FRA 
'with the neutral ifland of St. Lucia; and her Eaft-India 
company were effnblifiled in their former fettlements: 
but in return fhe confented to deflroy the harbour and de- 
molilh the fortifications of Dunkirk; reftored Minorca; 
•yielded Grenada and the Grenadines; and gave up all 
claim to the neutral iflands of St. Vincent, Dominica, 
and Tobago. Her ally, Spain, obtained again the Ha- 
vannah, and all that part of the ifland of Cuba which had 
been conquered by the Englifli ; but in return, Charles 
king of Spain engaged to permit the Englifli to cut log¬ 
wood in the bay of Honduras, to evacuate Portugal, and 
to cede Florida to Great Britain. The king of Pruflia 
concluded a treaty with the emprefs-queen, by which 
all conquefts were mutually reftored ; and after a tedious 
and bloody war, the tranquillity of Europe was in 1763 
once more happily re-eftabliflied. This treaty of peace 
■was concluded at Paris on the 10th of February 1763. 
Louis XV. had fcarcely furmounted the complicated 
evils of the late perilous war, than he expet enced the 
mortification of loling the dauphin of France, a prince of 
a pious and mild difpofition, who expired in the thirty- 
feventh year of his age. Maria Therefa, the infanta of 
Spain, whom he had firft efpoufed, died in child-bed; and 
the daughter of which (lie was delivered, furvived her 
mother but a fhort time. His fecond marriage with Maria 
Jofepha, of Saxony, proved more fruitful; and he left 
behind him three fons, the duke of Berri, the count of 
Provence, and the count of Artois, with two daughters. 
The king, in 1765, conferred the title of dauphin on his 
.elder grandfon, the duke of Berri, who afterwards fuc- 
ceeded to the crown. 
The attention of Louis was next folicited to retrieve 
the affairs of Poland, which was afflicted with all the ca¬ 
lamities that attend religious rancour and civil commo¬ 
tion. The diflance of that country, however, precluded 
the immediate interference of France ; and Louis for 
the prefent, limited his views to Corfica, an ifland in the 
Alediterranean. Previous to this enterprife, the patri¬ 
mony of St. Peter, defended only by fpiritual arms, was 
doomed to experience the refentment of the king of 
France. On the refufal of the pope to recal a brief which 
he had publilhed again!! the duke of Parma, Louis, in 
1768, thought proper to reclaim the territories of Avig¬ 
non and the Venailliti, as fiefs belonging to him ; and the 
Roman pontiff, having 110 troops to oppofe him, could 
only denounce the penalties incurred by thofe who feize 
the efFefts belonging to the church. But the thunders 
of the Vatican, once fo terrible, were now difregarded ; and 
the marquis of Rochecouart, with the regiment of Dau- 
phine, expelled the train of the pope; and received, in 
the name of the king, the homage and fubmiflion of the 
people. But far different preparations were neceffary to 
bend the ftubborn natives of Corfica. Tliefe had refilled 
with firmnefs the pretenfions of the Genoefe, who claimed 
the fovereignty of the ifland by right of conqueft; but 
being unable to enforce her claim, transferred the pre¬ 
tended right to France, on condition that Louis fhould 
put her in full poflellion of the ifland of Capraia, which 
the Corficans had invaded and reduced. To execute 
tliefe engagements, powerful armaments were fitted out 
by Louis at Antibes-and Toulon; twenty battalions of 
French were landed in Corfica; and the natives, whofe 
free fuffrages had fummoned Paoli their principal chief, 
to the fupreme government of the ifland, determined to 
defend it to the utmoft. An o'oftinate and bloody war 
was carried on through all the faflneffes and mountainous 
parts of the ifland. And it was not till after the ravages 
of two fucceffive campaigns, in 1769, that the French 
overwhelmed by their fuperior numbers this unfortunate 
people ; nor had Louis much reafon to triumph in a con- 
queit which coll him feveral thoufundsof his bed troops, 
and only extended his dominion over a diminutive and 
unproductive ifland. But while France was exhaufling 
her treafures in a ruinous and unprofitable conflict, her 
Vol. VII. No. 465, 
N C E. 745 
merchants were expofed to every fpecies of failure and 
diftrefs. Her Eaft-India company, formerly fo flourifh- 
ing, became totally bankrupt; the mod capital commer¬ 
cial houfes were involved in the fame calamity ; and the 
defperate alternative qf the minider, the duke of Choifeul, 
in reducing the intered of the public funds to one-half, 
and at the fame time taking away the benefit of furvivor- 
fliip in the tontines, increafed the general diffatisfaCtion, 
and druck at the very foundations of all national faith 
and credit. 
