Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 5.djvu/314

374 truest policy to have induced me to return with my son. If they had acted dispassionately in this matter, they would have afforded me every facility in arranging my affairs; and it is my belief that, had his highness the duke of Orleans lived, I would have been invited back to France. A short time before the prince's death, he was pleased to express his approbation of my conduct; to give me certain marks of his esteem; he was satisfied that my plans would have completely succeeded, if the juncture of extraordinary circumstances had not compelled others to interfere with them; he felt that he yet required my assistance; he asked my opinion regarding the present situation of the kingdom, and he was pleased to say that he yet counted on my aid in raising France to her proper elevation and weight in Europe. These are facts with which I am persuaded your highness was made acquainted by the prince himself."

The late M. Law de Lauriston transmitted to Mr Wood, the biographer of the Comptroller-General, i complete copy of the memorial which accompanied this letter, and of which only some detached fragments are. published in the "Œuvres de J. Law," Paris, 1790. Mr Wood upplies us with the following passage from this document: "When I retired to Guermande," says the memorialist, "I had no hopes that the regent would have permitted me to leave the kingdom; I had given over all thoughts thereof when your highness sent to inform me of his intention to accord that permission; and the next day, immediately on receiving the passports, I set off. Consider, my lord, if being in the country, removed from any paper and books, it were in my power to put in order affairs that required not only leisure, but also my presence in Paris, to arrange properly; and if it is not a piece of great injustice for the India company to wish to take advantage of the condition to which I was reduced; and of the dishonest conduct of clerks, in requiring from me payment of sums I do not in fact owe, and which, even though I had been owing, were, as I have shown, expended for their service, and payable in actions or notes, of which effects belonging to me they at that time had, and still have, on their books, to the amount of double or treble the sum they demand. No, my lord, I cannot bring myself to accuse the company of so much as the intention to injure me. That company owes its birth to me. For them I have sacrificed every thing, even my property and my credit, being now bankrupt, not only in France, but also in all other countries. For them I have sacrificed the interests of my children, whom I tenderly love, and who are deserving of all my affections; these children, courted by the most considerable families in France, are now destitute of fortune and of establishments. I had it in my power to have settled my daughters in marriage in the first houses of Italy, Germany, and England; but I refused all offers of that nature, thinking it inconsistent with my duty to, and my affection for, the state in whose service I had the honour to be engaged. I do not assume to myself any merit from this conduct, and I never so much as spoke upon the subject to the regent. But I cannot help observing, that this mode of behaviour is diametrically opposite to the idea my enemies wish to impute to me; and surely all Europe ought to have a good opinion of my disinterestedness, and of the condition to which I am reduced, since I no longer receive any proposals of marriage for my children.

"My lord, I conducted myself with a still greater degree of delicacy: for I took care not to have my son or my daughter married even in France, although I had the most splendid and advantageous offers of that kind. I did not choose that any part of my protection should be owing to alliances; but that it should depend solely upon the intrinsic merits of my project."

These representations failed to produce the desired effect; the India company refused to allow him credit for the notes and actions in their hands belong-