he made up his mind to go to Berlin, and he
went as far as Strasburg on his road thither.[174] Here he began to
fear the rude climate of the northern capital; he changed his plans,
and resolved to accept the warm invitations that he had received to
cross over to England. His friends used their interest to procure a
passport for him,[175] and the Prince of Conti offered him an
apartment in the privileged quarter of the Temple, on his way through
Paris. His own purpose seems to have been irresolute to the last, but
his friends acted with such energy and bustle on his behalf that the
English scheme was adopted, and he found himself in Paris (Dec. 17,
1765), on his way to London, almost before he had deliberately
realised what he was doing. It was a step that led him into many fatal
vexations, as we shall presently see. Meanwhile we may pause to
examine the two considerable books which had involved his life in all
this confusion and perplexity.

FOOTNOTES:

[94] June, 1762-December, 1765.

[95] _Conf._, xi. 175. It is generally printed in the volume of his
works entitled _Melanges_.

[96] _Corr._, iii. 416.

[97] _Conf._, xi. 172.

[98] For a remarkable anticipation of the ruin of France, see _Conf._,
xi. 136.

[99] M. Roguin. June 14, 1762.

[100] _Corr._, ii. 347.

[101] Streckeisen, i. 35.

[102] His friend Moultou wrote him the news, Streckeisen, i. 43.
Geneva was the only place at which the Social Contract was burnt. Here
there were peculiar reasons, as we shall see.

[103] _Corr._, ii. 356.

[104] _Ib._, ii. 358, 369, etc.

[105] The principality of Neuchatel had fallen by marriage (1504) to
the French house of Orleans-Longueville, which with certain
interruptions retained it until the extinction of the line by the
death of Marie, Duchess of Nemours (1707). Fifteen claimants arose
with fifteen varieties of far-off title, as well as a party for
constituting Neuchatel a Republic and making it a fourteenth canton.
(Saint Simon, v. 276.) The Estates adjudged the sovereignty to the
Protestant house of Prussia (Nov. 3, 1707). Lewis XIV., as heir of the
pretensions of the extinct line, protested. Finally, at the peace of
Utrecht (1713), Lewis surrendered his claim in exchange for the
cession by Prussia of the Principality of Orange, and Prussia held it
until 1806. The disturbed history of the connection between Prussia
and Neuchatel from 1814, when it became the twenty-first canton of the
Swiss Confedera