‘LOUIS, by the grace of God, King of France and of Navarre, to our well-beloved and trusty Councillors, the bodies holding our Courts of Parliament, the Grand Council, the Court of Aids, ordinary Requests of our House and of our Palaces, Bailiffs, Seneschals, Prevosts, Judges, their Lieutenants, and all other our Officers and Justiciaries whom it may concern, Greeting. Our dear and well-beloved Charles, Geneviève, Louis, Auguste, André, Timothée D’Eon de Beaumont, captain in the regiment of the d’Autichamp dragoons, Censor Royal, and Secretary of our Embassy in England, being at present in London in the performance of the functions of his office, and unable, in consequence, to attend to his own private affairs: We desire and command by these presents, signed with our hand, that all and each of the actions at civil law instituted, or about to be instituted before you, in which he shall appear, whether as plaintiff or as defendant, shall be holden by you, as they are holden by Us, in their present state and in suspension for the space of six months, during which time We very expressly forbid you to have any knowledge thereon, or that you take any proceedings thereon, under pain of nullity, annulment of procedure and of all expenses, damages, indemnities, and interests. We also desire and require that all processes moved, or about to be moved, in our Council concerning his civil interests, be and remain in suspension for the said term, during which we also forbid his accusers, under the said penalties, to take any proceedings; nevertheless, it is not our intention to derogate in the least degree, by these presents, from the declaration of the twenty-third December, one thousand seven hundred and two, containing general instructions as to Letters of State, and which we require to be observed and executed according to their form and tenour. We command our principal usher or sergeant, upon being required, to issue in execution of these presents all summonses, notification, and other requisite and necessary acts without asking further leave or permission. For such is our pleasure. Given at Versailles, the twenty-second February, in the year of grace one thousand seven hundred and sixty-three, and the forty-eighth of our reign. ‘LOUIS.’ ‘In the King’s name. ‘CHOISEUL, DUKE DE PRASLIN.’ [Sidenote: A ‘CHURLISH’ LETTER.] Pursued and worried by his creditors at home and abroad, and in despair at the extremities to which he was being reduced, the Chevalier lost all control over himself in his communications with the Foreign Minister, who, he considered, had failed to keep his word.