This precious plot was, fortunately, discovered before it had come to maturity.  Had such not happened, the consequences might have been very serious, although they could scarcely have been fatal.  The conspirators counted upon the Parliaments of Paris and of Brittany, upon all the old Court accustomed to the yoke of the bastards, and to that of Madame de Maintenon; and they flung about promises with an unsparing hand to all who supported them.  After all, it must be admitted, however, that the measures they took and the men they secured, were strangely unequal to the circumstances of the case, when the details became known; in fact, there was a general murmur of surprise among the public, at the contemptible nature of the whole affair.

But let me relate the circumstances accompanying the discovery of M. du Maine’s pitiable treachery.

Cellamare, as I have said, was Spanish Ambassador at our Court.  He had been one of the chief movers in the plot.  He had excited, as much as lay in his power, discontent against the Regent’s government; he had done his best to embroil France with Spain; he had worked heart and soul with M. du Maine, to carry out the common end they had in view.  So much preparation had been made; so much of the treason train laid, that at last it became necessary to send to Alberoni a full and clear account of all that had been done, so as to paint exactly the position of affairs, and determine the measures that remained to be taken.  But how to send such an account as this?  To trust it to the ordinary channels of communication would have been to run a great risk of exposure and detection.  To send it by private hand would have been suspicious, if the hand were known, and dangerous if it were not:  Cellamare had long since provided for this difficulty.

He had caused a young ecclesiastic to be sent from Spain, who came to Paris as though for his pleasure.  There he was introduced to young Monteleon, son of a former ambassador at our Court, who had been much liked.  The young ecclesiastic was called the Abbe Portocarrero, a name regarded with favour in France.  Monteleon came from the Hague, and was going to Madrid.  Portocarrero came from Madrid, and was going back there.  What more natural than that the two young men should travel in company?  What less natural than that the two young men, meeting each other by pure accident in Paris, should be charged by the ambassador with any packet of consequence, he having his own couriers, and the use, for the return journey, of those sent to him from Spain?  In fact, it may be believed that these young people themselves were perfectly ignorant of what they were charged with, and simply believed that, as they were going to Spain, the ambassador merely seized the occasion to entrust them with some packet of no special importance.