"Shall I tell you, my dear brother, that your letter has delighted me by
its energy and nobleness of thought and why should I not tell you so? I am
sure that you will never confound your sister and your friend with the
tricks and manoeuvres of politicians.

"I have read your letter to the king. You may be sure that it, like all
your other letters, shall never go out of my hands. The king was struck
with many of your reflections, and has even corroborated them himself.

"He has said to me that he both desired and hoped always to maintain a
friendship and a good understanding with the empire; but yet that it was
impossible to answer for it that the difference of interests might not at
times lead to a difference in the way of looking at and judging of
affairs. This idea appeared to me to come from himself alone, and from the
distrust with which people have been inspiring him for a long time. For,
when I spoke to him, I believe it to be certain that he had not seen M. de
Vergennes since the arrival of your courier. M. de Mercy will have
reported to you the quietness and gentleness with which this minister has
spoken to him. I have had occasion to see that the heads of the other
ministers, which were a little heated, have since cooled again. I trust,
that this quiet spirit will last, and in that case the firmness of your
reply ought to lead to the rudeness of style which the people here adopted
being forgotten. You know the ground and the characters, so you can not be
surprised if the king sometimes allows answers to pass which he would not
have given of his own accord.

"My health, considering my present condition,[2] is perfect. I had a
slight accident after my last letter; but it produced no bad consequences:
it only made a little more care necessary. Accordingly I shall go from
Choisy to Fontainebleau by water. My children are quite well. My boy will
spend his time at La Muette while we are absent. It is just a piece of
stupidity of the doctors, who do not like him to take so long a journey at
his age, though he has two teeth and is very strong. I should be perfectly
happy if I were but assured of the general tranquillity, and, above all,
of the happiness of my much-loved brother, whom I love with all my
heart.[3]"

Another letter, written three months later, explains to the emperor the
object of some of the new arrangements which Calonne had introduced,
having for one object, among others, the facilitation of a comm