"Captain Hocquart, who commanded the Alcide," says the account of M. de Choiseul, "finding himself within hail of the Dunkerque, had this question put in English: 'Are we at peace or war?'

The power rested almost entirely in the hands of the Duke of Choiseul.

M. de Choiseul was at the same time dreaming of attacking England in her own very home, thus dealing her the most formidable of blows.

The Duke of Choiseul had, on the 19th of February, replied to a desperate appeal from Montcalm, "I am very sorry to have to send you word that you must not expect any re-enforcements.

The Duke of Choiseul proposed a congress.

Completely separating the interests of England from those of the German allies, he did not even reply to the proposals of M. de Choiseul as to the evacuation of Hesse and Hanover.

[Illustration: ANTWERP233] The parleys were prolonged, and M. de Choiseul seemed to be resigned to the bitterest pill of concession, when a new actor came upon the scene of negotiation; France no longer stood isolated face to face with triumphant England.

" M. de Choiseul submitted in despair to the consequences of the long-continued errors committed by the government of Louis XV.

All the patriotic courage and zeal of the Duke of Choiseul, all the tardy impulse springing from the nation's anxieties, could not suffice even to palliate the consequences of so many years' ignorance, feebleness, and incapacity in succession.

He had attacked the Duke of Choiseul; the latter so far forgot himself, it is asserted, as to say to the prince, "Sir, I may have the misfortune to be your subject, but I will never be your servant."

The strife was becoming violent; the Duke of Choiseul, still premierminister but sadly shaken in the royal favor, disapproved of the severities employed against the magistracy.

It was, nevertheless, in her circle that the plot was formed against the Duke of Choiseul.

I should have sent you much further off, but for the particular regard I have for Madame de Choiseul, in whose health I feel great interest.

" The thunderbolt which came striking the Duke of Choiseul called forth a fresh sign of the times.

Nothing was too much for the proud devotion and passionate affection of the Duchess of Choiseul: she declined the personal favors which the king offered her, setting all her husband's friends the example of a fidelity which was equally honorable to them and to him.

Acute observers read a tale of the growing weakness of absolute power in the crowd which still flocked to a minister in disgrace; the Duke of Choiseul remained a power even during a banishment which was to last as long as his life.

Before his fall the Duke of Choiseul had made a last effort to revive abroad that fortune of France which he saw sinking at home without his being able to apply any effective remedy.

Only the colonies of the Antilles, which had escaped from the misfortunes of war, and were by this time recovered from their disasters, offered any encouragement to the patriotic efforts of the Duke of Choiseul.

The Genoese, weary of struggling unsuccessfully against the obstinate determination of the Corsicans, and unable to clear off the debts which they had but lately incurred to Louis XV., had proposed to M. de Choiseul to cede to France their ancient rights over Corsica, as security for their liabilities.

Great or little, magnificent or insignificant, from Richelieu to the Duke of Choiseul, France had managed to preserve her territorial acquisitions; in America and in Asia, Louis XV. had shamefully lost Canada and the Indies; in Europe, the diplomacy of his ministers had given to the kingdom Lorraine and Corsica.

The Duke of Choiseul, at first far from zealous in the cause of the Polish insurrection, had nevertheless sent a few troops, who were soon re-enforced.

"I will raise the Turks against Russia the moment you think proper," was the assurance given to the Duke of Choiseul by the Count of Vergennes, French ambassador at Constantinople, "but I warn you that they will be beaten.

A French officer, of Hungarian origin, Baron Tott, sent by the Duke of Choiseul to help the Sublime Porte, had fortified the Straits of the Dardanelles; the Russians were repulsed; they withdrew, leaving the Greeks to the vengeance of their oppressors.

in Europe had been completed by the dismissal of the Duke of Choiseul.

] that it would not be very easy to find them at present; and, with this answer, which we should have smiled at from M. de Choiseul or Sartine, we were obliged to be satisfied.