AN EPISODE OF STUART HISTORY.

DR. CARL VON WEBER, the indefatigable keeper of the Saxon records, while compiling a Life of Maréchal de Saxe from epistolary sources, has found in the reports of the Saxon envoy at Paris a full narrative of the squabble between Louis XV. and Charles Edward, which possesses sufficient novelty to be offered to English readers as a further instalment of Jacobite literature.

After his unsuccessful landing in Scotland in the year '45, Charles Edward returned to France, and lived in Paris. As he was remarkable for his beauty, princely demeanour, attractive manners and ambitious mind, an excellent shot and horseman, and a favourite of the ladies, it is not surprising that the young Pretender should become popular in the Circæan capital. The pensions settled on him by France and Spain, and the considerable sums forwarded to him by his adherents in England and Scotland, permitted him to live with princely display in Paris.. He occupied a handsome hotel on the Boulevard, not far from the Porte St. Honoré, in which he daily gave dinners and suppers to twenty or thirty persons, frequently visited the court, and showed himself very often at the theatre. Hehad collected round him a suite of about two hundred Scots, and a pretty young woman of that country, Clementina Walkinshaw, whose acquaintance he had formed at the siege of Bannockburn, also followed him, and lived with him a long time. This liaison, however, did not prevent him from most gratefully accepting the homage which

the Princess de Talmont offered him.

All at once the merry life the prince was leading in Paris was disturbed by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. So early as the London Quadruple Alliance of August 12, 1718, France had pledged herself to give no support "to the person and his descendants, if he should have any, who, during the lifetime of James II., assumed the title of Prince of Wales, and after his death that of King of Great Britain," and also to refuse his adherents a domicile (receptaculum). This article was repeated and confirmed anew in the preliminary treaty of April 30, 1748, and in the definitive peace of October 18, 1748, England urgently pressed that Prince Charles Edward should be removed from Paris. But this did not accord with the wishes of the prince, who, on July 16, 1748, sent a printed protest against the Treaty of Aix to all the ambassadors. On the first hint that a change of residence would be desirable, he appealed to a solemn promise of Louis XV., who had assured him "an unlimited asylum in his kingdom," and to a treaty which he had made with France in his quality of Regent of Scotland, in which, however, the French ministers refused to recognise the promise of an asylum, and, indeed, regarded it as set aside by later events.

The Princess Talmont, whom Loss, the Saxon envoy, describes as an intriguing woman who likes to mix herself up in things that do not concern her," tried as early as June to effect negotiations which would eventually ensure her lover an existence in Poland, to which country Lord Maret, one of his adherents, proceeded for the same purpose. But when Count Loss inquired into this matter of the minister, Marquis

Puycieulx, on July 3, the latter replied that the King of France would not assent to such a scheme, but, on the contrary, work energetically against it, and the marquis proposed Freyburg, where they could offer the prince "a furnished palace, an agreeable country-house, and a guard for the safety of his person." Hence the negotiations, probably commenced without the prince's sanction, fell through.

In November, 1748, the Duke de Gesvres was ordered by Louis XV. to have a personal interview with the prince, and induce him to leave France; but he threw away his eloquence, as the prince declared that he would only yield to force. These negotiations were soon known in Paris, and the great majority took the part of the prince: he showed himself more in public than he had formerly done; he went every night to the theatre, very brilliantly dressed, and wearing his orders, "affecting," as Loss writes, "always to take the king's box," while previously he had gone to the small boxes plainly dressed, and "not caring to be seen." At a masqued ball at the Opera he appeared as a Highlander, and, as Major-General von Fontenay writes, "scrupuleux sur l'habillement, il n'avoit point de culotte: c'est un lieu, ou elle est souvent embarrassante."

The House of Talmont also broke up into two parties: the prince, who did not wish to injure himself at court, wrote Charles Edward a very polite letter, in which he expressed his regret that circumstances prevented him from seeing the prince henceforth at his house. Charles Edward, on receiving the letter, burst into a great rage, and declared he would avenge this insult; and the Princess de Talmont, who was dining with him, strove in vain to appease him. The next morning he proceeded to the palace of the Prince de Talmont, and, when the porter refused to admit him, he made such a disturbance that he was at length let in he went straight to the garden, which he did not leave till the princess came down and pacified him; her husband, however, adhered to his resolution of closing his house against the prince, while the princess continued to visit him at his palace, as before.

