On another occasion I relieved from difficulty solely by my own means, and almost without the assistance of any other person, the captain of a merchant-ship.This was one Captain Olivet, from Marseilles; the name of the vessel I have forgotten.His men had quarreled with the Sclavonians in the service of the republic, some violence had been committed, and the vessel was under so severe an embargo that nobody except the master was suffered to go on board or leave it without permission.He applied to the ambassador, who would hear nothing he had to say.He afterwards went to the consul, who told him it was not an affair of commerce, and that he could not interfere in it.Not knowing what further steps to take he applied to me.I told M.de Montaigu he ought to permit me to lay before the senate a memoir on the subject.I do not recollect whether or not he consented, or that I presented the memoir; but I perfectly remember that if I did it was ineffectual, and the embargo still continuing, I took another method, which succeeded.I inserted a relation of the affairs in one of our letters to M.de Maurepas, though I had difficulty in prevailing upon M.de Montaigu to suffer the article to pass.
I knew that our despatches, although their contents were insignificant, were opened at Venice.Of this I had a proof by finding the articles they contained verbatim in the gazette, a treachery of which I had in vain attempted to prevail upon the ambassador to complain.My object in speaking of the affair in the letter was to turn the curiosity of the ministers of the republic to advantage, to inspire them with some apprehensions, and to induce the state to release the vessel: for had it been necessary to this effect to wait for an answer from the court, the captain would have been ruined before it could have arrived.I did still more, I went alongside the vessel to make inquiries of the ship's company.I took with me the Abbe Patizel, chancellor of the consulship, who would rather have been excused, so much were these poor creatures afraid of displeasing the senate.As I could not go on board, on account of the order from the states, I remained in my gondola, and there took the depositions successively, interrogating each of the mariners, and directing my questions in such a manner as to produce answers which might be to their advantage.I wished to prevail upon Patizel to put the questions and take depositions himself, which in fact was more his business than mine; but to this he would not consent; he never once opened his mouth and refused to sign the depositions after me.This step, somewhat bold, was, however, successful, and the vessel was released long before an answer came from the minister.The captain wished to make me a present; but without being angry with him on that account, Itapped him on the shoulder, saying, "Captain Olivet, can you imagine that he who does not receive from the French his perquisite for passports, which he found his established right, is a man likely to sell them the king's protection?" He, however, insisted on giving me a dinner on board his vessel, which I accepted, and took with me the secretary to the Spanish embassy, M.Carrio, a man of wit and amiable manners, to partake of it: he has since been secretary to the Spanish embassy at Paris and charge des affaires.I had formed an intimate connection with him after the example of our ambassadors.
Happy should I have been, if, when in the most disinterested manner I did all the service I could, I had known how to introduce sufficient order into all these little details, that I might not have served others at my own expense.But in employments similar to that I held, in which the most trifling faults are of consequence, my whole attention was engaged in avoiding all such mistakes as might be detrimental to my service.I conducted, till the last moment, everything relative to my immediate duty, with the greatest order and exactness.Excepting a few errors which a forced precipitation made me commit in ciphering, and of which the clerks of M.Amelot once complained, neither the ambassador nor any other person had ever the least reason to reproach me with negligence in any one of my functions.This is remarkable in a man so negligent as I am.But my memory sometimes failed me, and I was not sufficiently careful in the private affairs with which I was charged; however, a love of justice always made me take the loss on myself, and this voluntarily, before anybody thought of complaining.I will mention but one circumstance of this nature; it relates to my departure from Venice, and I afterwards felt the effects of it in Paris.