‘I maintain in 1779 what I asserted in 1763 at Versailles; yes, I say and maintain, notwithstanding my regard for the Prince de Soubise, notwithstanding my contempt for the Marquise,[94] notwithstanding my indifference as to the good or evil the Choiseuls may do to me, that had Soubise’s army actually attacked the enemy on the morning of July 16, 1761, in compliance with the Marshal de Broglio’s urgent request on the nights of July 15 and 16 (of which the Chevalier Nort, aide-de-camp to the Marshal, was the bearer), after the important advantage obtained by the Marshal at Villinghausen the evening of the 15th, it was clear to the whole of de Broglio’s army, with the exception of the cowardly fawners to the party at that time in power at Court; I say it was clear that the English and Hanoverian army would have been beaten and irremediably routed. I am far from being wanting in gratitude to my protectors and from entertaining the slightest feeling of hatred towards the Prince de Soubise. I respect his heart-bred virtues as I do his distinguished birth. Had he been as great a general as he is brave and attached to his King and country, and generous towards his friends and enemies, he would be worthy of being at the head of all the armies of Europe. Too much kind-heartedness, too much faith in the ignorant and in those intriguers who were obsequious to him, restrained him a hundred times, as on the morning of July 16, from executing what he had wished and what he had already ordered; that is to say, to advance on the enemy, to attack and defeat him in concert with the Marshal de Broglio.’[95] A few days after his interview with de Praslin, D’Eon was asked confidentially by the Duchess de Nivernois if he was not in correspondence with M. de Broglio. ‘No, madam,’ said D’Eon, ‘and I am sorry for it, as I am very fond of the Marshal de Broglio, but I do not wish to trouble him with my letters; I am satisfied with writing to him on each New Year’s Day.’ ‘I am very glad to hear this for your sake, my dear little friend,’ continued the duchess. ‘Let me tell you in confidence that intimacy with the House of de Broglio might be of injury to you at Court, and in the mind of de Guerchy, your future ambassador.’ [Sidenote: THE PRINCE DE SOUBISE.] D’Eon had not strayed from the truth, for it was the Count de Broglio, whose name had not been mentioned in the two conversations just related, who was his frequent correspondent, and not the marshal, with whom he communicated but seldom, supplying him with the news of the day, but chiefly with Court gossip. Speaking of de Soubise in a letter to the marshal, D’Eon says:—