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On November 20th, as verbal communications had met with no result, Louis XV. wrote a very friendly letter to the prince, in which he repeated the wish that he would quit France, as an asylum could no longer be granted him. The Duke de Gesvres was ordered to deliver the letter personally, and at the same time make every effort to induce the prince to yield; but the latter declared, after reading the letter, that he had formed his resolution, and did not believe that the posture of affairs permitted him to leave Paris. If they attempted to try force, he would know how to defend himself.

A courier was now sent to the prince's father at Rome, with a request that he would employ his paternal authority, and order his son at once to retire from Paris. The Pretender, James III., satisfied this wish: his letter, addressed to the prince, reached Paris on December 4th, accompanied by a copy. The Duke de Gesvres, who had given up all hopes of effecting anything by his personal influence over the prince (his last visit on December 1st only lasted two minutes), now sent for three of Charles Edward's confidants, Crem, Kelly, and Osborn, and informed

*

* The Duc de Luynes in his Memoirs calls them Kely, Hakebrat, and Greené.

them of the contents of the letter from the copy. James III. wrote to his son that he could not remain in the country of the King of France against his will," and this is the reason why I am obliged to order you, as your father and your king, to conform without delay to the intentions of H. M. C. M., by voluntarily quitting his states." Gesvres requested the three gentlemen to place the letter in the prince's own hands, and tell him that the king would have preferred it had the prince yielded to necessity without his father's special orders. He must now leave France within twelve days.

At the expiration of two hours the envoys returned with the information that their efforts to induce the prince to open the letter had been in vain he had placed it unopened in his pocket, and they proposed that the copy of the letter should be read to the prince. Gesvres drove, on the evening of December 4th, to Versailles, in order to obtain instructions. The proposal made by the prince's friends was assented to by the king, and in accordance with this the three proceeded to the prince, who listened to the reading of the letter till they came to the words we have quoted. Here he interrupted the reader, and ordered him to leave off. As representations did not produce the slightest effect on him, the three declared that if he refused to obey his father's orders, they would be compelled to leave him. Nor did this affect the prince; he declared that they could act as they thought proper, but he knew what he had to do: they might kill him, murder him, but he would not quit Paris even if fifty cannon were pointed at his house and it was surrounded by one hundred thousand men.

The three gentlemen on this left the prince, returned to Gesvres to inform him of what had occurred, and then retired to Passy. In the evening the prince sent for Kelly, who held his money and valuables in charge. The whole night was spent in checking accounts and handing over the deposit, and then the prince definitively gave Kelly his discharge. The Duc de Luynes also tells us that the prince stated to one of his confidants, that some time previously he had received a letter from his father requesting him to act as he thought best for his glory and interests, and pay no attention to any further letters from him he might receive. Luynes doubts, however, whether such a letter was written by James to

his son.

Several days were spent in fresh efforts to change the prince's resolution. Gesvres offered him his own château as a temporary residence, in the event of his wishing to send a courier to Rome to ascertain the authenticity of the letter, but in the event of its confirmation he must give way. The prince remained inexorable: he declared "that he had formed an engagement with the public to support his resolution, that a man of his birth never went back from his word-that, in short, there was no other residence for him but Paris or Paradise." As Reumont tells us in his "Life of the Countess of Albany," he also said, "I feel very sorry for Louis: I can only lose my life, but he his honour."

People in Paris were convinced that the prince had chosen as his model Charles XII. at Bender, that if force were employed he would defend himself to the utmost, and fears were entertained lest the people, whose favourite he was, would take his part. But it did not come to a fight. On the afternoon of December 14th, 1748, the prince received several

anonymous letters informing him that it was intended to arrest him at the theatre, but he paid no attention to them, either because he believed that it would not be risked, or because in such a measure against him he found a desirable escape from a labyrinth from which he was unable to find any exit himself. After so long asserting that he would not leave Paris alive, he could not now yield without rendering himself ridiculous; violent resistance could only lead to useless bloodshed and his own ruin, and it would be sufficient if there was an ostensible appearance of his having only yielded to force.

