the treaty not signed, and that as he had not the least idea it would give any alarm, the only motive for hurrying the affair was that Butofuoco, who had come to Paris as the emissary of Paoli, had assured him that Paoli would never consent to any French troops being sent thither; that at the same time the few French troops they had there were at Bastia, and in most of the other places they had none. He said he therefore hurried the transport of the troops before Paoli could get wind of the Treaty. With regard to the second accusation, of having acted contrary to those pacific principles which his Court had always professed, he said he would say nothing to that, but deny it and renew those professions, as he had orders from his master to do, in the strongest manner. "This is the substance of what he said to me," said Rochfort, "whether sincerely or no I will not pretend to determine, or make myself answerable for the asseverations of any minister whatever, especially a French one, but I will venture to declare, and that upon the strongest proofs, that there is nothing they dread so much at this moment as a war, and that there is scarce anything but they would do to avoid it."[1]
Frederic the Great clearly saw the course which England now ought to pursue, but he was utterly distrustful of the Ministry. "Pour ce qui regarde l'Isle de Corse," he wrote to Maltzan, his Minister in London, "il pourroit m'être plutôt indifférent que la France tâche d'en faire l'acquisition en faveur d'un tiers, ou quelles autres vues elle pourroit avoir à cet égard. Je remarque seulement que le Gouvernement Anglois, manifestant si peu de vigueur dans ses mesures vis-à-vis de la France et de l'Espagne, rendra toujours plus entreprenantes ces deux couronnes, et's'imposera de la sorte à elle-même la necessite d'abandonner le système pacifique qu'il paroît avoir si fort à cœur au moment présent."[2]
- ↑ Rochfort to Shelburne, July 4th, 1768. Compare the despatch of July 11th, relating to a subsequent conversation which began and ended in a similar manner, quoted by Coxe, History of the Bourbon Kings, iii. ch. 66. Only half the conversation is there recorded. It was subsequently and not antecedently to this latter conversation that a change of front took place on the part of Choiseul.
- ↑ Le Roi de Prusse au Comte de Maltzan, June 7th, 1768.
