DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70301#0021
MEMOIRS OF THE CHEVALIER D’EON.
9
late peace were received by the independent part of the na-
tion. Yet, such is the candid, unsuspecting nature of En-
glishmen, that even those who condemned the measure, did
not attribute to it any worse motive than an unmanly impati-
ence under the burthens of the war, and a blind headlong de-
sire to be relieved from them. They did not conceive that
persons of high rank and unbounded wealth could be seduced
by gold to betray the interests of their country, and surren-
der advantages which the lives of so many heroes had been
willingly sacrificed to purchase. Such a supposition, unhap-
pily for us, is at present far from incredible. The important
secret was disclosed to me in the year 1764, during my resi-
dence at Paris. I will not trouble you with a detail of the
intermediate steps I took in the affair, which, however, in
proper time, I shall most fully and readily discover. It is
sufficient to say, on the 10th of May, 1765, by the direction
of Dr. Blackstone, I waited on Lord Halifax, then secretary
of state, and delivered to him an exact narrative of the intel-
ligence I had received at Paris, with copies of four letters, to
and from Lord Hereford. The behaviour of Lord Halifax
was polite, but evasive; when I pressed him in a second inter-
view, to enquire into the truth of the charge, he objected to
all public steps, that might give alarm, and asked me whether
I could point out to him any way of prosecuting the enquiry
in secret, and whether in so doing there was any probability
of his obtaining positive proof of the fact. I was not so
much the dupe of his artifice, as to believe that he had any
serious intention of following the clue I had given him,
though his discourse plainly pointed that way. It appeared
by the sequel, that I had judged right. For, having four days
after given a direct and satisfactory answer to both his ques-
tions, he then put an end to my solicitations by a peremptoiy
refusal to take any steps whatever in the affair.
a It is here necessary to explain what I mean by enquiring
into the truth of the charge. lu the summer of the year
VOL. IV. Q
9
late peace were received by the independent part of the na-
tion. Yet, such is the candid, unsuspecting nature of En-
glishmen, that even those who condemned the measure, did
not attribute to it any worse motive than an unmanly impati-
ence under the burthens of the war, and a blind headlong de-
sire to be relieved from them. They did not conceive that
persons of high rank and unbounded wealth could be seduced
by gold to betray the interests of their country, and surren-
der advantages which the lives of so many heroes had been
willingly sacrificed to purchase. Such a supposition, unhap-
pily for us, is at present far from incredible. The important
secret was disclosed to me in the year 1764, during my resi-
dence at Paris. I will not trouble you with a detail of the
intermediate steps I took in the affair, which, however, in
proper time, I shall most fully and readily discover. It is
sufficient to say, on the 10th of May, 1765, by the direction
of Dr. Blackstone, I waited on Lord Halifax, then secretary
of state, and delivered to him an exact narrative of the intel-
ligence I had received at Paris, with copies of four letters, to
and from Lord Hereford. The behaviour of Lord Halifax
was polite, but evasive; when I pressed him in a second inter-
view, to enquire into the truth of the charge, he objected to
all public steps, that might give alarm, and asked me whether
I could point out to him any way of prosecuting the enquiry
in secret, and whether in so doing there was any probability
of his obtaining positive proof of the fact. I was not so
much the dupe of his artifice, as to believe that he had any
serious intention of following the clue I had given him,
though his discourse plainly pointed that way. It appeared
by the sequel, that I had judged right. For, having four days
after given a direct and satisfactory answer to both his ques-
tions, he then put an end to my solicitations by a peremptoiy
refusal to take any steps whatever in the affair.
a It is here necessary to explain what I mean by enquiring
into the truth of the charge. lu the summer of the year
VOL. IV. Q