Hence Charles Edward entered the Opera-house between five and six o'clock of the evening of December 10, where all the preparations had been made for his reception. In the corridor which he had to pass through in order to reach his box, and which had no outlet at the other end, four police sergeants in civilian clothing were standing: the prince was walking a few yards ahead of his suite, and so soon as he entered the corridor a barrier was closed behind him, and the four sergeants rushed upon him, seized his arms, and carried him through an usually closed side door into the garden of the Palais Royal, and thence to a room occupied by a surgeon of the Duke of Orleans. Count de Vaudreuil, major in the Gardes Françaises, informed him that he was arrested by the king's order on his father's request. His sword, and a pistol which he had in one of his pockets, were taken from him. On his assurance that he had no other arms about him, Vaudreuil, who had three captains of his regiment with him, replied that he would be satisfied with his assurance, and not search him further. An accident, however, led to the discovery of a second pistol concealed in his clothes, and the officers now carried their precautions so far that they bound their prisoner's feet and hands with silk cords; they afterwards excused this violence by their fear lest the prince might have other weapons concealed about him, and might attempt to take his own life, as he had threatened to do should he be arrested. Thus bound, the prince was taken to a coach drawn by six horses, which the three officers who had accompanied Vaudreuil entered; at the Porte St. Denis a troop of mounted musqueteers were waiting, and escorted the coach to Vincennes.

The three gentlemen who had followed the prince to the playhouse were arrested at the same time, and taken to the Bastille. The occurrence had not been unnoticed, and soon reached the ears of the Princess de Talmont, who was in the house: she fell out of one fainting fit into another, so that it was necessary to carry her home, and she at once sent a valet to the prince's house, to obtain information as to what had become of him. An officer had already arrived there with a troop, who arrested all the prince's servants and conveyed them to the Bastille, and the same fate befel the valet of the princess, on whom was found a portrait of his mistress, "painted in a royal cloak," as well as a letter to the prince, which he was to have delivered at the same time. In the prince's house -which was searched and put under seal-fifteen brace of pistols and twenty-five guns were found, but only two pounds of gunpowder, so that the prince's often-declared intention of defending himself in the event of force being used, was at any rate not confirmed by this slight stock of

ammunition.

At Vincennes the prince was led to the Donjon, where a room had

been prepared for him: he was here carefully searched, but no more weapons were found on him, and he was now freed from his bonds. He was greatly excited, declined supper, threw himself fully dressed on a servant's bed, as he refused the one prepared for him, and slept for some hours. He woke again at three A.M., and walked violently up and down his room, in which two captains and two lieutenants watched him, while fifty grenadiers surrounded the Donjon. To the officers he said that they were charged with a very humiliating commission," but entered into no details either with them or with Du Châtelet, the commandant of Vincennes, when the latter paid him a visit.

On the next day Charles Edward became calmer, and asked for food; on the third day he grew more colloquial, and expressed a wish to the officers on guard to regain his liberty, and his readiness to obey the king. On December 14, he wrote Louis XV. a letter, the style of which, though it did not reveal a correct appreciation of his position, still expressed his submission. The king, "without paying serious heed," so Loss writes, "to the equality which this nobleman, by his mode of writing, seemed desirous of establishing between himself and the King of France, let him know that he would allow his prisoner to depart in full liberty, if he pledged his honour not to return to France: he would then be escorted by an officer to any spot on the frontier selected by himself."

The prince compromised for a while, by declining the company of the officer, but at length yielded, and gave the required promise to the officer who had brought him the king's verbal message. According to De Luynes, he also drew up a written promise to leave France, and not return. On being asked where he proposed going, he designated Pont de Beauvoisin, on the Savoy frontier; but gave no further account of his intentions, and none was asked of him. On his request two of his gentlemen-Strafford and Geridon, two of his valets, and two footmen, were discharged from the Bastille, in order that they might accompany him on his journey; and his papers were also restored to him.

On December 15, two post-chaises drove up to the Donjon of Vincennes the prince entered one, with his escort, De Perousy, first ensign in the Great Musqueteers, and Strafford: while Geridon rode in the other. On arriving at Fontainebleau in the evening, the prince stopped at the post-house, and spent the next day in bed, under the pretext that he felt unwell; he had sent Princess de Talmont a letter, requesting her to follow him to Fontainebleau, but the "romantic queen," as she was called in Paris, did not make her appearance. At Pont de Beauvoisin, Perousy left the prince, who, after taking leave of Strafford and Geridon, arrived at Avignon at seven A.M. on December 27, mounted on a sorry horse, and wearing a black peruke and old uniform. In spite of his modest appearance, he was received by the Papal Vice-legate with great marks of honour, and three salvos of ordnance from the city walls: he lodged at the palace of the Vice-legate, and attended on one of the next days a masqued ball given in honour of the Infant, Don Philip, with whom he had a conference. Early in March he quitted Avignon, and disappeared for some time; in June, 1749, the news arrived from Bologna that he was in the latter city, and a later despatch of Count Loss, on May 6, 1750, informs us that the prince was hiding in Lorraine, "in order to be able to continue his amorous commerce with Madame la Princess de Talmont."