Part 1

D’EON DE BEAUMONT

[Illustration: THE CHEVALIER D’EON 1770

_From the Portrait by Huquier_]

D’EON DE BEAUMONT HIS LIFE AND TIMES

COMPILED CHIEFLY FROM UNPUBLISHED PAPERS AND LETTERS BY OCTAVE HOMBERG AND FERNAND JOUSSELIN AND NOW TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY ALFRED RIEU

LONDON: MARTIN SECKER NUMBER FIVE JOHN STREET ADELPHI MCMXI

CONTENTS

PAGE

I

FROM TONNERRE TO ST. PETERSBURG

Childhood—His first Successes and Friends—Enters Diplomatic Service—Employed also by Louis XV. in his “Secret” Diplomacy—Mission to Russia—Attached to Chevalier Douglas in negotiating the Alliance of France and Russia—Triumphant Return to Paris 17-43

II

DIPLOMATIC AND MILITARY

Returns to Russia to join Marquis de L’Hospital—Embassy of Baron de Breteuil—Carries the Ratification of the Treaty with Russia to France, 1758—Gives up Diplomacy for the Army and is appointed Aide-de-Camp to Marshal de Broglie—His brilliant Services during the Seven Years’ War—Enters the Diplomatic Service again and accompanies the Duc de Nivernais to London 44-60

III

IN LONDON

Difficult Negotiations in London to bring about the Peace of 1763—The English Government entrusts d’Eon to carry the Ratification of the Treaty to Paris—He receives the Cross of St. Louis—The Comte de Guerchy appointed to succeed the Duc de Nivernais as Ambassador in London—D’Eon acts as Minister Plenipotentiary in the Interim—Arrogates to himself the Style and Position of Ambassador and quarrels with the Duc de Praslin and de Guerchy 61-80

IV

CONTENTION WITH DE GUERCHY

Comte de Guerchy arrives in London—D’Eon is disgraced and takes Steps to revenge himself—Accuses de Guerchy of attempting to murder him—The de Vergy Case—Mission of Carrelet de la Rozière—The Duc de Choiseul urges d’Eon to return to France and to restore the Secret Service Papers to the King—His Extradition refused by the English Government—D’Eon’s Letter to his Mother 81-99

V

LAWSUITS AND A PENSION

Embittered and libellous Contention with de Guerchy—Publishes _Lettres, Mémoires et Negociations_ in London—Louis XV. sends Emissaries to him—D’Hugonnet arrested in Calais, and the Secret Correspondence endangered—Opens Proceedings against de Guerchy, who is pronounced guilty by an English Jury—The King grants a Pension to d’Eon, who decides to remain in England 100-123

VI

BIRTH OF AN IDEA

While in England continues in Secret Service of the King—Correspondence with Comte de Broglie—Offers his Services to the King of Poland, but Louis XV. opposes the Scheme—D’Eon’s Popularity in London—The Bets regarding his Sex—Leaves London and travels in England under assumed Name—Entertains the Idea of passing as a Woman 124-144

VII

THE MORANDE CASE

Secret Service on behalf of Louis XV. and of Madame du Barry—The Morande Case—Negotiation with Beaumarchais—Publishes _Les Loisirs du Chevalier d’Eon_—Louis XV. loses Interest in the Secret Diplomacy, of which his Ministers had grown suspicious—Favier and Dumouriez imprisoned and Comte de Broglie exiled—Death of the King—Louis XVI. discontinues the Secret Service—On the Comte de Broglie’s Recommendation d’Eon receives a Pension—Fresh Pretensions of the Chevalier 145-166

VIII

METAMORPHOSIS

Louis XVI. refuses the Chevalier’s Claims—Creditors become pressing, and d’Eon deposits his valuable Documents with Earl Ferrers—His Lack of Means forces him to adopt the Plan of passing as a Woman—His Avowal to Beaumarchais—Consents to sign a Declaration in due Form—Comte de Vergennes sends a Safe Conduct to the Chevalière d’Eon for her Return to France 167-186

IX

RETURN OF A HEROINE

The Chevalière arrives in France—Reception accorded at Tonnerre—Stays at Versailles and presented at Court—Impressions of her Family, Friends and Contemporaries—Popularity of the new “Heroine” in France and her Success both at Court and in Parisian Society—Her voluminous Correspondence—Fresh Disturbance with Beaumarchais—Feminine Garments, contrary to Arrangement, being discarded d’Eon is arrested and sent to Dijon Castle 187-234

