New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-04-13

/ VI, q brill
lance nor the force necessary to make him a
permanent figure in French history As the nro-
tege of Chauvelin. the Keeper of the Seals. m
der the regime of Cardinal de Fleury. he had tba
| opportunity not only to win immediate success
| but to make himself Indispensable Instead ba
| seems always to have missed by a handsbreadtb
the distinctions he sought, and in his criticisms
| Of Chauvelin, as in his rueful comments on the
] insinuatinS cleverness of his brother Connie
| D'ArgensOn, We read. between the lines a reve
| lation of his incurably academic nature from,
| which much that good, but little that was
| creative. was to be expected. Turning from the
man, with his GOODNESS. with his brutal candor
in the discussion of his family. with his streak
of mediocrity vitiating a character distinguished
in many ways-turning from D'Argenson himself
to the things he observed. and wildly shrewdIy
reported--we turn TO the real source of interest
in the volumes before US
| As mOralist and a fastidious gentleman
he was revolted by the corruption in court cir
| cIes: S a citizen of liberal tendencies and es-
| sentiaIly humane feeling he was stirred by the
| social and economic deterioration of the country
| at large. '-There.are but three words in our
language" he says. Ito be used as to the pres
| ent state of things-this cannot last; and all
| through the long tale of mismanagement and
suffering that he tells he writes with the emo
4
| tragic because of what they foreteIL And such
| ills as they were. n king incompetent and
| profiigate. court sunk in the viIest intrigue
and controlled in every one of its actions by
| self interest. Rascality everywhere with envy.
| hatred and malice in its train Above all, the
| baIefuI influence of wicked women at whose
| feet the king sat. ruling his dominiOns chiefly
| with reference to his own whims and the wishes
| of his mstresses. The example of the court pro-
duced abuses throughout the length and breadth
| of the land. Paris went mad over games of
| chance. and in the provinces administration
| grew fouler every day. under the auspices Of
men whose chief purpose in gathering the taxes
was 10 feather their own nests. Famine has
occasioned" writes DArgenson. in 17:;9 three
uprisings in the provinces-at RUffec. Caen and
Chinon. They murdered women on the high
road who were carrying bread. q. Men were
| eating grass like sheep and dying like flies
Where was the responsibility 10 b placed?
Partly upon the whole selfish and senseless drift
of the old regime; but largely. also. upon the
king and his women. D'Argenson shorts with
disgust over the Comtesse de NaiIly and her
sister and successor. the Duchess De Chateau
roux but he reserves the full force Of his con-
demnation for the Pompadour He never tires
of COMMUNICATING her evil deeds Here are two
specimens of his talk about her:
1t was only We'll fOreSeen that the cabinets
of pleasure would sooner or later become the
senate of the nation. the Iadys chambers ap-
pointing the ministers of State All careers are
open now To the recommendation ut the mis-
tresS \ great promotion Of three hundred and
eleven general officers has just been made
nearly all Of whom the selection OF this
lady Ii is now question Of soon renewing the
leases of the farrners-E general, and III the sub
farms The mistress has declared that she
wishes twelve faTmerS-genrrdl of her own max
Ing, and two hundred SUb-fdrIn-rS- she has
a cabinet all full of petitions for these places;
everybody now addresses her openly. The other
day there were persons standing and waiting
staircase. while two Of the Paris brothers were
with her discussing the affairs.
She does. in fact. more business. and mas more
authority than ever Cardinal de F-eury hai
She besets the King continually. she shakes
him up she agitates him. she never leaves him
a moment to himself Formerly, be- used 70
work for some hours in his cabinet now. she
does not leave him One-qu1rter IF an hour alone.
She says this is for the good of his health, anu
to distract him from melancholy thoughts but
il is much more Keep him from ALI idea OF
changing his ministry and attending .' ne gov
eminent himself: in this she does the greatest
harm that can be done To kingdom
They have just doubled the WOE tnen en-
pIOyed on the Chateau De N-Ii"N- there
are now fifteen hundred Ut work there; they are
restocking the me.iaGerle, all expensive oCCu-
pations which distract the king from useful ana
serious work The ministers and all others, are
forbidden To speak To him OF veN-n5 things
there are plenty of such topics.
D'Argenson was not perhaps. altogether JUST
to the Marquise- Her advice in matters or state
was not invariably pernicious. and, as Miss
Wormeley points out the critic II these VIZ