Our foreign embassies often combine the acquisition of fame for the ambassador, with the loss of his money, the home-government refusing to refund the cash that he has laid out for his country’s good. Baron Hervart seems to have had his share of this experience. Mr Vernon wrote to the Duke of Shrewsbury on 12th October 1697 —
“I send your Grace a bill of Monsieur D’Hervart’s, if you please to allow it; it exceeds £94 what the yearly allowance is established at, but there are some extraordinary articles that do not come within the common computation. Mr. Bowyer, his agent, at first brought a bill of £100 more. I told him that was so far beyond measure, he could never think to get it passed.”[1]
As to fame, the Baron acquitted himself with ability and high reputation. In 1699, when the Prince of Conti attempted to usurp the sovereignty of Neufchatel and to oust the sovereign lady, the Duchess of Nemours, De Hervart was sent by King William to oppose this Bourbon intrigue. The French ambassador, the Marquis de Puisieux, had arrived at Neufchatel before him, and was canvassing the elective body, but without success. The following was our ambassador’s memorial to the Prince of Conti:—
“Monsieur, — Being ordered hither by the King of Great Britain, my master, my first business is to pay my respects to your Highness, and to assure you of my very humble service. I am satisfied you are not ignorant that his Majesty has a right to the County of Neufchatel and its dependencies, his Ministers at the Treaty of Ryswick having given notice thereof to his most Christian Majesty’s plenipotentiaries. In the meanwhile, his Majesty (William III.), who was very willing that the said county should be expressly comprehended in the treaty of peace, was also willing for the better assuring the tranquillity thereof, to defer the justifying of his pretensions, though very well grounded, till the Duchess of Nemours’ death, who has been invested in the sovereignty five years.
“But having received intelligence of the motions made here on the subject of your Highness’s pretensions, his Majesty thought it his interest to declare expressly, by his ministers at the Court of France, his right to that sovereignty, hoping that his Most Christian Majesty would observe an exact impartiality in this affair, that he might leave the States, who are the true judges of it, to their full liberty, when they shall be called on that account after the Duchess of Nemours’ death. And his Majesty thought it reasonable that your Highness should then propose your pretensions as well as others. The assurances which his Most Christian Majesty’s ministers did thereupon give of his impartiality are so positive, that the King, my master, thought he might have kept silent, until a convenient time was offered for him to prove the justice of his pretensions.
“But the design formed by your Highness to call a Tribunal at present, during the life of the Duchess of Nemours, obliges me, according to his Majesty’s orders, to represent to your Highness that his Majesty cannot look on this Convocation any otherwise than as prejudicial to his right, contrary to the laws and customs of this County, and as a means to destroy its peace and tranquillity.
“I hope your Highness will be pleased seriously to consider what I have the honour to represent to you on his Majesty’s behalf; and allow me the liberty to give your Highness assurance of my high consideration and profound respect for your person.
The Ambassador also presented a Memorial to the Duchess of Nemours, in which he used these expressions:—
“Madam, — The interests of His Majesty being conformable to yours, and the King being willing to contribute on his part that your Highness be not troubled in your possession, and that nothing be done contrary to the rights and liberties of the County, I hope that the steps I take by his order will not be displeasing to you.”
At first, the French Prince was disposed to be somewhat insolent, saying, “I did not think that anyone would have hindered me of my right;” but the Duchess being in possession of the Castle, and not herself only, but the states of Neufchatel having expressed the greatest gratitude for King William’s intervention, his Highness took his departure, desiring his secretary to give a most respectful answer to our ambassador. The answer was in the following terms:—
- ↑ Philibert Hervart was naturalized in 1698 (List xxiii.). This might imply that he was then beginning to amass money. It may he another man.