X

TONNERRE ONCE MORE

Imprisonment at Dijon—Set at Liberty and exiled to Tonnerre—New Plans and fresh Movements—Attempts to equip _La Chevalière d’Eon_—In Paris during winter of 1780-1781—Returns to Tonnerre and lives quietly among Neighbours—In 1785 is called to London on Private Business 235-255

XI

LONDON AND THE END

Returns to London and settles with his Creditors—His former Popularity revived—Endeavours to sell his Library and Collections—First News of the Revolution—La Citoyenne Geneviève d’Eon an ardent Jacobin—Petitions the National Assembly—In order to obtain a Living gives Public Fencing Competitions—Wounded at Southampton, 1796—Illness and Old Age—Dies in London, May, 1810 256-275

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

THE CHEVALIER D’EON, 1770 _Frontispiece_ (_From a Portrait by Huquier_)

LA CHEVALIÈRE D’EON _Facing page_ 48 (_From the Painting by Angelica Kaufmann after Latour_)

MADEMOISELLE DE BEAUMONT ” 96 (_From a Caricature in the ~London Magazine~, September 1777_)

LA CHEVALIÈRE D’EON, 1782 ” 128 (_From a Contemporary Oil-painting_)

THE CHEVALIER D’EON ” 160 (_From an Engraving published in 1810_)

MDLLE. D’EON “RIPOSTING” ” 176 (_From a Contemporary Caricature_)

THE CHEVALIER D’EON ” 256 (_From a Cast taken after Death_)

AUTHORITIES CITED

_Papiers Inédits de d’Eon._

_Lettres, Mémoires et Negociations particulières du Chevalier d’Eon._ Londres, 1764.

Boutaric. _Correspondance secrète inedite de Louis XV._ Paris 1866.

Duc de Broglie. _Le Secret du Roi._ Paris, 1888.

_Mémoires du Duc de Luynes._

_Mémoires du Marquis d’Argenson._

_Archives des Affaires Etrangères._

Gaillardet. _Mémoires sur la Chevalière d’Eon._

La Messelière. _Voyage à Saint-Petersbourg._ Paris, 1803.

Vandal, A. _Louis XV. et Elizabeth de Russie._ Paris, 1896.

De La Fortelle. _Vie Militaire, politique et privée de Mlle. Charles-Geneviève-Louise-Auguste-Andrée-Timothée d’Eon de Beaumont._ Paris, 1779.

Perey, Lucien. _Un Petit-Neveu de Mazarin._ Paris, 1893.

Campan, Madame. _Mémoires sur la vie privée de Marie-Antoinette._

MSS. of the Christie Collection, cited by Telfer.

Walpole, Horace. _Letters._

Bachaumont. _Journal d’un Observateur._

Telfer, B. _The Strange Career of the Chevalier d’Eon de Beaumont._

_Mémoires de Jacques Casanova._ Bruxelles, 1871.

De Loménie. _Beaumarchais et son Temps._

Grimm. _Correspondance Littéraire._ Paris, 1812.

Georgel, Abbé. _Mémoires._

Fromageot. _La Chevalière d’Eon à Versailles (Le Carnet historique et littéraire, 1900)._

PREFACE

After the death of the Chevalier d’Eon in London in extreme poverty in the year 1810, a mass of his unpublished papers and letters, which he had carefully preserved all his life, fell into the hands of one of his creditors, and lay neglected for nearly a hundred years in an English bookseller’s shop. There it was that the authors of this book were fortunate enough to discover them by chance at a sale.

These private documents, in addition to the state papers in the archives of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the municipal records of his native town of Tonnerre, enable his biographers to follow the career of the Chevalier with particularity, and to set at rest what was for so long a vexed question, the mystery of his sex. It was a deliberate step, the assumption of femininity, by which to regain a waning popularity. After a brilliant military and diplomatic career, as well as repeated employment in the secret service of Louis XV., his ill-judged conduct in London covered him with disgrace at Versailles. Some fresh action was demanded to reinstate himself in public notice, and as rumour persistently named him a woman he felt the time had come to play the part. As the result of long negotiation he was permitted to return to France. There he became the heroine of the hour, and the ingenuity of his personification induced belief in the Chevalière not only in Louis XVI. and his ministers, but also—a more difficult matter—in the friends of his youth.