It was amidfi thefe domedic inquietudes that the dau- 
phin received the hand of Maria Antoinetta, fider to the 
emperor of Germany. But.thefe nuptials, that promifed 
to cement the happy alliance of France with the houfe of 
Auflria, were attended with events the mod inaufpicious: 
the crowd that hadened to be fpeCfators of the fire-works, 
tumultuoufly preffed upon each other ; thofe who were 
foremod were borne down by the weight of increafing 
numbers behind, and feveral hundreds perifhed in the 
fatal confufion. This accident was followed by a dill 
more melancholy event, that of a general dearth, which 
prevailed throughout the kingdom. A fcanty Ripply 
was procured by opening the ports, and permitting 
foreigners as well as natives to import or export corn at 
will, without any retrofpeCt to the price for which it 
might have been fold during its continuance in the ports:, 
but though this regulation in fome meafure alleviated 
the public miferv, yet fo fatal were the ravages of the 
famine, that, in Limolin and Marche only, four thoufand 
perlons are fuppofed to have literally died for want of 
food ! 
The monarch himfelf, now fallen into the excefs of 
fenfual pleafures, heard with indifference the cries of his 
people ; but he lidened with more refpeCt to the felicita¬ 
tions of his midrefs, the countefs du Barre. The hatred 
of that lady to the duke de Choifeul was undifguifed ; 
and her royal paramour, amidfl the blandifhments of 
amorous intercourfe, was inceflantly urged to difmifs that 
minider. But whatever promifes were drawn from the 
libidinous king in the hours of dalliance, were repeatedly 
revoked on reflection ; and it is probable that the duke of 
Ciioifeul might dill have retained his pod, had not the 
imprudence of his filter, and his own enterprifing genius, 
precipitated his downfal. The pride of the duchefs de 
Grammont was feverely mortified by the afcendancy of 
the countefs du Barre ; for though neither young nor 
handfome, fhe herfelf had afpired to the royal bed, and 
hoped to confirm, by her influence as midrefs to the king, 
the power to which her brother Choifeul had attained as 
minider. This profpeCt was however bladed by the fond 
attachment of Louis to madame du Barre ; and the impe- 
tuofity of Choifeul plunged him into the mod fatal error. 
The court of Spain had formed defigns againd Port Eg- 
mont, a fettlenrent on one of the Malouine iflands, then 
poffeffed by the Englifh. The duke of Choifeul, who 
had with impatience fubmitted to the triumphs of the 
king of England, affured the cabinet of Madrid that Louis 
would firmly maintain the union of the houfe of Bourbon, 
and the engagements that he had contracted by the family 
compaCt. The intrigues of the duke could not be kept 
lecret from the king ; he heard with adonilhment the 
prefumption of his minider, who had hazarded an anfwer 
of fuclr importance without the concurrence of the crown ; 
he trembled at the thoughts of war, which would obtrude 
upon thofe hours which he had devoted to pleafure ; he 
therefore determined to get rid of a minifter who had 
thus endangered the peace of Europe. The duke de la 
Vrilliere, was appointed to deliver the lettre de cachet, 
which was couched in the following terms : “ The dif- 
latisfaClion I experience in your fervices, obliges me to 
banifli you to Chanteloup, where you will repair in 
twenty-four hours. I would hav.e fent you much further, 
if it had not been for the particular efteem I have tor the 
duchefs de Choifeul, in whofe welfare I am much inte- 
