“Her Majesty and I laughed till the very tears ran down our cheeks.  The Duke of Dorset, to keep up the joke, said there really were some counties in England where they called ’culottes irresistibles.

“Now that I am upon the subject of England, and the peace of 1783, which brought such throngs of English over to France, there occurs to me a circumstance, relating to the treaty of commerce signed at that time, which exhibits the Comte de Vergennes to some advantage; and with that let me dismiss the topic.

“The Comte de Vergennes, was one of the most distinguished Ministers of France.  I was intimately acquainted with him.  His general character for uprightness prompted his Sovereign to govern in a manner congenial to his own goodness of heart, which was certainly most for the advantage of his subjects.  Vergennes cautioned Louis against the hypocritical adulations of his privileged courtiers.  The Count had been schooled in State policy by the great Venetian senator, Francis Foscari, the subtlest politician of his age, whom he consulted during his life on every important matter; and he was not very easily to be deceived.

“When the treaty of commerce took place, at the period I mention, the experienced Vergennes foresaw—­what afterwards really happened—­that France would be inundated with British manufactures; but Calonne obstinately maintained the contrary, till he was severely reminded of the consequence of his misguided policy, in the insults inflicted on him by enraged mobs of thousands of French artificers, whenever he appeared in public.  But though the mania for British goods had literally caused an entire stagnation of business in the French manufacturing towns, and thrown throngs upon the ‘pave’ for want of employment, yet M. de Calonne either did not see, or pretended not to see, the errors he had committed.  Being informed that the Comte de Vergennes had attributed the public disorders to his fallacious policy, M. de Calonne sent a friend to the Count demanding satisfaction for the charge of having caused the riots.  The Count calmly replied that he was too much of a man of honour to take so great an advantage, as to avail himself of the opportunity offered, by killing a man who had only one life to dispose of, when there were so many with a prior claim, who were anxious to destroy him ‘en societe’.  I Bid M. de Calonne,’ continued the Count, ’first get out of that scrape, as the English boxers do when their eyes are closed up after a pitched battle.  He has been playing at blind man’s buff, but the poverty to which he has reduced so many of our tradespeople has torn the English bandage from his eyes!’ For three or four days the Comte de Vergennes visited publicly, and showed himself everywhere in and about Paris; but M. de Calonne was so well convinced of the truth of the old fox’s satire that he pocketed his annoyance, and no more was said about fighting.  Indeed, the Comte de Vergennes gave hints of being able to show that M. de Calonne had been bribed into the treaty.”