These unpublished papers are of further value, for they include correspondence with many notable people of d’Eon’s day, and serve to reflect not only his own personality but those prominent in a society which differed in its striking contrasts from that of any other historical period.

D’EON DE BEAUMONT

HIS LIFE AND TIMES

I

FROM TONNERRE TO ST. PETERSBURG

“If you want to know what I am, Monsieur le Duc, I tell you frankly that I am of use only for thinking, imagining, questioning, reflecting, comparing, reading, writing, or to run from east to west, from north to south, to fight over hill and dale. Had I lived in the time of Alexander or of Don Quixote, I should certainly have been Parmenion or Sancho Panza. Taken out of my element I will squander the entire revenue of France in the course of a twelvemonth without committing a single folly, and afterwards present you with an able treatise on economy.”

Such was the portrait the Chevalier d’Eon sketched of himself for the Duc de Praslin, at the height of the crisis which shaped his destiny; and it is exact enough. To show all he could do, to fulfil his destiny to the end, he should have lived in a country and at a period more favourable to adventures than was France in the eighteenth century; strongly organised and firmly established as it was by Louis XIV. Owing to his lack of respect for this powerful hierarchy and to his efforts to upset its stability for his own ends, d’Eon, who had begun life as a gentleman, ended his days equivocally as an adventurer. In his haste to improve a fortune which was too lagging and parsimonious for his taste, he exceeded the bounds of legitimate ambition. He set aside all restraint in his behaviour, forced and wasted his talent, ruined at one stroke the brilliant prospects to which his courage and intelligence entitled him, and, passing from one adventure to another, concluded by playing for over forty years, with skill and tenacity worthy of a better part, the strangest masquerade on record. He says himself with reference to the people of Tonnerre, his fellow-townsmen: “They are like the flints that are found in their vineyards; the harder they are struck the more fire they give out.” This picturesque image admirably illustrates his own history and the epic struggle which he maintained with increasing stubbornness against all who thwarted his ambition.

Nevertheless, his character is an interesting one, and well repays study. Throughout the calculated extravagance of his adventures, d’Eon’s indomitable energy persists, and the scandal caused by his conduct a century and a half ago should not blind us to his genuine services. There is a sustained interest in following d’Eon into many countries from Russia to England, and into many surroundings from the court of the Empress Elizabeth or the camp of Marshal de Broglie to the palace of Versailles and the shops of London, wherever, in fact, the Chevalier’s adventures led him for a period of more than sixty years; at one time as a diplomatist, again as a dragoon, or, as Latour represents him in one of his charming pastels, as a woman.

“Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Timothée, son of the noble Louis d’Eon de Beaumont, director of the King’s demesnes, and of Dame Françoise de Charenton”—so runs the baptismal certificate—was born at Tonnerre, on October 5, 1728. He was of petty noble descent and fairly well connected, and through the situations filled by his kinsmen was sure of finding patrons of high position. His father had three brothers, all of whom were in established positions: one, André-Timothée d’Eon de Tissey, advocate in Parliament and Censor-Royal, was principal secretary to the Duc d’Orléans; another, Jacques d’Eon de Pommard, advocate in Parliament, was one of the confidential secretaries to the Comte d’Argenson, Minister of War; and the third, Michel d’Eon de Germigny, Knight of St. Louis, was one of the twenty-five gentlemen of the King’s Scottish Guard.

