A History About Jewelers Who Deceived the French Crown

One of the most interesting of causes celebres is that which, under the designation of "LE PROCES DU COLLIER," occupied the French courts of justice in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, and created an unusual amount of importance from the high positions of the principal persons engaged in this fraudulent transaction. The particulars involved in this lengthened trial are voluminous; a brief resume of facts will suffice for the present purpose.

Boehmer and Bassange, court jewellers to Louis XVI., had been engaged for several years in collecting a large number of superb diamonds, to form a necklace which they intended offering for purchase to Madame Dubarry, who possessed large treasures of precious stones, and, in case of her refusal, to the queen, Marie Antoinette, who was passionately fond of diamonds. Not succeeding with Madame Dubarry, the jewellers carried the magnificent ornament to the king, who sent it for inspection to the queen. Her reply was worthy her royal station: "That she had already many diamonds, which were only worn on grand occasions four or five times in the year, and it would be better to employ the money demanded for the necklace in building a ship of war."

The jewellers, disappointed in their hopes from these quarters, endeavoured to sell the necklace to foreign potentates, but unsuccessfully; and after the lapse of a year, made another effort to induce their majesties of France to become the purchasers, which was met with a decided refusal.

In 1785, on the Day of the Assumption, the great personages of the court assembled in the royal apartments at Versailles to attend mass. Among them was the Cardinal de Rohan in full pontificals. Possessed of an enormous fortune, accumulated from the various benefices he held, and a member of one of the most ancient and renowned families of France, Prince Louis de Rohan, Cardinal, Bishop of Strasbourg, Grand Almoner, etc., notwithstanding his exalted position, was not in favour at court. He had been sent ambassador to Vienna in 1772, and having been coldly received by the Empress Maria-Theresa, he had endeavoured, but unsuccessfully, to efface this unfavourable impression by his prodigal and luxurious mode of living. With equal indiscretion and ingratitude he had made insinuations publicly on the conduct of Marie Antoinette, the daughter of the Empress of Austria, and in his despatches to the French government he did not spare Maria-Theresa herself; altogether, his conduct during his embassage was disgraceful. He had been recalled from his post at the urgent request of the empress herself two months after the death of Louis XV. The cardinal succeeded in getting only a brief interview with the new monarch, and was mortified in finding that the queen, Marie Antoinette, would not receive him. He was still in disgrace, when, on August 15th, 1785, he awaited, as before stated, in the grand gallery of Versailles, the king's orders for mass. At noon his majesty sent for him to his private cabinet, in which the queen was seated.

"You have purchased a diamond necklace," the king observed to the cardinal, as he entered, of Boehmer and Bassange."

"Yes, sire."

"What have you done with it?"

"I believe it was given to the queen."

"To whom did you give this commission?"

"A lady of the court, Madame de la Motte Valois, who gave me a letter from the queen, and I am much honoured by the condescension of her majesty, in giving me this commission."

"How, cardinal," angrily exclaimed Marie Antoinette, "could you believe that after four years, during which I have not addressed a word to you, that I should choose you for such a negotiation, and by means of a disreputable woman?"

"I see," said the crest-fallen cardinal, "that I must have been cruelly deceived. In the great desire of my heart to please your majesty, my zeal has blinded my prudence; but still the letter seemed to authorize me," and he produced a document, signed with the royal signature, and addressed to Madame de la Motte, giving instructions to purchase the necklace.

On reading it, the king said, "This is not the writing of the queen, nor her signature. How could a prince of the house of Rohan believe that the queen would sign her name Marie Antoinette de France? Surely every one ought to know that queens sign their names only."

