The strange career of the Chevalier d'Eon de Beaumont : minister plenipotentiary from France to Great Britain in 1763 / by Captain J. Buchan Telfer.

  • Telfer, J. Buchan (John Buchan), -1907.
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The strange career of the Chevalier d'Eon de Beaumont : minister plenipotentiary from France to Great Britain in 1763 / by Captain J. Buchan Telfer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    alone, such convention as might be considered necessary for strengthening their union, thereby giving fresh assurances that his Majesty would only act in concert with his allies, communicating with them on all points with that entire confidence which should exist between Powers bound by friendly ties, and whose interests were in common. Unable to cope with Great Britain on the seas, the Duke de Choiseul formed a plan of invasion, in which he sought the co-operation of Russia and Sweden, whose spheres of action would be the Scottish coast. 4 Should fifty thousand men perish in the first expedition,’ he wrote to Count BernstorfF, 4 the King has signed the determination to send other fifty thousand, and we shall not be discouraged so long as we have men in France.’1 The hesitations of those Powers, the destruction of the French fleets in the East Indies, off Cape Lagos, and in Quiberon Bay, and of the flotilla prepared for the invasion of England, upset the whole of the duke’s schemes, and gave him good cause to change his tactics. He would now hail peace if he could. He turned to de l’Hopital (July 8, 1759), and desired him to seize an early opportunity for feeling his way with the Grand Chancellor, and suggesting to that minister, as a private opinion of his own, the desirability of Russia’s mediation between Austria and Prussia, whereby she would secure to herself the gratitude of Europe. De Choiseul be- lieved that if the Germanic Powers could but arrange their differences, Russia might become useful in bringing about an understanding between France and England. 1 Duke de Choiseul to Count Bernstorff, July 29, 1759. ‘ Si j ’etais maitre,’ de Choiseul used to say, ‘ nous serions vis-a-vis de l’Angleterre comme l'Espagne vis-a-vis des Maures; si Ton prenait ce parti, l’Angleterre serait detruite d’ici a trente ans.’ Louis XV. thought differently.