D’Eon’s first years were not marked by any extraordinary or even noteworthy event. He was put out to nurse at Tonnerre, than which nothing could be more commonplace; less so, however, was the gratitude he always retained for this early care. From London, June 1, 1763, he wrote to his old nurse and foster-mother, informing her that he was ensuring her an annual pension of a hundred livres, in recognition of the trouble he had given her. When he was old enough to learn, the care of his education was entrusted to M. Marcenay, the curé of the Church of St. Peter. At the age of twelve he was sent to Paris, and completed his studies at the College Mazarin with distinction. Doctor of Civil and of Canon Law, he was called to the bar of the Parliament, and at the same time entered the service of M. Bertier de Sauvigny as secretary, who was a friend of his family, and intendant of the district of Paris. In 1749 he lost in the course of five days his father and his eldest uncle, the latter of whom he presently succeeded in the post of Censor-Royal. Besides these relatives he had lost other friends who had already shown interest in him, and whose support would have been invaluable—the Duchesse de Penthièvre, Marie d’Este, and the Comte d’Ons-en-Bray, President of the Academy of Science. The losses, however, were not without effect on his career, for he wrote eulogiums in their honour which attracted attention, and were inserted in the newspapers and literary magazines of the time. This testimony of gratitude towards his deceased patrons, the origin of his public reputation, increased the goodwill of the influential people interested in his early years. He was received into the intimacy of old Marshal de Belle-Isle, and frequented the house of the charming Duc de Nivernais, a perfect type of nobleman, whom he met again as ambassador in London at the height of his prosperity. He was also known to the Prince de Conti, who, much engrossed by politics and poetry, was ever in quest either of a rhyme or of a throne, and was equally unfortunate in both. The fascination of his ready wit, the lively and original character of his conversation, his taste for music, and especially for Italian music, together with that genuine talent for the greatly prized art of fencing which had obtained for him the title of Grand Prévôt, soon made him appreciated and sought after in society. Various serious publications—a historical essay on finance, and also two volumes of political considerations on the administration of ancient and modern nations—attracted the attention of influential people, saved him from all suspicion of frivolity, and won for him the reputation both of an accomplished gentleman and an indefatigable worker, one which followed him throughout his career.

In truth, d’Eon was in search of a career, not being the man to remain long contented with empty social successes. He harassed his patrons, with true Burgundian zeal and tenacity, in order to obtain from them employment in which he might win distinction, and perhaps too the favour and goodwill of the King. Exactly what he wished for happened. The Prince de Conti, who, as his most influential patron, was doubtless the most importuned, could not fail to notice the genius for intrigue, the courage and the adventurous disposition of this “little d’Eon.” Seeing in the young man a valuable recruit for the difficult enterprise which was then being planned mysteriously in the King’s cabinet, he spoke of his protégé to Louis XV., and d’Eon was chosen to accompany the Chevalier Douglas to Russia, and second him in the dangerous mission with which he was to be entrusted.

So from the first d’Eon found himself engaged in delicate and confidential affairs. He formed part of that secret ministry which the King, with the assistance of the Prince de Conti, the Comte de Broglie, and M. Tercier, chief clerk at the Foreign Office, directed in person, and employed to support, or more frequently to oppose and secretly to ruin, the official policy which he discussed with the ministers of State. What this strange and mysterious policy was, this conspiracy against himself, by means of which Louis XV. apparently desired to take his revenge for the insignificant part in the management of important affairs to which his indolence and timidity had reduced him, has been made known since Boutaric’s curious publication of the secret correspondence, and the interesting work written later by the Duc de Broglie from the material in the archives of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the papers of his ancestor. The deplorable result of this secret diplomacy, which did not repair any, or hardly any, of the blunders of the official policy, and was finally reduced to impotence by its own conflicting intrigues, is also known, and will appear in part in these pages. But what will never be known are the endless windings of this labyrinth, which had blind alleys even for the most initiated, and in which the King himself at times lost his way; for, writing one day to Tercier to give him his instructions, he was obliged to confess that he was becoming somewhat perplexed by the intricacies of all these affairs. The secret diplomacy mysteriously superseded the official diplomacy, and extended wherever the King’s representatives were sent. Sometimes the ambassador himself was admitted into the secret service, and so found himself confronted by the difficult task of reconciling the instructions—frequently at variance—of the King and of the Minister for Foreign Affairs; more often, a secretary of the embassy, or some subordinate agent, was selected to play this part, becoming thus the spy of his own chief. While ministers and official ambassadors were as a rule chosen by the favourite of the time, the agents of the secret correspondence were enlisted by the King himself, who, out of excessive mistrust or a stirring of pride, often selected them from among the enemies of the reigning mistress. All the correspondents of this obscure policy were paid, or rather suborned, by the King out of his privy purse. The secret minister, who was first the Prince de Conti and afterwards the Duc de Broglie, answered for their discretion; their reports were despatched by safe and indirect means, and then forwarded through the medium of Tercier and Lebel, the valet, to the King, who took as much pleasure in reading, annotating and answering them as he showed weariness when he presided at a cabinet council.

The origin of the secret diplomacy, the object and the organisation of which underwent frequent modifications, appears to have been the project cherished by the King, and more especially by the interested party, of securing for the Prince de Conti the throne of Poland. As for the idea itself, it may possibly have been suggested to Louis XV. by the correspondence he kept up at the beginning of his reign with the Marshal de Noailles. His illness at Metz and the love his people had shown him on that occasion had, it would seem, illuminated for him his kingly duty, and so for a time he displayed an ardent desire to conduct himself well, and a certain determination to devote himself to the government of his country.

