And so it is best that I
should be his first confidante, and that he should take me to be his
chief adviser, for his interests are mine, and these children are
mine, and surely no one can speak more truly and honestly to the
King of France than his queen, his wife, the mother of his children!
And so if the king is not perfectly independent, and feels himself
too weak to stand alone, and independently to exert power, he ought
to rest on me; I will bear a part in his government, his business,
that at any rate they who control be not my opponents, my enemies!"
For a while she yielded to her friends and favorites who wanted to
stand in the same relation to the queen that she did to the king--
she yielded, not like Louis, from weakness, but from the very power
of her love for them.
She yielded at the time when Diana de Polignac, urged by her
brother-in-law, Polignac, and by Lord Besenval, conjured the queen
to nominate Lord Calonne to be general comptroller of the finances.
She yielded, and Calonne, the flatterer, the courtier of Polignac,
received the important appointment, although Marie Antoinette
experienced twinges of conscience for it, and did not trust the man
whom she herself advanced to this high place. Public opinion,
meanwhile, gave out that Lord Calonne was a favorite of the queen;
and, while she bore him no special favor, and considered his
appointment as a misfortune to France, she who herself promoted him
became the object of public indignation.
Pages:
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128