"
"Is it your majesty's pleasure," inquired the chancellor, "that I
should signify your displeasure to them?"
"No, sir," replied Louis, "it does not come within your line of
duty, and devolves rather upon the minister of war; and very
possibly he would object to executing such a commission; for how
could I step forward as the protector of one who would shake off
the moral obligation of an oath directly it suits his inclinations
to doubt its legality? This affair gives me great uneasiness,
and involves the most serious consequences. You will see that I
shall be overwhelmed with petitions and pamphlets, demanding of
me the revocation of the edict of Nantes."
"And what, sire," asked the chancellor gravely, "could you do,
that would better consolidate the glory of your reign?"
"Chancellor," exclaimed Louis XV, stepping back with unfeigned
astonishment, "have you lost your senses? What would the clergy
say or do? The very thought makes me shudder. Do you then believe,
M. de Maupeou, that the race of the Clements, the Ravaillacs, the
Damiens, are extinct in France?"
"Ah, sire, what needless fears."
"Not so needless as you may deem them," answered the king. "I
have been caught once, I am not going to expose myself to danger
a second time. You know the proverb,--no, no, let us leave things
as my predecessors left them; besides, I shall not be sorry to
leave a little employment for my successor; he may get through it
how he can, and spite of all the clamouring of the philosophers,
the Protestants shall hold their present privileges so long as I
live.
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