The secret correspondence gives evidence of such inclinations, but reveals at the same time that lack of decision, that prodigious selfishness, that spirit of mistrust and dissimulation which spoiled all the King’s good qualities, and rendered useless the perspicacity and good sense with which he was so plentifully endowed. The Duc de Luynes says of him that he spoke and thought _historically_ of public affairs: this word expresses wonderfully well, not only Louis XV.’s judgment and penetration, but also the egoistic indifference and dilettanteism with which he followed what his grandfather had called the “trade of king.” History has repeatedly shown the consequences of such a disposition both in a statesman and in a sovereign.

In 1745 several Polish noblemen, disquieted by the state of anarchy and impotence into which their country had fallen, repaired to Paris with the object of attaining a more assured future by offering the crown to a French prince. They thought of the Prince de Conti, grandson of the man who had been called to the throne of Poland in the reign of Louis XIV. The King authorised the Prince de Conti to accept their offers, and resolved to attend to the matter himself, without mentioning it to his ministers.

Thenceforth he made the Prince come to his study to work with him; but the very precautions taken to ensure the secrecy of their conferences excited the curiosity and elicited the comments of the whole court. One Sunday they noticed that scarcely had the King left his chapel when he shut himself up with the Prince, and that several secretaries had been sent for, who spent the whole day busily employed in staining paper. Another day they saw the Prince go to his Majesty’s apartments, carrying, with an air of great mystery, some large portfolios. The Marquis d’Argenson, who relates the incident, set himself to find out the secret which had thus become common talk. He succeeded in discovering that the matter in question was to secure the throne of Poland for the Prince; and in his Memoirs, under date of March 31, 1753, he expresses himself as follows:—

Here is one of several secrets of which I have just been informed. The long and frequent labours of the Prince de Conti with the King solely concern the project for making the Prince King of Poland. I had already seen that this project was being secretly elaborated and was known to the King only; but I could not believe he thought of it seriously. Meanwhile he has been persuaded it is a simple matter—for it is ever thus that great and ruinous projects are made to appear to superficial and unsystematic minds. That is the beginning of these assiduous and oft-repeated efforts of the Prince de Conti with the King, for the Prince sometimes receives despatches when out hunting, and forthwith scribbles a few lines which he sends to the King by his messengers. Only the other day he came to work with the King, and returned to the Isle-Adam immediately afterwards. This secret correspondence cannot be attributed to other matters of state for he has no influence in any other affairs.

On this last point d’Argenson’s perspicacity was at fault, for the Prince de Conti’s influence, aided besides by the King’s partiality for this kind of conspiracy, had proved powerful enough to spread the network of secret diplomacy over nearly the whole of Europe. The chief object was still the throne of Poland; but the means of ensuring its conquest had increased and widened, which, as often happens, proved detrimental to the success of the enterprise.

The mission with which d’Eon was to be entrusted was connected with the intricate scheme of these mysterious negotiations. For fourteen years diplomatic relations had been discontinued between France and Russia. The irregular and discourteous proceedings, which had led to the Marquis de la Chétardie being somewhat unceremoniously escorted to the frontier at the time of his last embassy, had left Elizabeth with a feeling of resentment which her liking for Louis XV. had not entirely effaced, and which the Grand Chancellor, Bestuchef, an avowed enemy of France, did all he could to promote and to revive. The personal sentiments of the Empress, her dislike for Englishmen and Prussians, were known at Versailles, and since that deplorable rupture attempts had been repeatedly made to renew relations, which seemed all the more important in proportion as the friendship of the King of Prussia appeared more deceptive and treacherous. Many envoys had set out, bearing letters from Louis XV. to Elizabeth, but all had failed. Russia was far from being easy of access, and Bestuchef’s agents, who kept a good watch at the frontier, had managed to detect all these political smugglers. One of them, the Chevalier de Valcroissant, had avoided detection; but, having been followed and recognised in the interior of the empire, he was arrested and confined in the fortress of Schlüsselburg, on Lake Ladoga, where his jailers were barbarous enough to put him into irons. The wretched man had been in prison for a year when the enterprise which had turned out so badly for him was attempted again.