To these and other questions the cardinal could make no reply, and, on leaving the royal presence, he was arrested and sent to the Bastille. Parliament took up the case, and the trial, which lasted more than nine months, revealed the disgraceful conduct of the cardinal and his foolish credulity. While endeavouring in every way to obtain the queen's favour, he happened to make the acquaintance of the Countess de la Motte Valois. This woman, born July 22nd, 1756, at Fontette, in Champagne, under indigent circumstances, was really descended from the royal house of Valois, by Henry de St. Remi, son of Henry II. and of Nicola de Savigne. While begging for bread at Passy, she came under the notice of the Marchioness of Boulain-villiers, wife of the prevost of Paris. By this lady she was clothed and educated, and in 1780 Mademoiselle de Valois, as she was now called, was married to the Count de la Motte. In 1781 she was presented to the Cardinal de Rohan, and, unscrupulous and cunning, she soon saw his weak and credulous character, and determined to profit by it. She persuaded him that she possessed the entire confidence of the queen, and had it in her power to secure him the royal favour. Believing these assurances, the cardinal addressed several letters to the queen, which Madame de la Motte engaged to deliver, and brought him answers which had been forged by a profligate associate of her husband--one Villette. To increase the confidence of the dupe, it was pretended that for various reasons, he could not have a public interview at court, but the queen would grant him a private meeting on an appointed evening in one of the arbours in the park at Versailles. Accordingly between eleven and twelve o'clock on the night of August 2nd, 1784, the cardinal was conducted to the spot, when a woman, named Leguay, who resembled the queen in height and appearance, was there to receive him. Her features were covered with a veil, and she addressed the kneeling prelate in a low voice:--

"You wish that the past should be forgotten; so let it be;" at the same time she gave him a rose, and a small casket which contained a portrait of the queen. A sound of approaching steps put an end to the interview, and the cardinal retired, delighted with the mark of favour he had received. From that time he set no bounds to his joy, and became a ready instrument of the intriguing Madame de la Motte. She obtained considerable sums of money from him, as loans to the queen for charitable purposes, and conceived the project of getting into her own possession, by the same means, the famous diamond necklace of the court jewellers. With great plausibility she persuaded the cardinal that the queen wished to purchase it secretly through him, and repayment would be made in two years; a contract to such effect was brought to him signed "Marie Antoinette de France."

The necklace was delivered to the cardinal February 1st, 1785, by the court jewellers; the price paid for it was one million six hundred thousand livres. The Countess de la Motte brought a pretended message from the queen that the jewels should be given to her the next day, as she wished to wear them at a state banquet. Accordingly, towards evening, the cardinal went to the house of Madame de la Motte at Versailles, followed by a servant who carried the precious casket, and where he was received by the clever actress, who took care that no time should be lost, and in a few moments the door of the apartment was suddenly opened, a voice exclaimed "from the queen," and a valet de chambre in the royal livery (who was the confederate Villette) received the casket from Madame de la Motte, and quickly disappeared. The robbery of these precious jewels was thus adroitly effected. Madame de la Motte and her husband lost no time in taking the necklace to pieces, in order to dispose at once of some of the diamonds; the former obtained at Paris two hundred thousand livres, the latter went to London and sold some of the diamonds at a high price; but an English jeweller named Gray, to whom the Count de la Motte had offered all the remaining gems, was able, afterwards, when the design of the famous necklace was shown to him, to recognize them as having belonged to it. The non-payment of the first draft of five hundred thousand livres, due on July 31st, 1785, which Madame de la Motte, on the pretended authority of the queen, had prepared, brought about the discovery of this audacious robbery. Her majesty, informed by Madame Campan (to whom the court jewellers had related the circumstances of the sale of the necklace) of the abuse made of her name, conferred with the Baron de Breteuil, governor of the royal household, the implacable enemy of the Cardinal de Rohan, who took measures to bring the culprits to justice. The Countess de la Motte was arrested August 18th, 1785, as was also, soon afterwards, the woman Leguay, who had personated the queen, and Villette. The Count de la Motte remained in England, after placing in security the products of the fraud. Amongst the number of persons implicated in this shameful intrigue was the famous Count de Cagliostro, an impostor who pretended to have been present at the marriage at Cana in Galilee with our Saviour, and whose juggleries had blinded the eyes of the Cardinal de Rohan.