Page:American Historical Review, Volume 12.djvu/265

 French Reports of Parliamentary Debates 255 First of all, a certain number of reports which consisted of as many detached pieces have simply been lost. It is very likely that at the Foreign Office they were sometimes laid aside while the rest of the correspondence was being classed. The letters of the Duke de Levis-Mirepoix, for instance, frequently give notice of the send- ing of such documents,^ which cannot now be found either in the place where they should be, or in the Supplements, or in the Memoires et Documents, among which they might have slipped inadvertently. Through whole volumes of the political correspon- dence, the reports of parliamentary debates are thus missing, though by unquestionable proofs they are shown to have once been in existence. During two periods, each of which extends over several years • — from 1742 to 1748 and from 1756 to 1763 — their absence can be otherwise accounted for. The interruption of relations between France and England during the struggle about the Austrian suc- cession and the Seven Years' War had put an end to regular diplo- matic correspondence. As long as the two nations were at war, the court of Versailles did not get information on English affairs except by letters from secret agents, which were sent privately and by indirect ways. Chiquet and Du Tilly, who were in charge of that service in the years 1 745-1 746, directed their letters " to Mademoi- selle du Verger, at Leyden ", and " to Monsieur de Beauval, at Delft"; thence they came into the hands of the French envoy in the Netherlands, Abbe de la 'ille.- They were as a rule rather short and gave but scanty intelligence on the proceedings in Parliament, among all sorts of news. Occasionally they would include an abstract of an address or of a motion, but without any account of the debates to which they had led. In fewer instances they would give the names of one or two members, with the general meaning of their '"Je joins ici le journal des dernieres seances du Parlement, avec I'etat des subsides accordes, un extrait des debats du Parlement sur la proposition faite pour I'entretien des matelots, et le plan propose et accepte dans la derniere assemblee des interesses dans la Compagnie du Sud pour la reduction des interets." Letter dated February i8, 1751, vol. 431, f. 135. "II y a eu de grands debats dans la Chambre des Communes lorsqu'il a ete question de passer le bill pour le paiement des subsides accordes a I'electeur de Baviere. Le parti de I'opposition a vivement contrarie le projet de la cour pour I'election d'un roi des Romains, mais celui de la cour I'a emporte par une majorite de 94 contre 55. J'aurai I'honneur de vous envoyer ce qui a ete dit de part et d'autre dans cette occasion." Letter dated March 11. 1751, vol. 431, f. 202. C/. ibid., ff. 151, 165, 174; vol. 435, ff. 286, 300, 320, etc. 2 Vol. 419, ff. 98, 99, 109, III, etc. The writers' names were added at the beginning of each letter after it had been received. In the same way the secret agents in 1756-1763 sent their letters x-ia Flushing (ff. vols. 442-446).