] ‘... It was I, who, by secret orders from my master, unknown to the great Choiseul, caused the late war to last three years longer.’[50] Turning again to Vandal, we find the King’s approval of D’Eon’s counsel to de l’Hôpital, and verification of the former’s statement in the paragraph above quoted.